Senate Judiciary hears DOC on U.S. Marshals, ICE contracts as committee debates emergency clause

The Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 19 heard from Nate Dunlop, commissioner of corrections for the State of Vermont, about the department’s intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service and the small number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees held in state facilities.

Dunlop told the committee the state’s agreement “allows us to house up to 80 individuals” for the Marshals Service and that the arrangement keeps defendants near the U.S. District Court in Vermont, reducing transport burdens on federal resources. He urged the committee to take testimony from federal partners, including the U.S. district court and the Marshals Service, before adopting legislation that would constrain executive authority over such agreements.

Why it matters: the Marshals arrangement affects where federal defendants awaiting trial are held, the operational capacity of the Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) and the day‑to‑day functioning of federal criminal proceedings in Vermont. Committee members debated whether to remove a provision in the draft bill that would allow local law enforcement agencies to enter agreements with…