After the high-profile arrest of Vermont resident Mohsen Mahdawi on Monday, Democratic leaders in the Vermont Senate are asking Republican Gov. Phil Scott to terminate a memorandum that allows federal immigration authorities to lodge detainees in state prisons.
Masked federal agents in unmarked cars arrested Mahdawi after he arrived for a citizenship interview at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office in Colchester.
The Columbia University student, who helped organize pro-Palestinian protests on campus, is being lodged at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, according to court records. A federal judge has ordered that Mahdawi not be deported or removed from Vermont.
Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale said at a press conference Tuesday that the Trump administration鈥檚 鈥渁bductions鈥� of university students who鈥檝e spoken out against the war in Gaza represent a 鈥渃onstitutional crisis.鈥� And she said the state of Vermont cannot risk complicity with the deportation of individuals such as Mahdawi or Tufts University student R眉meysa 脰zt眉rk, whose federal deportation case is also being heard in Vermont.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how much more serious it can get before we tell Vermonters we are not cooperating with a hostile, dangerous and unconstitutional federal government that does not care about the basic rights and freedoms of Vermonters,鈥� Ram Hinsdale said.
A spokesperson for Scott said the governor plans to meet with legislative leaders to discuss their request further.
Scott said earlier in the day Tuesday that he鈥檚 troubled by the tactics federal agents used during their arrest of Mahdawi.
鈥淭his is the United States of America. We don鈥檛 put masks on when we detain somebody,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淲e are very obvious of who we are, and we don鈥檛 hide behind masks. And I thought this administration actually was against masks.鈥�
Scott said he also wants the administration to provide whatever evidence they have to justify Mahdawi鈥檚 arrest.
鈥淭he U.S. government, this administration, has an obligation to present the facts. If this person is a danger to the United States, they have an obligation to tell us why,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I haven鈥檛 heard that yet, but I look forward to hearing more about it.鈥�
Asked whether his administration would take any concrete action in response to the arrest, Scott said, 鈥淲e鈥檒l do whatever we can once we get the facts.鈥�
The memorandum of understanding between Vermont and Customs and Border Protection, according to Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth, allows federal immigration authorities to lodge detainees in Vermont prisons. Baruth said Tuesday that the current agreement is in effect through August, though he said the contract allows either party to terminate the memorandum for any reason.
Baruth said he believes the state has enough information already to proceed with termination of the contract.
鈥淥ur history has always been to aid the federal government to establish goodwill, if no other reason,鈥� Baruth said. 鈥淏ut we believe that that goodwill has been terminated on the part of the administration and we should act accordingly.鈥�
The termination of the contract would not prevent federal authorities from lodging detainees at their own facilities in Vermont. And Baruth said it would also not prevent judges from ordering that individuals in federal immigration proceedings be held in state-owned correctional facilities.
