MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Republican Gov. Phil Scott said Friday Vermont’s refugees, immigrants and agricultural workers are afraid of the immigration policies of President Donald Trump, and the new governor said he wants the state to protect them as much as possible.
“There’s a great amount of fear throughout Vermont in terms of our refugee population, our immigrants who are here, those who are here legally, with green cards, visas as well as those who are working in the agricultural community,” Scott said after the first meeting of his new Justice and Civil Rights Cabinet, which was created out of the state’s opposition to Trump’s immigration policies.
Officials planned to prepare legislation this weekend to present to lawmakers to specify that Vermont will not work with federal authorities to carry out border security and immigration enforcement orders.
Local and state law enforcement agencies in Vermont, a border state with Canada, have a long history of collaboration with federal agencies that work along the border. And Democratic Attorney General T.J. Donovan said the legislation will be written to ensure that relationship isn’t jeopardized.
“This takes time and we want to be diligent and we want to be careful about the language we use in order to maintain that relationship and be in compliance with the law,” Donovan said.
Thousands of non-American born residents live in Vermont, and Trump’s ban last week on travelers from certain Muslim countries drew immediate outrage from many Vermont politicians, human rights activists and others.
Scott said he felt the federal policies, including empowering state and local law enforcement agencies to act as federal immigration officers, was “overreach” by the federal government. But he said he wants to ensure the state’s response follows the law.
Scott said he hoped the cabinet’s proposal would be well received by the Vermont Legislature, which in addition to Democrats and Republicans, includes a number of Progressive Party members and independents.
“If we can do this as a tri-partisan basis here in Vermont, I think we can be an example for the rest of the country in how we protect ourselves and our citizens,” Scott said.
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive-Democrat and a member of the cabinet, said protecting human rights is a basic function of government.
“Human rights in the United States and Vermonters’ rights are nonpartisan,” Zuckerman said after the meeting.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.