HARDWICK – Shortly before Town Meeting Day, a select board candidates’ forum was held in Hardwick’s Jeudevine Memorial Library. Each of the seven candidates expressed concern about affordability. The message that came across was the cost of living and taxes are too high.
On March 11, ICE agents went to South Burlington in search of Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, an undocumented Mexican man. He was wanted because he allegedly came into the United States illegally in 2021, was caught, deported in 2022 and then eventually came back, to Vermont. He was charged in January with allegedly driving under the influence in Middlebury and given a court date; his immigration status was not questioned.
About 7:30 a.m., March 11, according to police and news reports, an ICE agent on Dorset Street saw two men get into a car. He ran the license plate and, learning the car was registered to Corona-Sanchez, tried to pull it over with the help of other unmarked ICE vehicles. A chase ensued, the car crashed and the two occupants sprinted away, all only a few blocks from where students and staff were arriving at South Burlington High School and Tuttle Middle School. According to the ICE agents, the two people ran into a house on Dorset Street.
Other agents arrived, as did citizens who surrounded the house. The busy street was soon filled with more ICE vehicles, and vehicles from the Vermont State Police and from South Burlington and Burlington police. An armed Vermont State Police tactical unit was also brought in. A day-long stand-off between the police and the crowd followed. Around 5:30 p.m., ICE agents presented a warrant from a federal judge to enter the home to arrest Corona-Sanchez.
Three people, none listed on the arrest warrant, were taken from the house and jailed.
Photos and videos taken at the scene, and a state police statement, indicate flash-bang grenades, pepper balls and other chemicals were used by ICE to break up the crowd. The state police also used an irritant after someone allegedly broke the window of a state police vehicle.
According to a state police spokesman, state police arrested several people for disorderly conduct and engaged in “pushing and moving members of the public out of the way as needed.”
The day’s events came with a price tag: none of the ICE agents nor any of the police spent the day working for free; all of the police vehicles cost money. The fuel in the vehicles had a cost. The cost of police uniforms, including the tactical clothing, the guns, ammunition, the flash-bang grenades, the chemical spray, the gas masks, the helmets and heavy boots came out of budgets. The court clerks and the judge who issued the warrant for Corona-Sanchez’s arrest were paid for their work. An ambulance took a woman, allegedly thrown to the ground by a police officer, to the emergency room. Rescue squads and the medical professionals at the hospital are paid. There is a cost to keep the three arrested people in jail. Later court dates for arrested protesters have a cost, including court officers, clerks, a judge, and if needed, jurors. Several Burlington-area legislators, who are paid, went to the South Burlington site. Thursday, Gov. Scott and the Public Safety Commissioner held a meeting with legislative leaders to review Wednesday’s event. The public officials are paid.
Who knows the total cost of the attempt by ICE to arrest Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez who, it turns out, was not in the house.
The cost, whatever it is, is paid by taxes. Taxes collected on the local, state and federal levels. Our taxes.
What happened in South Burlington, March 11, was not an isolated incident. What happened in Vermont has happened in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and countless other places around the country, and will continue to happen.
Our taxes paid for and will continue to pay for every one of those ICE raids and related costs.
Affordability? The taxes are too high?
The taxes spent to try to capture Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez could be used to help pay for roads, bridges, education, health care, housing, food, public safety and the many other needs that can make this a healthier and more affordable country.
Affordability is a commendable goal. Squandering billions, yes, billions, of tax dollars on a crusade to cleanse the country of “the other” (to say nothing of the billions of tax dollars to wage an illegal war) is a pot-holed, mud-deep road to follow to get to an affordable cost of living.
Connelly was editor and co-publisher of The Hardwick Gazette from 1986 to 2017.
