In Vt., 'protect and serve' includes illegal immigrants

By DANIEL BARLOW
and BRENT CURTIS
STAFF WRITERS - Published: July 11, 2010

MONTPELIER - Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley believes that when someone is a member of his community, it doesn't matter how the person got there.

As the state of Arizona prepares to implement the strictest immigration law in the country, this college town set amid dairy country - where many farmers now rely on immigrant labor - has taken a different approach to illegal immigration. Middlebury police don't ask about immigration status, don't seek out workers who are in the country illegally, and have a tough policy against anything resembling racial profiling.

"We are a public peace agency," Hanley said late last week. "My agency focuses on enforcing criminal statutes and state laws."

Hanley, who debuted his department's anti-racial profiling policy - by pure coincidence - on Sept. 13, 2001, said that immigration is a federal issue. Vermont police enforce Vermont laws. Unless a person is involved in criminal activity, he instructs his officers not to seek out those who may not have permission to live in the United States.

"My job is to keep the community safe, and that means everyone in the community," Hanley said. "Seeking out people who are not here legally is a distraction from our mission. I don't have the staff or the resources. It's just not good police work."

Safety, justice first

The town's policy on illegal immigrants - passed by the Select Board in October 2007 - states that "Department employees will act first and foremost in the best interests of our community and our mission when dealing with undocumented foreign nationals who come to the department for help or to make reports, giving full priority to public safety and justice concerns in preference over rigid enforcement of immigration regulations."

That's nearly identical language to the Burlington Police Department's written policy on dealing with residents who may be immigrants. That plan probably was made possible by the bold actions of Middlebury's Hanley, according to civil rights experts in Vermont.

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http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100711/NEWS/100719991/1002/NEWS01

I'm so glad I got married in Vermont.

"My job is to keep the community safe, and that means everyone in the community," Hanley said. "Seeking out people who are not here legally is a distraction from our mission. I don't have the staff or the resources. It's just not good police work."

Nice to see it written in policy.

OK...I exaggerate. They have at least 7.

http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/vermont.html