The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Armando Paulino Estudillo, 35, in Lancaster, N.H. as part of a smuggling conspiracy that led to the arrest of a leader with Migrant Justice in Burlington last week.
Blu Zeke Daly, 26, also known as Cullan Zeke Daly, of Manchester, N.H. is facing felony charges of attempted murder of a federal officer and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon in connection with the shooting in Pittsburg, east of Canaan, Vt., federal court records note.
Feds say he Migrant Justice leader they call Nacho smuggled people across international borders and fraudulently obtained Vermont identification documents for people living outside Vermont.
Behind the headlines, protests, and growing anxiety is a more basic question: how does Vermont’s dairy industry rely on migrant labor in the first place — and why doesn’t federal visa law actually fit the job?
Without local police on site, the mayor warned, the situation could have spiraled into the kind of unchecked escalation seen in Minneapolis during past ICE engagements, where absent municipal support reportedly contributed to extreme violence and civilian deaths.
Arrested after day-long stand-off
As the wanted car fled, it collided with a vehicle traveling south.
Sen. Pete Welch said Noem’s leaving office is overdue.
Now Democrats copy his misleading accusations that Republicans were the root of the problem.
Documented arrests in Vermont show that ICE operations here have involved individuals with serious criminal histories.
The ICAIE also notes that the greatest number of illegal border crossers coming from Canada to the U.S. were apprehended by U.S. immigration officials in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Swanton Sector in Vermont and upstate New York, which The Center Square has reported for years. It also notes that the majority of illicit drugs seized at the U.S.-Canada border were by U.S. authorities in the CBP Buffalo, Detroit and Swanton sectors coming from Canada, The Center Square has also reported for years.
According to court documents, Francisco Antonio Luna Rosado, 27, an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, and Jesus Hernandez Ortiz, 37, of Puerto Rico, are charged with one count of conspiracy to illegally bring aliens to the United States and 12 counts of illegally bringing aliens to the United States for the purpose of private financial gain related to a Sept. 17, 2023, smuggling event. Luna Rosado is also charged with two counts of transactional money laundering for engaging in monetary transactions involving property derived from smuggling activities.
“As I understand it, a hotel employee quickly alerted a neighbor, triggering a town-wide phone tree. By midday, residents at risk had relocated to pre-established safe houses, and procedures were in place to meet children near their schools.”
Hussien’s supporters on Reddit are asking the public to support his family: “Hussien Noor Hussien has been living in the US for 22 years. He used a false name to escape Somalia, which hurt no one, and served his time for that fraud after he was caught. A few weeks ago, ICE abducted him from his cab at the Burlington airport and imprisoned him at the NW correctional facility in St Albans.”
The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Benjamin Paul Sheldon Schooner, 35, of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada near the Haskell Library and Opera House in Derby Line on Christmas Day about 12:20 a.m., records show.
One bill prohibits arrests for civil violations – including immigration violations – in ‘sensitive locations’. The other requires all law enforcement – including federal officers – to wear name tags and not wear masks.
An illegal immigrant from Venezuela, who federal officials claim led four other undocumented aliens over the international border into Vermont during Christmas week, will remain in custody while his federal criminal case is resolved in court in Burlington.
An illegal immigrant, who has been deported twice previously due to rejected claims that his life was in jeopardy from a Canadian street gang, has been busted again in Derby Line, federal court records show.
An illegal immigrant from Mexico, found unlawfully in the United States for a third time in just over a year, has been arrested in Vermont by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of an unrelated criminal investigation, records show.
U.S. Border Patrol apprehended seven people who unlawfully crossed the Canadian border in North Troy and Derby Line between December 23 and December 25, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont announced.
An illegal alien from Mexico, who authorities say used counterfeit immigration documents to get hired at a Chittenden County business, has been sentenced to five months in federal prison for unlawful reentry into the United States after being deported multiple times.
The illegal possession of fraudulent documents, including a bogus social security card, is the reason a Winooski mother and her 7-year-old son were detained at the International border over the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday.
Patel was a habitual criminal offender in India, ICE said.
The owner’s wife told Luneau that her husband had been taken for questioning in what she believed was a case of mistaken identity.
Wanted for rape in Brazil, he said he didn’t want the guns for drug crime, but for target shooting with his brother-in-law.
Charged with bringing 9 more aliens this week into Jay
The USCIS Training Facility at 237 Harvest Lane serves as a pivotal center for training and education related to U.S. immigration and citizenship services.
According to several witnesses watching from a nearby hotel porch, including Chester GOP Chair Roy Spaulding, Sen. White repeatedly spoke the phrase into a microphone during the rally, encouraging others to join in – which many did.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, flanked by federal prosecutors, including Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher of Vermont, outlined on Thursday several recent significant efforts to combat human trafficking and smuggling along the international borders, including an important felony indictment in the Green Mountain State.
