WBUR News7%
Inside a botched ICE raid in Vermont, based on review of 130 hours of body cam footage 19%
By Vermont Public Staff0%
7/22/2026, 6:15:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Ambiguity (Equivocation), Hasty Generalization, and Biased Writer Voice, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 7.8% saturation with 88 hits. Analysis detected 931 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,132 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34.1% and a BS Rank of 19% (16,123 of 19,730 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 81.70% of the article peer group.
Several weeks after a botched ICE raid in March led to violent clashes between federal immigration agents and local activists in South Burlington, Vermont police agencies released more than 130 hours of body camera footage from the scene.
This outlet and others have reported stories based on a small amount of the footage.
But at a time when the national debate about immigration enforcement and the conduct of ICE has boiled over, we thought the story demanded more.
Vermont Public newsroom staffers reviewed all of the video, as well as other sources of information about what happened that day.
Here are a few takeaways.
1.
Relations between Vermont police and ICE were tense from the beginning.
In a press conference later that night, and in public comments in the weeks that followed, local police heavily criticized the actions of ICE agents on the scene.
A comprehensive review of the video shows that was not simply after-action posturing: Vermont officers were skeptical and critical of ICE’s actions in real time, and many of the exchanges were heated.
Video captured South Burlington police criticizing ICE’s decision to initiate the vehicle chase on busy Dorset Street that involved several crashes and set the day’s events in motion.
“Well it’s a good example of why we don’t do pursuits like this, because, like you said, if kids are out here,” South Burlington Police officer Justin Maki told a woman whose minivan had been struck in the chase.
Shortly after 9 a.m., Mark Anzelmo, an ICE supervisor in Boston, called South Burlington police, pleading for help.
“We’re waiting for you guys to assist us,” he said.
“We’ve got a few of us and a hundred protesters on scene.”
But South Burlington police weren’t in a hurry to come to ICE’s aid.
“We’ll monitor what’s going on, but we’re not going to be shoving people back or anything like that,” South Burlington Police Lt.
Patrick Mulcahy said.
(Before the end of the day, local and state police would be doing just that.)
South Burlington police appear to have been in communication with counterparts inside the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security in an effort to pressure ICE agents to back off.
“I’m being told from your command that you guys are supposed to be standing down,” Sgt.
Matthew Plunkett told ICE Supervisory Agent David Johnston.
“We’re taking him out, dude.
I’m taking him in cuffs.
I don’t care,” Johnston replied.
Hours later, as a crowd of protesters grew, an ICE agent accused Deputy South Burlington Police Chief Sean Briscoe of supporting the anti-ICE activists.
“I’m not on their side,” Briscoe said to the agent.
“ I’m just trying to make sure this shit doesn’t escalate.”
The video also reveals tense interactions between multiple local officers on the ground and ICE agent Colton Riley.
2.
At least some local officers on the ground foresaw the criticism they would receive for intervening.
Vermont State Police arrived on the scene after activists had surrounded the Dorset Street building where agents erroneously believed a Mexican man named Deyvi Daniel Corona Sanchez was hiding.
Video captured Vermont State Police Lt.
Cory Lozier debriefing his troopers on their assignment.
He seemed almost apologetic as he relayed orders that the team would have to push aside protesters to allow ICE agents to execute a warrant.
“Believe it or not, the only thing we can do is possibly all go in as a unit and move these people back off the house,” Lozier told troopers on the scene.
He then noted that if they did not act, an ICE tactical team would intervene, with more violence.
“They’re going to toss anybody out of their way,” Lozier told his troopers.
“They’re not from Vermont, they’re not going to care about any of us.
We all know that.
So we’re thinking we’re going to have to possibly intervene, get people off the house, front and rear, to give them an avenue to execute the warrant.”
Lozier then presciently told his troopers exactly how protesters and a chunk of the public would interpret their actions.
“It’s not going to go well for us,” he said.
“It’s going to all focus on us, we’re not supposed to be collaborating with ICE.”
3.
Interactions between protesters and ICE and local police were heated.
But not always.
The body camera videos capture innumerable instances of activists screaming profanity at officers on the scene, often while standing in close proximity, and calling them Nazis.
But there were also a handful of moments that showed civil, respectful dialogue.
“I appreciate what you’re doing,” a woman told a South Burlington officer.
“Thank you for keeping the peace.”
“Thank you, yeah, we’re happy to do whatever we can do,” the South Burlington officer told her.
“Ninety-nine percent of people here don’t want to be in this situation.”
4.
Law enforcement’s lack of an exit plan set the stage for the worst events.
While much of the attention on local police’s actions has focused on their work creating a pathway for ICE to enter the South Burlington home, less had been paid on what came next.
The videos make clear there was effectively no plan for how ICE and local police would be able to beat back hundreds of protesters and depart the scene once arrests were made.
The videos capture police frustrated and surprised by how effective protesters were at blocking Dorset Street and slowing ICE from leaving with the three people they arrested.
The arrests of activists and most combative uses of force occurred during this time.
Unable to move — or arrest — enough people to break the deadlock, state police asked to deploy chemical irritants to disperse the crowd.
But supervisors on scene were rebuffed by higher-ups at a distant command post.
5.
Some Vermont police became skeptical that ICE's suspect was in the house.
At different points throughout the day, at least two Vermont police officers questioned whether Corona Sanchez was actually inside the home.
During the raid, Lozier heard from a fellow state police officer that ICE hadn't found Corona Sanchez.
"What if he's not in the house," Lozier asked.
ICE agents ultimately arrested three adults inside the house — two Ecuadorian sisters, Jisella Johana Patin Patin and Camila Patin Patin, and a man from Honduras, Christian Humberto Jerez Andrade.
Federal judges granted release to the two sisters in the weeks after the raid.
Jerez Andrade was released on bond.
Their attorneys say ICE violated their civil rights by arresting them in their home.
The Department of Homeland Security is still looking for Deyvi Daniel Corona Sanchez.
This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative.
It was originally published by Vermont Public.
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