Federal agents working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained a group of workers at a construction site in Newport Thursday, according to the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project.
The workers were subcontractors with Patriot Building Systems of Londonderry, New Hampshire, the asylum group said.
Patriot Building Systems declined to comment when reached by phone Friday.
Vermont Asylum Assistance Project executive director Jill Martin Diaz said 10 or so workers were taken into custody, and at least some of them were brought to Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
They all had work authorization, and some had documentation with them when they were apprehended, according to Martin Diaz. They expect that at least some of the workers could be released as soon as Friday.
“It’s so challenging because we have a system of government that is guided by the rule of law,” Martin Diaz said. “When we see the government agency that also has enforcement power and decision making power, and lots of unreviewable discretion, to see them very callously making mistakes, it’s really frustrating.”
They said a group of volunteer attorneys attempted to meet with the workers Friday but it had been challenging to collect accurate information.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
The workers were doing framing at an affordable housing project called Newport Crossing, according to Patrick Shattuck, executive director of the nonprofit RuralEdge, which is running the project.
Shattuck said he had been in contact with the subcontractor, and it was also his understanding that all of the workers were authorized to work in the United States.
“These jobs are highly regulated,” Shattuck said. “You know, every employee is verified, these include certified payrolls. So it is frustrating.”
Vermont has an agreement with the federal government that allows immigration agencies to hold detainees in state prisons. Some have pushed for an end to that agreement amidst a recent uptick in detentions.
The Vermont Asylum Assistance Project also reported that seven women who were being detained at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington were put on a commercial flight to Chicago early Friday.
The women did not leave the plane in Chicago, according to the press release, and the flight then reboarded to Washington, D.C.
Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials arrested eight migrant farmworkers at a Berkshire farm, and four landscaping workers were detained on their way home from work earlier this month.
