The Ven. Susan McMillan and the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp of the Diocese of Vermont had joined in blockading the doors of the facility for about an hour, until they were arrested by local police and state troopers, according to WCAX-TV.
Vermont State Police later released booking photos of the clergy members, including McMillan and Kooperkamp, standing in front of a concrete block wall.
Vermont Bishop Shannon MacVean-Brown, in a message to the diocese, said that McMillan and Kooperkamp were released shortly after being booked on charges of unlawful trespass. She added that civil disobedience has “a long history in our country and The Episcopal Church.”
“Archdeacon McMillan and Rev. Kooperkamp joined a smaller group who chose to enter the offices, aiming to disrupt the work of ICE. This was planned as a nonviolent action by a broad grassroots coalition of Vermont faith leaders,” MacVean-Brown said. “As Christians, we are called not only to bear witness to injustice but to act. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbor, that is not a passive action. It is constant, immediate, and proactive.”
MacVean-Brown also shared a statement from McMillan about the protest.
“Our national leaders, claiming to be Christian, authorize heinous and immoral policies, and the implementation of those policies starts right here,” the archdeacon said. “Every day, from this building, ICE surveils, determining which man, woman or child should be targeted. And then that person, or someone mistaken for that person, or a brown-skinned person who happens to be nearby, is kidnapped, incarcerated without due process, and their life destroyed.
“If Jesus were here in the U.S. today, he could easily be caught in this trap and deported. This is not Christianity and I have to fight this cruelty in every way I can.”