Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak signed an executive order on Wednesday morning that promises to keep immigration agents from making arrests in public places such as city-owned property, churches, hospitals, schools and polling sites.
The order was a largely symbolic gesture that “amplifies” a new state law passed earlier this year that expanded protections against civil arrests for people in state-owned buildings and other “sensitive” public places, Mulvaney-Stanak said.
“During this time of aggressive immigration enforcement and state-sanctioned terror, we must use every tool at our disposal to shield our communities from the federal abuse of power,” Mulvaney-Stanak said prior to signing the order at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington.
Under the new order, city staff and employees at organizations that partner with the city will be trained on the civil arrest exemptions found in the new state law. The order is intended to “reinforce protections” in community spaces and support the effort to keep federal agents out of places such as the Fletcher Free Library, City Hall and the University of Vermont Medical Center.
Burlington police will be forbidden from responding to an immigration police presence in these community spaces “unless there is a reported public safety concern.” If police do respond, their role will be limited to “maintaining public safety under existing department policy,” the mayor said.
The order reiterates Mulvaney-Stanak’s assertion that Burlington police are a local law enforcement agency focused on community safety that “that will not engage or assist with civil immigration enforcement.”
The order is reminiscent of a previous one the mayor issued in February that was meant to prevent Burlington police from supporting immigration arrests.
That order did not prevent officers from being deployed to assist South Burlington police with crowd control efforts during a March 11 raid conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Burlington officers used force to subdue some activists after ICE agents entered a home and detained several people.
The police department’s involvement in the incident prompted widespread complaints and rebukes from activists. After a review, Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke found that his officers were justified in their uses of force at the raid.
Mulvaney-Stanak pledged a full review of department policy. On Wednesday, she said an internal working group of Progressive and Democratic city councilors, as well as outside advocacy groups, convened in the aftermath of the incident.
The group concluded that there was little the city could do to prevent its own police department from responding in a similar fashion should an incident similar to the March 11 raid occur again. The mayor intends to instead call upon state lawmakers to further strengthen the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy.
The policy, which was intended to prevent Vermont police from collaborating with immigration agents, was last amended in 2024. It did not prevent local officers from participating in South Burlington on March 11, nor has it prevented sheriff deputies and other local police from providing support to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Mulvaney-Stanak said the city will make specific recommendations for improving the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy to the legislature in January.
“Communities deserve stronger state support and guidance with (the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy) to be able to better respond to the times we are living in, because the FIPP is a statewide policy that heavily dictates what municipalities include in our local developed policies,” Mulvaney-Stanak said.
As one of the sponsors of the Vermont bill to restrict immigration enforcement in public spaces, Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (P/D-Burlington) applauded the mayor’s commitment to enforcing state law. The bill overcame doubts that it would be “unenforceable” and “meaningless” thanks to strong advocacy from supporters in the Queen City and across the state, she said.
“It is important that the State of Vermont and the City of Burlington and all of the members of our community stand up with moral clarity and say, ‘No, people will not be terrorized in our communities while we sit back and do nothing,’” Vyhovsky said.
Rev. Karen Johnston, who leads the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, also spoke in support of the executive order. Johnston was among the group of religious leaders calling themselves the “Clergy 7” who were arrested for protesting at the Williston ICE facility last month.
She applauded the state and Burlington’s efforts to strengthen protections for people seeking refuge in houses of worship and other public places, but said the current law did not go far enough.
“It is up to all of us to make real and sincere and ever-growing courageous efforts to assure our friends, neighbors and family members that our community spaces remain safe,” Johnston said.
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