House and Senate Judiciary committees hear dozens allege Vermont police aided ICE during March 11 Dorset Street raid

A joint hearing of the Vermont House and Senate Judiciary committees on the March 11 Dorset Street protest and immigration enforcement action drew roughly 60 witnesses who told lawmakers they saw state and local police aid ICE, use excessive force and detain community members who were not named on the warrant.

Chair Martin LaLonde (Representative, chair of the House Judiciary Committee) opened the public hearing and set ground rules for two‑minute testimonies. Witnesses — including people who said they were present on Dorset Street, community investigators, union members, legal counsel and civil‑rights officials — gave largely unified accounts that local and state officers worked with federal agents that day and used crowd‑control weapons and physical force against people standing to protect neighbors.

“Direct action is a last resort,” said Dana Dwinell Yardley of Montpelier, who described community defenders as acting to “stop harm.” Niccolo Alessandro Mendolia, who said he lives on Dorset Street, asked lawmakers to “publicly release the body camera footage of every single officer who was present” so the public could rebuild trust. Christian Jerez, one of the people detained that day, described the fear of being taken from his home with children present. Jess Shapiro said she was “strangled until unconsciousness by a state trooper” while standing with linked arms.

Multiple witnesses and advocacy organizations summarized timestamps, photographs and thousands of community‑sourced videos they said document the events. Rachel Bédard of Migrant Justice gave a timeline summary to the committee: a March 11 call to a rapid‑response line before 8:00 a.m., ICE requesting South Burlington Police backup around 8:45 a.m., dozens of local and state officers arriving during the day, a warrant obtained in the late afternoon and a forced entry around 5:30 p.m., after which three people were detained and later released.

Legal and rights groups told the committee about limits and possible remedies. Big Hartman, executive director and general counsel for the Vermont Human Rights Commission, said the HRC can investigate discrimination but lacks statutory authority to publicly disclose the existence or outcome of an investigation and urged the legislature to grant authority to make investigative reports public. Jill Martin Diaz, an immigration attorney with the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, told the committees that the District Court of Vermont had already made findings of fact in federal litigation describing the detentions as unlawful and urged lawmakers to fund legal services and remedies to enforce any new rights.

Across the hearing, speakers urged concrete next steps: independent investigations (some asked for subpoena power), public release of body‑worn camera footage, enforceable changes to the state’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy (FIPP) and passage of several bills referenced by witnesses, including H.849, S.208, S.209, S.227 and H.361. Will Lambek of Migrant Justice urged the committees to use the Senate’s subpoena power and to empower the HRC to conduct a public, disclosable investigation.

Lawmakers did not take votes at the hearing. The committees were provided with offers of community evidence and video and were repeatedly asked by witnesses to require the release of body‑camera footage and to launch independent investigations. Committee chairs acknowledged receipt of testimony and instructions for submitting written materials; no formal committee action was recorded during the public comment session.

What happens next: witnesses and advocates urged the committees to move from listening to oversight — including subpoenas, public investigation authority for HRC and enforceable statutory changes to FIPP — and several speakers said they would return with more documentary evidence. The hearing record remains open for written submissions and for any materials witnesses offered to provide.