By Guy Page
The operator of a Swanton convenience store, an Indian national, was detained by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities earlier this month for illegal entry and due to alleged crimes committed in India, an ICE spokesperson told VDC this morning.
Premkumar Pankajkumar Patel – known to Grand Avenue Quick Stop patrons as Pete – is detained and will be deported, authorities said.
“On Nov. 9, 2025, Officers with ICE Boston conducted a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Swanton, Vermont to arrest Premkumar Pankajkumar Patel, an illegal alien and habitual criminal offender from India. Patel’s criminal history includes charges for DUI, assault and battery 2nd degree, petit larceny, and criminal possession stolen property,” an ICE public affairs spokesperson said.
“Patel illegally entered the United States sometime in 2019. A Justice Department immigration judge gave a final order of removal of Patel to India on December 9, 2020. Patel will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States.
“Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is committed to prioritizing public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien offenders from American communities.”
The information was provided following VDC coverage of a Vermont lawmaker calling for transparency from federal immigration authorities after witnessing the apparent detention of a Swanton store owner earlier this month.
Rep. Joe Luneau (R – Franklin-3) wrote to Gov. Phil Scott’s office detailing what he described as a troubling encounter on Sunday, Nov. 9, at the Grand Avenue Quick Stop in Swanton. Luneau, who represents St. Albans City, said he stopped by the store midday and greeted the owner — known to customers as Peter — as he regularly does. The couple who run the convenience store, originally from the Indian subcontinent, have operated the business for about a year.
According to Luneau, three law enforcement officers were inside the store, two wearing uniforms marked with ICE insignia. One agent asked the owner whether anyone else could run the store because he needed to accompany them for questioning. When the owner asked for documentation supporting the request, the agent reportedly said none was available. The officers then closed and locked the store. Luneau said he watched customers turn away in the parking lot.
When he returned a few hours later, the shop had reopened. The owner’s wife told Luneau that her husband had been taken for questioning in what she believed was a case of mistaken identity. But Luneau said he has visited the store daily since and has not seen the owner, raising concerns that he may be detained or has fled to avoid detention.
In his letter, Luneau urged the Scott administration to seek clarity from federal authorities. U.S. Marshals and U.S. Border Patrol have existing contracts with the state to house federal detainees at Northwest Correctional Facility in St. Albans and Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. Other federal agencies, including ICE, may use those contracts as well.
Luneau said Vermonters deserve to know whether individuals held in state-run facilities are being detained by federal agencies and why.
“The Administration should be advised by ICE or any other federal agency as to why an individual is being held if said individual is being lodged at a facility owned by the State of Vermont,” he wrote. “It may or may not be that due process is being regularly honored, but Vermonters cannot have faith in this in the absence of this information.”
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Categories: Border
As usual in Vermont, and most of Northeast, Law Enforcement is proven guilty before the facts are published! Go figure he really was a criminal
Thank you Joe Luneau for taking the time to make this government accountable to the public. Comment from Richard Day.
A convicted criminal in India, illegal entry in the United States and fled a deportation order issued by a judge………… no wonder the libs hate ICE for keeping the country safe.
I want illegal citizens out of this country just as much as the next person; however, this has nothing to do with the innocence or guilt of a person. Joe’s instincts are absolutely right about this whole event.
Our tax dollars are being used, and the public deserves to know to the fullest extent why and the details. Being truthful is never a bad option.
Also, the fact that an ICE agent could take someone into custody without any documentation, worries me regarding my rights and safety.
Thanks Joe. This should raise concern for both Conservatives and Liberals alike.
So, it was determined that he was here illegally. Thank you for your support.
Well Rebecca, looks like we now know that he was deportable, based on info regarding his immigration status and behavior prior to arriving here. Sorry, maybe he seemed like a nice guy, but if he is here illegally and has a prior criminal record… why should we pay to incarcerate him??? Send him back!
Troubling case.
Troubling?? Because….??? You would prefer that criminal illegal entrants be allowed to remain and roam free?
Ernie, I think you’re misconstruing what phantomroseexpress stated….
Here illegally criminal offenses from India
Fled once disobeying a judge now they wanna cry
Luneau should become his sponsor
And accompany him back to India maybe buy him a slush puppy
Here illegally and caught. Sorry about his inconvenience, but the law is the law. Maybe if he was a democrat, he could get away with it.
Not just here illegally, but a criminal here illegally!
Perhaps Rep. Luneau should stay in his own lane and let the authorities do their jobs without interference.
Perhaps this Trump ICE government should be held accountable for every action and we do not need dark shadow operations. Looks like the Trump crowd are coming under heavy bad opinions from the victims of Epstein child trafficking operations.
