Protesters continue to call for an end to ICE

(WCAX)
Published: Oct. 20, 2019 at 7:58 PM EDT
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Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Williston Homeland Security offices on Saturday to speak out against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The crowd of more than 200, consisting mostly of college students, demanded government officials close holding camps, defund and abolish ICE, and support Migrant Justice.

The Peace & Justice Center and Women's March Vermont last organized a demonstration in July when school wasn't in session, so they encouraged more students to participate this time.

Organizers say the event focused on ICE but their overarching mission also protests the F-35s and environmental issues.

'We need to be looking at all these things in conjunction with one another, that if we're going to undo one of them, we're going to need to undo all of it. We're going to have to look at the root causes. We're going to have to look at racism and capitalism as a whole if we want to undo the militarism of the borders, the militarism of our own land here in Vermont, and all the other issues that people are concerned about," said Rachel Siegel, Executive Director of the Peace & Justice Center.

"A big part of what we're trying to do with Refugee Outreach Club is to get students involved because there is so much power in youth. We're the people who are growing up into this world, we're inheriting this world, and we have so much power to shape it into what we want it to be," said Olivia Pintair with the Refugee Outreach Club at Middlebury College.

Organizers say they have been protesting in Williston because it's home to a Vermont Technical College campus which contracted with ICE in the past and the ICE Data Center.