Clark’s latest anti-Trump press release noted the detaining for possible deportation of illegal immigrants living in ‘the Northshire,’ an unofficial name for the Bennington County area. Press reports say that on August 25 ICE detained two Jamaican women working as home health aides and living in Manchester.
Drove SUV on railroad into Vermont, police say
The Justice Department has declared that states will not be able to access Victims of Crime Act funding unless they agree to support the administration’s immigration enforcement.
Vermont: illegal sanctuary state, or complying with federal law?
“This ends now,” Bondi said in a letter to Scott and other governors.
The reader said the event draws hundreds of Mexican and Central American farmworkers from Vermont and surrounding states, many of whom are in the country without legal documentation and may be driving without licenses or insurance.
A recent human smuggling case that directly impacts Vermont’s border communities made headlines when a U‑Haul truck packed with 44 migrants was intercepted just north of Derby Line crossing INTO Canada.
“Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,” said Bondi.
Into U.S., border jumpers came from 24 countries; into Quebec, mostly from Haiti.
The incident has sparked outrage in Quebec and raised questions here in Vermont, not just about jurisdiction, but about the nature of reality itself.
U.S. Border Patrol Agents arrested Freddy J. Rodriguez, 40, of West Warwick, R.I. with 10 kilograms of heroin on Sept. 19, 2023 as he prepared a nighttime load in a kayak to head north from Highgate on Lake Champlain to meet another vessel coming south from Canada.
Every year, thousands of people disappear while attempting to cross borders or while living without legal documentation in the United States. These disappearances represent more than statistics—they are families torn apart, communities left searching for answers, and lives lost to a system that often fails to protect the most vulnerable.
Montreal expects over 21,000 Haitians to seek asylum from U.S. – officials anticipate some heading to Vermont
Migrant Justice has claimed Heidi “Fabi” Perez Alfaro, 18, a recent Milton High graduate, and her stepfather, Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz, 29, had been delivering meals to farm workers in Richford when they were stopped about noon Saturday June 14 by a U.S. Border Patrol Agent.
Bear Mountain Road in North Troy is known for both human and drug smuggling almost on a daily basis.
The Border Patrol asked about his citizenship and De La Cruz began speaking rapidly and in a low voice that the agent could not understand. De La Cruz was asked to slow his speech, but he didn’t comply and the agent believed he was being evasive.
Border-crossings plummet, public approval rockets.
“Using unmanned aerial systems provides our agents with better situational awareness in difficult terrain, which can be critical in saving lives or preventing illegal activity,” a Border Patrol spokesperson said.
A Quebec father who attempted to use his 18-year-old son to help smuggle him illegally into the United States near the Haskell Library and Opera House in Derby Line netted both of them short jail terms and trips back home.
Florida law enforcement tops in U.S. in ICE participation. Even its universities are involved. Vermont is at the other extreme.
The 3,000 member National Sheriffs Organization said the list was published without their knowledge and offers little direction on how sheriffs should proceed.
The entire state of Vermont and the cities of Burlington, Montpelier, and Winooski have been labeled as ‘Sanctuary Jurisdictions’ by the department of Homeland Security, and now face federal funding cuts under Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown.
As NEKASAN members waited outside, they were informed only that “things have changed.” Lamidi, it turns out, was handcuffed upon entering the building and taken into custody.
Vermont had 59,298 encounters during that period, compared to just 82 in New Hampshire, which has a narrow border with Canada and no cross-border interstate highway. Vermont has two interstate crossings.
The majority of illegal border crossers were reported in New York, Washington and Vermont, The Center Square reported. In addition to arresting human traffickers and violent criminals, U.S. authorities have arrested alleged Islamic terrorists, including an Iranian with terrorist ties living in Canada and a Canadian woman who tried to poison President Donald Trump, The Center Square reported.
Palestian anti-Israel activist claims he was ‘kidnapped’ by the Trump administration.
The fund hopes to raise $1 million to offer legal services to immigrants subject to deportation and other federal actions.
At odds with Judge Crawford’s dismissal of the drugs found in Mahdawi’s car as ‘prescription medication,’ the CBP report describes small amounts of LSD, mushrooms with opiates, and meth – as well as a couple of empty prescription bottles.
Julio Cesar Romero-Paredes, 46, will continue to be detained pending his sentencing in U.S. District Court by Judge Mary Kay Lanthier in Rutland on Aug. 27.
The U.S. Border Patrol named Mykhailo Ivanchyn, 21, and Ihor Zelskyi, 27, in a criminal complaint with illegally entering the United States at Richford early Monday.
Scott also reiterated that he appreciates immigrant labor when the law isn’t broken.
“We saw a bunch of men running, yelling, ‘Migra, Migra,'” Reighley said.
