By Guy Page
Updated from earlier post
The chair of the Burlington Republican Committee is promoting a Pro-ICE agent rally in Burlington.
The event originally scheduled for Saturday, January 24 had been postponed due to predicted extreme cold and pending the securing of a demonstration permit, Bill Oetjen, chair of the Burlington GOP committee told VDC.
The post reads: “Bill Oetjen, Burlington’s GOP chair, is hosting a pro-ICE demonstration supporting ICE agents in Burlington.”
While anti-ICE demonstrations by No Kings, Indivisible, and PSL are plentiful in Vermont, few if any demonstrations have been called on behalf of Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
“After further reflection and some feedback I’d received, it occurred to me that some groundwork would be in order,” Oetjen said. He cited extremely cold temperatures forecast for Saturday and advice from a MAGA VT group member who recommended pushing the date back.
Oetjen said the delay will allow organizers to coordinate with the Burlington Police Department to ensure a uniformed police presence and to apply for a demonstration permit. “No permit is legally necessary, but it lends the event more legitimacy,” he said.
Responding to questions about the purpose of the demonstration, Oetjen said support for ICE is broader than often portrayed.
“Many Vermonters do support ICE. Those are the voices that have been routinely dismissed almost everywhere in the media,” he said. “Our visibility can help counter the predominant narrative.”
Oetjen also said organizers are mindful of potential attempts to provoke conflict. “I used to be on the hard Left, and I know their tactics,” he said. “Buying time allows us to set strict guidelines for us to maintain discipline.”
He added that negative media coverage is likely regardless. “What does it matter? They do it all the time whether we peacefully stand and wave flags, or hide in our homes.”
Oetjen said he has contacted Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke and plans to follow up. “I will continue the conversation and take his recommendations under consideration,” he said.
“My motto as current chairman of the BTVGOP is that we must be vocal and visible to be viable,” Oetjen said, arguing that Burlington needs Republican representation on the City Council and its boards and commissions.
The announcement was seen today (January 19) by VDC on reddit, a generally-Progressive social media site where comments ranged from ‘ignore them’ to suggesting throwing water balloons and ice at protesters. Anti-ICE protesters in recent months have scrawled graffiti on the Williston ICE office, and have demonstrated in solidarity with illegal immigrants being detained by ICE.
Oetjen’s planned demonstration in support of ICE comes following weeks of aggressive socialist protests against ICE detainment actions in Minneapolis and a day after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on CBS’s Face The Nation Sunday that 70% of ICE detainees have criminal records, including violent crime, in addition to the crime of entering the United States illegally: “Every single individual has committed a crime, but 70% of them have committed or have charges against them on violent crimes, and crimes that they are charged with or have been convicted of, that have come from other countries.”
Face The Nation host Margaret Brennan disputed the claim but did not provide details.