I think people miss the fact that ICE has rescued thousands of missing children…
I think it’s crucial to remember and keep in mind that the Trump administration is doing exactly what we elected it to do: clean up the egregious mess and profusion of illegal immigrants for whom the previous administration intentionally and stupidly held the door open to create chaos and destroy our country.
Why are folks here so quick to automatically believe the anecdotal reports of what happened, prejudicially assuming our CBP and ICE LEOs must be doing something wrong?
How do any of us know what ICE’s rules are for identifying themselves, or what really happened without the taint of TDS anti-American suspicions and vitriol being part of every story? Perhaps they don’t tell the Marxist TDS government officials in Vermont what they’re about to do because those same officials might then tip off the illegal aliens and try to hide them. And for good reason: the Scott administration and just about every local jurisdiction in Vermont is in rebellion against the federal governments directives to remove illegal alien criminals from our cities and states. So, if local LE won’t cooperate with CBP and ICE, why should CBP and ICE sabotage their own mission by publicly announcing what they’re doing? We don’t mind it when covert sting operations are conducted to apprehend and punish rings of pedophile pornographers and sex traffickers of children. This is why we have undercover operations. The truth is that when President Trump ran for office and was elected, he stated up front what his administration would do. So, all those who should t be here and snuck in illegally should have considered themselves forewarned.
Of course, when the Gestapo and KGB arrested their “enemies,” they did it for demonic, totalitarian, and brutal reasons. If our LEOs and CBP and ICE agents were doing this, that would be wrong. But they are operating under a mandate that we, the majority of the electorate, gave them. However, we’ve become so accustomed to going so soft on lawbreakers that when our LEOs are doing the job they were hired to do, woke folk think it’s mean and overreaching. No, it’s just normal common sense law enforcement.
But wisdom is proven by its actions, and turns out Patel is a criminal after all, not only in his own native country, but also in ours by illegally coming here and lying about it, to boot.
Citizens of the US have the guarantee and safeguard of due process; criminal illegal aliens criminals do not. We must not allow ourselves to be infected by the woke mind virus. It is an erroneous and distorted worldview.
Looks like the farmers in Vermont are not worried about ICE rounding up their farm help. What will happen when all the farm workers are rounded up, will you support their removal??????? We do not allow double standards. The trouble with having a rat in your chicken coop, using a ten gauge double barrel shot gun to solve the problem, you could find your yard full of feathers.
I was taught, at an early age, that illegal meant illegal. If I drive past your house at 100 miles per hour, past your animals or children, do I expect that I’m not going to get caught? Even though I did it for years and finally got caught, should I expect no punishment for my actions?
The Epstein files. Thirty days. DRIP, DRIP, DRIP. We are still waiting. DRIP, DRIP, DRIP. The complete sewer rat crooks in Washington can not let this come out. DRIP, DRIP, DRIP.
The Epstein thing is settle by ‘Democracy’, a bipartisan Bill passed in both House and Senate, unanimously in Senate with 30 days to release information that is not part of the ongoing investigation of following the Billions banks were hiding, even though they were suspicious of where it was coming from. Over 5,000 suspicious activity reports were issued by bank security departments, which fell on deaf ears during the Clinton, Obama and Biden years. In 2005 Epstein was ejected from MaraLago, 2006 he was arrested in Florida on the only arrest for actually touching a minor, 17 years old, 2017 President Trump issues executive order 13773 to make it easier to track human trafficking, 2019 Epstein arrested and put in Federal Prison. Dr. Jeffery Epstein, one of apron 1500 people in NY that share the name, of NYC is donating money to Jasmine Crokett, so he can publicly say she took money from Jeffery Epstein
Those masked thugs!
https://lawenforcementtoday.com/border-czar-tom-homan-30,000-children-rescued#xurnpnbjyifnczcunty6tod9cfj8m4d2
Were any banks in the pure State of Vermont guilty of laundering money thru tax exempt bonds to build low income housing???? Inquiring minds would like to know.
The elephant in the room is DOPE!!!!! How many of your working class children were POISONED and their young American life ruined by these psychopathic filthy monster invaders??? These cockroaches should be hung and left on display on town square. Our young peoples blood is crying up from the ground. Stop ignoring the obvious. Save young lives.
Has anyone besides me found themselves wondering how someone who just arrived here five years ago has managed to acquire a business? That takes capital, and VT is not exactly the easiest place to get a business start up going, when one considers the expense of doing anything here… on top of overly burdensome regulation. Hmmm…?
Anyone ever heard of George Soros and some of his work????