Keeping Vermont Safe: What Comes Next

Start by naming the truth plainly. Alex Pretti was murdered by federal agents. This was not an accident. It was the predictable result of an administration that has chosen terror as a governing strategy, and of an agency that operates with impunity. Grief alone will not keep our communities safe, but collective action already is.

Yesterday, Vermont Governor Phil Scott became the first sitting Republican governor in the country to publicly speak out against the president’s actions. That did not happen by accident. It happened because people here demanded that our elected leaders say out loud what is right and what is wrong. When leaders do the right thing, we should say thank you, and we should continue to support them as they take real, consequential action. That includes blocking legislation that would further expand funding for ICE under the guise of a spending bill. Silence and procedural indifference are not neutral. They cost lives. Supporting leaders also means holding the line when judicial appointments matter. We are asking people to contact their state senators to oppose the nomination of Michael Drescher and Christina Nolan to the Vermont Supreme Court. As a federal prosecutor, Michael Drescher played a central role in efforts to detain and deport Rumeysa Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi for expressing their views about Gaza. He worked to keep Ozturk’s case out of Vermont and continued to argue for her incarceration even after a federal court ordered her return. Prosecutors are not required to defend unconstitutional actions by the state; they have discretion and a duty to uphold the rule of law and protect free expression. Christina Nolan has also demonstrated troubling judgment, most recently by attempting to bring a firearm into a courthouse, which is illegal in Vermont. The Senate Judiciary Committee may act within days, with a full Senate vote soon after. Please contact your state senator and urge them to oppose these nominations.

Now, we turn to the work in front of us. Our strategy for keeping our communities safe under the threat of invasion by the federal government will be three-fold: First: Build block committees in every neighborhood. Safety starts locally. We will make sure neighbors are connected through safe, secure, and vetted communication channels like Signal, so that when ICE shows up, no one is isolated and no response is improvised alone. This is about coordination, care, and collective presence. Second: Mount pressure campaigns on businesses that support ICE. Vermont is not a bystander. ICE runs national targeting operations out of facilities here in Williston, from the National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center at 426 Industrial Avenue. These operations feed raids and deportations across the country. We will choose which businesses to target strategically and apply sustained pressure - drafting town resolutions, making phone calls, and confronting businesses in person. By knocking over one domino at a time, we will make it impossible for ICE to conduct business in Vermont. Third: Defend and advance legislation that protects our communities. Two bills currently in committee matter deeply: S.209, prohibiting civil arrest in sensitive locations S.208, establishing standards for law enforcement identification These bills must pass. There are several others. And we must go further. In Minneapolis, ICE prevented community medical responders from providing emergency aid to Renee Good. We should ensure that nothing like that ever happens here. Communities have a role in keeping one another safe, and the law should recognize and protect that role. There are limits to how much the state can impact federal operations under the law, but it should be possible for the state to empower us as individuals to help one another. Soon, we will convene a statewide meeting of community leaders and organizers from across Vermont to stand in solidarity and come to consensus on a shared strategy to keep our communities safe from ICE - including coordination, rapid response, and the roles people can play at different levels of risk. We are building capacity now so that we are not forced to improvise later.

Many of you have also asked about the call for a nationwide solidarity strike on January 30. The Somali Students Union has issued that call, and the Minneapolis nurses’ union has moved their strike date to that day in response. If you are in a position to do so, we support a walkout on January 30 - no work, no school, no shopping. This is a way to show the administration that there are real consequences to their campaign of terror. If you cannot participate fully, that does not exclude you from this movement. There are many roles, and all of them matter.

There is a national call tonight at 7:30 PM ET, organized by 50501 and coalition partners including the Minnesota organizers, Women’s March, and May Day Strong. This call will focus on the skills we need to build to carry out this work together. You can join here: https://bit.ly/call12626 We are not powerless. We are not alone. And we are already changing the political terrain by refusing to look away and refusing to accept violence as normal. Thank you for showing up - for each other, and for what comes next. This email is being bumped from 50501 Vermont Vermont Rises is a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to advancing equity, resilience, and justice in our communities. We work to foster connections, amplify community voices, and invest in sustainable action.  Please support our mission! Venmo @VermontRises