FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct 6, 2026 | Contact: press@shutdownicevt.org
Protesters Install Permanent Community Garden, Blocking ICE Tipline
Williston, VT – At approximately 7am, protesters installed a community garden that blocked both sides of the road leading to the ICE Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC). Community members started to construct four 8 ft. long raised beds, filling them with vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants. Fixed in place with liquid nails, and weighing over a thousand pounds each, the planters continue to block access to the ICE National Tipline and other LESC facilities. An array of pots and smaller planters expanded the garden over the course of the day, as additional community members arrived with plants and other additions to the project.
Participants in the action highlighted the relationships between borders, immigration enforcement, data centers, and climate change as connected forms of environmental violence. “ICE’s surveillance technology is extremely energy-intensive, much of it powered by AI and data centers,” said Isaac Petersen, a gardener and organizer. “It harms our communities directly by targeting our neighbors. By replacing access to these facilities with a community garden today, we built one piece of a better world.”
Local police responded immediately, telling protesters to leave the road, but the group of around 30 people continued construction of the gardens. The planters are painted with flowers, insects, and slogans such as “no borders,” “stronger together,” and “from Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go.” By 10am a full-blown dance party broke out and continued through the afternoon. As of 4:30pm, the gardens remain firmly in place, surveilled by state and local police.
“ICE doesn’t make our communities better, everyday people do,” said Leif Taranta, an organizer with the Climate Disobedience Center and VT ICE Detainee Tracker. And that absolutely includes our beloved immigrant siblings. As long as ICE continues stealing and disappearing our neighbors, we will continue building community infrastructure that blocks their way.”
The LESC not only responds to tips; it also performs “proactive targeting” of individuals. It houses ICE’s central database of information on 340,000 targets for arrest, and answers about 55,000 calls per year from local law enforcement to help them identify people that ICE wants to arrest. If a deportation or raid happens, it's likely it started with this facility in Vermont.
This action was a part of a week of activities organized by local groups, including Shut Down ICE VT, to bring attention to unjust and inhumane ICE practices nationally. Tomorrow, on the anniversary of the October 7th attacks and the escalation of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, protesters will gather at the White Cap business park to draw attention to the DHS’s use of IDF technology at its surveillance and targeting facilities. More at shutdownicevt.org
