Thread: Police Outline Illegal Worker Policies Middlebury, Vermont

Police Outline Illegal Worker Policies

Middlebury, Vermont - November 20, 2008

The number of illegal workers in Vermont is growing, but when it comes to going after and reporting them police are taking a hands-off approach.

Vermont's Public Safety Commissioner and the Middlebury Police Chief discussed their policies for enforcing immigration laws at a forum in Middlebury, Thursday night. Both departments say they are only interested in tracking illegal immigrants if they are involved in other criminal activity.

In fact, Middlebury recently instituted a first-of-its-kind in Vermont policy that says officers will not target people based on race or ethnicity.

"We have a number of people of different ethnicities and races that are in the community and for us to target any one particular group because they may or may not be illegal immigrants or undocumented immigrants, to us was not good police work," Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley told an audience of about 30 people at the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.


Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Tom Tremblay told the audience that state police have a similar policy. They do not target people solely on the suspicion that they are illegal, but will report undocumented immigrants they come in contact with during traffic stops or investigations of criminal activity.

"One, we don't have the resources or the time to be able to do that and it brings about the larger discussion about immigration reform in the country so that's kind of beyond our scope," said Hanley.

Both Hanley and Tremblay say it is important for illegal immigrants to know that they will not be reported if they are victims or witnesses to crimes.

"The worst thing we can have is a subculture here that lives in the shadows," said Hanley. "That means a potential witness who might report an accident, won't report an accident. A potential witness who might report a crime is not gonna report a crime."


"We're more interested in making sure {victims} get equal protection of the law, which is a requirement of our oath of office," added Tremblay.


Thursday's forum was sponsored by the Vermont Folklife Center, which is currently running an exhibit about the role of Mexican migrant workers on Vermont farms. The story is told through the eyes of workers and farmers. It is on display through Dec. 18.

Bianca Slota - WCAX News







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Yeah give it a few more years. When the gangs move in, crime rises, schools become overwhelmingy crowded, test scores plummet, home values drop even more and spanish becomes the official state language...maybe they'll be showing different movies!

Originally Posted by wilma1

Yeah give it a few more years. When the gangs move in, crime rises, schools become overwhelmingy crowded, test scores plummet, home values drop even more and spanish becomes the official state language...maybe they'll be showing different movies!

What are they mixing with the Vermont Maple Syrup? MS13 is not a pancake mix