“Maybe we gotta hold off on some of the deportation operation we’re doing. But it’s not gonna stop us from seeking these people now, arresting them and take them off the street to United States while we’re waiting for the courts to decide.”
Border Patrol was called after people with backpacks emerged from the woodline. In fact, they were farm workers.
Border Patrol saw three migrant workers walking down the driveway on the premises of the farm. The agents then pursued the migrants through the milking parlor.
95.8% of all otherwise “inadmissible aliens” who scheduled appointments using the app were simply issued a “Notice to Appear” and then released into the country.
The detainees are not gang members, as Vermont’s migrant population is not gang-connected, she said. Most of the detainees were arrested for failure to make court dates or otherwise comply with federal law and regulations.
Surveillance cameras later captured several individuals running toward the stopped vehicle in a gas station parking lot.
Restricting access to the Haskell Free Library has sparked concern in communities on both sides of the international boundary.
Church officials claim immigration enforcement equates to hate and “othering.”
As southern border crossings plummet, northern border patrol direct hiring for help
H.298 will classify Vermont as a full-fledged sanctuary state, potentially costing it millions in federal law enforcement funding.
India led all October – January border encounters with 1,282.
Besides his federal co-workers from the Green Mountain State, Maland also was honored with a delegation of troopers from the Vermont State Police led by Lt. Andy Jenson, commander at the Derby barracks.
This series of ads will run on radio, broadcast, and digital, in multiple countries and regions in various dialects. Ads will be hyper-targeted, including through social media, text message and digital to reach illegal immigrants in the interior of the United States, as well as internationally.
Vermont, an outspoken bastion of sanctuary protections, has created a Task Force on the Federal Transition Panel.
Feds say Uribe-Tobar smuggled a pregnant woman, A.V.-F., from Canada for $2,500, by instructing her to wade through the frigid Great Chazy River in darkness.
The State of Vermont, municipalities and non-profits now receive $65.4 million in DOJ grant funding. Burlington alone has five grants totaling about $500,000.
Usually up to 20 detainees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are held in state prisons on a given day, sometimes more.
Border Patrol: An illegal immigrant was carrying a fully loaded firearm, a gun suppressor, extra ammunition and handcuff keys when he unlawfully entered the US.
The fact that millions of people illegally entered the U.S. and nine out 10 are ordered to be removed necessitates “a mass deportation operation,” he said. “Are these dirty words? No. On the end of historic mass illegal immigration with nine out of 10 getting orders for removal, there has to be a mass deportation program.
In fiscal 2024, agents reported 198,929 illegal border crosser apprehensions and encounters, the greatest number in U.S. history, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A search of the motorcycle revealed a loaded Walther P22 pistol, multiple magazines containing approximately 80 rounds of ammunition, a suspected suppressor, handcuff keys, knives, a collapsible baton, zip ties, and cell phones, authorities said.
“This is an everyday thing,” LeBlanc said, expressing concern for his family’s safety on their farm.
Why was O’Keefe prevented by a state trooper from approaching Robert Garcia’s home? Should Vermont’s status as a Sanctuary State affect VSP intervening on behalf of the Border Patrol?
Since fiscal 2021, federal agents have apprehended 1,746 known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) nationwide, the greatest number in U.S. history. The majority, 1,089, were caught at the northern border.
Nega-props to Canada PM Justin Trudeau: “Trudeau plays a huge part in this mess. He welcomed them all with open arms. As soon as they land in Canada, they head to the US. (Country of free handouts).”
The resolution was referred to House committees on Homeland Security and the Judiciary.
Mejia was working with her legal team to file for asylum and apply for a visa for human trafficking victims, said Migrant Justice.
In three recent cases, Border Patrol agents in Arizona released violent criminals who were later arrested nearly 3,000 miles away in New England.
The NBRC is a Federal-State partnership designed to stimulate economic growth and collaboration to improve rural economies across the four-state NBRC region.
“Local law enforcement should not be in the business of enforcing federal immigration law, and Vermont sheriffs need to be held accountable,” the ACLU says.
In one week, from April 28 to May 4, agents apprehended 492 illegal border crossers, more than the total apprehensions for all of fiscal 2021 of 365.
More than 1.7 million illegal entries in first six months of fiscal 2024.
The number of foreign national who have entered the U.S. illegally since 2021 outnumbers the population of New York City.
In 2023 there were three million apprehensions of illegal immigrants, a daily average of 8,219. Entering 2024, apprehensions were up to 12,000-15,000 per day.
Most migrants attempting to enter through Canada first travel from Mexico, the reason being that Canada does not require visas for entry.
In addition to a shotgun, law enforcement said they also found methamphetamine, brass knuckles, a knife and ammunition, including a 30-round AR-15 magazine and 103 rounds for the shotgun. Open beer cans also were found in the Jeep.
They represent the greatest number recorded in U.S. history.
