By Guy Page

Vermonters need only see what’s happening now in New Jersey to understand what could happen here if S.208, the police anti-mask mandate, had become law. Last Friday, Democrats’ last ditch effort to get the 100 votes needed to suspend House rules and pass the bill into law failed on a party-line vote. 

S.208, named standards for law enforcement identification, was sponsored by 13 Senate Democrats: Nader Hashim, Philip Baruth, Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Seth Bongartz, Thomas Chittenden, Martine Gulick, Ruth Hardy, Wendy Harrison, Virginia Lyons, Andrew Perchlik, Tanya Vyhovsky, Anne Watson and Rebecca White. 

As passed by the Vermont Senate, the bill requires all officers, including “any officer of a federal law enforcement agency or any person acting on behalf of a local, state, or federal law enforcement  agency,” to not wear masks except in some circumstances (swimming, protection from hazardous substances, etc.), very much not including immigration enforcement. 

The Vermont House removed the specific requirement for federal officers, recognizing that federal law and policy pre-empts state law and that therefore S.208 likely would not survive a court challenge. The version emerging from the Conference Committee last week restored, in somewhat softened language, the requirement to unmask federal agents. It failed in the House (see roll call below).

If S.208 had become law, Vermont anti-ICE demonstrators and the government officials in quiet or tacit support of them would have another weapon at their disposal – as seen in New Jersey.

As demonstrators continue to confront masked ICE agents at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility, the state’s anti-Trump, Democrat governor is taking the Trump administration to court to enforce a state law passed in March that requires agents to unmask. 

News From The States reports today:

When Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a trio of immigration-related bills in Newark in March, one of the bills was aimed at barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from covering their faces.

“We’re not going to tolerate masked, roving militias pretending to be well-trained law enforcement agents,” Sherrill, a Democrat, said then.

Yet scenes over the past 10 days of anti-ICE protesters clashing with federal agents outside migrant jail Delaney Hall have made clear the new law is not stopping ICE officers from masking.

“I don’t think they’re focused on due process,” Sherrill said at a press conference Sunday. “Certainly, they’re already breaking the law here in New Jersey by wearing masks everywhere. We’re in court to fight that right now.”

The Trump administration sued New Jersey in federal court in April over the new law, called the Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act (it bars all law enforcement from masking, not just ICE agents). Though a judge has yet to rule in the matter, Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the agency will not obey New Jersey’s “unconstitutional attempt to regulate law enforcement officers.”

“ICE officers wear face coverings for one reason: to protect themselves and their families from real-world threats including agitators. The danger is not hypothetical,” she said. “Today, our ICE law enforcement officers face a more than 1,300% increase in assaults, 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats against them.”

What neither News From the States nor most other news outlets have reported are the deadly threats made to unmasked ICE agents at Delaney Hall by at least one protester [editor’s note – the attached video contains extreme profanity]: “I’ll kill your whole ******* family. Your whole ******* family is dead.”

Democrat roll call falls short

Vermont House Democrats, knowing they were in their final floor session of 2026, and that the Senate version of s.208 was on the notice calendar to be voted the following day, sought to suspend the House rules and force a vote. Alas for them, suspension requires a two-third majority, and the Republican minority chose not to play along. Majority Leader Lori Houghton requested a roll call vote. Here it is:

YES

Cina of Burlington

Dodge of Essex

Goldman of Rockingham

Graning of Jericho

McGill of Bridport

Pouech of Hinesburg

Arsenault of Williston

Austin of Colchester

Berbeco of Winooski

Birong of Vergennes

Bishop of Colchester

Black of Essex

Bluemle of Burlington

Boyden of Cambridge

Brady of Williston

Brown of Richmond

Burke of Brattleboro

Burkhardt of South Burlington

Campbell of St. Johnsbury

Carris Duncan of Whitingham

Casey of Montpelier

Chapin of East Montpelier

Cole of Hartford

Conlon of Cornwall

Cooper of Pownal

Corcoran of Bennington

Critchlow of Colchester

Dolan of Essex Junction

Donahue of Northfield

Duke of Burlington

Durfee of Shaftsbury

Eastes of Guilford

Emmons of Springfield

Garofano of Essex

Goodnow of Brattleboro

Greer of Bennington

Harple of Glover

Headrick of Burlington

Holcombe of Norwich

Houghton of Essex Junction

Hoyt of Hartford

Hunter of Manchester

James of Manchester

Kimbell of Woodstock

Kleppner of Burlington

Kornheiser of Brattleboro

Krasnow of South Burlington

Lalley of Shelburne

LaLonde of South Burlington

LaMont of Morristown

Lipsky of Stowe

Logan of Burlington

Long of Newfane

Lueders of Lincoln

Masland of Thetford

McCann of Montpelier

Mihaly of Calais

Minier of South Burlington

Morrow of Weston

Mrowicki of Putney

Noyes of Wolcott

Nugent of South Burlington

Ode of Burlington

Olson of Starksboro

Pezzo of Colchester

Priestley of Bradford

Rachelson of Burlington

Scheu of Middlebury

Sheldon of Middlebury

Sibilia of Dover

Squirrell of Underhill

Stevens of Waterbury

Stone of Burlington

Sweeney of Shelburne

Tomlinson of Winooski

Waszazak of Barre City

Waters Evans of Charlotte

White of Bethel

White of Waitsfield

Wood of Waterbury

Yacovone of Morristown

NO

Galfetti of Barre Town

Wells of Brownington

Bailey of Hyde Park

Bosch of Clarendon

Boutin of Barre City

Branagan of Georgia

Brigham of St. Albans Town

Burditt of West Rutland

Burtt of Cabot

Canfield of Fair Haven

Casey of Hubbardton

Charlton of Chester

Coffin of Cavendish

Demar of Enosburgh

Dickinson of St. Albans Town

Dobrovich of Williamstown

Dolgin of St. Johnsbury

Feltus of Lyndon

Goslant of Northfield

Hango of Berkshire

Harvey of Castleton

Higley of Lowell

Howland of Rutland Town

Kascenska of Burke

Keyser of Rutland City

Labor of Morgan

Laroche of Franklin

Long of Milton

Luneau of St. Albans City

Malay of Pittsford

Marcotte of Coventry

McCoy of Poultney

Micklus of Milton

Morgan of Milton

Morgan of Milton

Morris of Springfield

Morrissey of Bennington

Nelson of Derby

Nielsen of Brandon

Oliver of Sheldon

Page of Newport City

Pinsonault of Dorset

Powers of Waterford

Pritchard of Pawlet

Quimby of Lyndon

Soucy of Barre Town

Southworth of Walden

Steady of Milton

Tagliavia of Corinth

Taylor of Mendon

Walker of Swanton

ABSENT

Bartholomew of Hartland

Bartley of Fairfax

Bos-Lun of Westminster

Burrows of West Windsor

Christie of Hartford

Gregoire of Fairfield

Hooper of Randolph

Howard of Rutland City

Maguire of Rutland City

Nigro of Bennington

North of Ferrisburgh

O’Brien of Tunbridge

Parsons of Newbury

Satcowitz of Randolph

Scully of Burlington

Torre of Moretown

Winter of Ludlow

Frustrated by the failure of the rules suspension request, 15 Democrats and Progressives voted no on the subsequent question to adjourn the Legislature.