Immigrants in region live in a climate of fear
By Jon Hurdle
Issued Thursday, 12/11/2025 - 5:11 PM
US government halts asylum process for applicants from 19 countries after attack on National Guard in the nation’s capital
SOUTHERN VERMONT—The intensifying crackdown on immigrants by the administration of President Donald Trump has deepened a climate of fear among overseas nationals in southern Vermont although there’s no new evidence of rumored local raids by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Representatives of local groups that help resettle or advise refugees and asylum seekers said their clients now seem more likely to be detained by ICE following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers, one fatally, by an Afghan refugee in Washington in late November. The shooting fueled Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, particularly against those from countries with a majority Muslim population. After the shootings, the administration indefinitely paused asylum applications, halted all immigration applications by Afghans, and said it would review “green cards” issued to people from 19 “countries of concern” named in a presidential proclamation earlier this year.
The increased restrictions have heightened worries among southern Vermont’s immigrant community that they will be targeted by ICE teams on suspicion of living in the United States illegally, or even deported.
“It’s always a concern when the administration is being so negative to immigrants of all types,” said Sharon Hall-Smith, executive director of Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP), a Brattleboro-based nonprofit that helps overseas nationals who want to move to the United States because of persecution in their own countries. “That type of atmosphere makes people nervous as clients, and us as well for them. We just don’t know what is coming next, and we can only hope for the best.” CASP, which opened in 2016, usually helps about 80 to 90 people a month, and has not seen a recent change in those numbers, but is encouraging its clients to think about how they would respond if they are detained or even deported by ICE.
“We’re doing more to make sure that clients have a safety plan so that they have thought through what they might do if someone in their family were to be detained,” Hall-Smith said. “They should think about what (documents) they should make copies of for their family. For children, do they have conditional guardianship – someone else to take care of them?” Immigrants themselves did not immediately respond to requests made through their representatives for interviews.
Leaders with groups that help immigrants obtain work permits, housing or just food, said their clients were now less likely to speak to reporters, even anonymously, for fear that any story could lead to them being identified and detained by ICE. “We understand that these uncertainties create fear and concern in our refugee and immigrant communities,” said Joe Wiah, director of the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), which helps resettle refugees from all countries in southern Vermont. Wiah said rumors about upcoming ICE raids have circulated in southern Vermont since the start of 2025, and those concerns had “intensified” after the shooting of the two National Guard soldiers. But he said this week that his group was not aware of any ICE raids taking place in the region, adding that there is no legal reason for the agency to target people who have been resettled by ECDC. All have either been granted legal entry and are awaiting eligibility for their permanent resident cards, commonly known as a “green card,” or have received their permanent resident cards and are waiting the statutory five years before they can apply for US citizenship, Wiah wrote in an email.
Although the new immigration crackdown has created fear and confusion among immigrants and their representatives, ECDC doesn’t currently see legal grounds for ICE to target people who have been resettled in southern Vermont, he said. The “typical” enforcement process begins with US officials inviting an individual to review their case. That would be followed by an official determination that they have probable cause to detain or deport someone. That person would then be asked to leave voluntarily, and they would be subject to enforcement only if they refused to leave, Wiah said. “While it’s possible that some individuals in southern Vermont could be targeted by USCIS, … they would not be clients served by ECDC,” Wiah said, referring to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Still, the new federal policies have added to fears in the immigrant community, said Ziaudin Azizi, a program manager with ECDC. “The current atmosphere has raised concerns among the refugee and immigrant families that we serve, and this is affecting their day-to-day living in various ways,” he said. “We are seeing increased apprehension, which impacts their sense of safety and their engagement with daily life, even while their immigration applications are pending.”