11 arrested after protesting outside Burlington ICE facility

Eleven people were arrested Tuesday after protesting outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Burlington, according to the town's police department.

Protestors have regularly gathered outside the administrative office, which has been housing detainees amid President Trump's mass deportation push, since last spring. The facility has drawn scrutiny from immigration advocates and elected officials for unsanitary conditions.

The protesters were reportedly bringing care packages of food, personal items, and a letter of support to detainees.

Eight of those arrested are from Maine. Before heading to Burlington, Rev. Allison Smith, senior minister of the Congregational Church in Cumberland, Maine, told Maine Public it was unlikely that the care packages would make it to the detainees, but said it was about sending a message.

"This is a matter of doing what's right," Smith said, "even in the face of the possibility of not being successful."

Andy Burt, an organizer from Maine who was arrested, told Maine Public that the group is undeterred.

"For some people who were here, it was the first time that they had ever taken an action like this, and they really were moved by the spirit of it all," she said.

Burlington police said officers responded to the building after Federal Protective Services officers reported that about 40 people were blocking the entrance. The majority of the protesters moved to what the police called the "free speech area," but arrested 11 for refusing to move.

"While it is never our initial goal to resolve a situation with an arrest, this was a clear act of civil disobedience in which the parties involved were intentionally blocking the entrance and seeking to be arrested," Burlington Police Chief Thomas Browne said.

He said the police department respects First Amendment rights of citizens, but is also "duty-bound to uphold the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

In a statement, Burlington police said all 11 people have been released from custody and will be summoned to court on charges of trespassing and disturbing the peace.