May 5, 2026

Take 2 minutes TODAY to call your legislators!

View this email in your browser Vermont Asylum Assistance Project is a legal services and technical assistance organization that exists to mentor no-cost and low-cost immigration lawyers and legal workers; educate and serve VT immigrants and community members; maximize impact across sectors; and advocate to protect immigrants’ rights. Join us: www.vaapvt.org. Donate to VAAP Want to read this newsletter in Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Dari, or Portuguese? Visit www.vaapvt.org/newsletters and select your language in the top right corner. ¿Desea leer este boletín en español, francés, criollo haitiano, dari o portugués? Visite www.vaapvt.org/newsletters y seleccione su idioma en la esquina superior derecha. Quer ler este boletim em espanhol, francês, crioulo haitiano, dari ou português? Visite www.vaapvt.org/newsletters e selecione seu idioma no canto superior direito. Voulez-vous lire ce bulletin en espagnol, français, créole haïtien, dari ou portugais? Visitez www.vaapvt.org/newsletters et choisissez votre langue en haut à droite. Vle li bilten sa a an panyòl, fransè, kreyòl ayisyen, dari oswa pòtigè? Ale sou www.vaapvt.org/newsletters epi chwazi lang ou anlè adwat. آیا می‌خواهید این خبرنامه را به اسپانیایی، فرانسوی، کریول هایتی، دری یا پرتغالی بخوانید؟ به www.vaapvt.org/newsletters بروید و زبان خود را در گوشهٔ بالا سمت راست انتخاب کنید. STATE HOUSE ALERT: CALL TODAY TO SAVE S71, S208, H951 Find your legislator at legislature.vermont.gov/people Call them at 802-828-2228 Identify your first name and town and leave them a message demanding they: 1. Fight ICE surveillance through S71; 2. Restore federal accountability in S208; and 3. Restore the legal helpline in H951 that keeps VT immigrants healthy and housed! 🚨Call this morning: VT immigrants need us now Please take two minutes today to call your legislators. This week, the Vermont Legislature is making critical decisions that will affect immigrant families across our state. This morning, we need lawmakers to hear clearly from Vermonters that immigrant communities deserve real protection, real accountability, and real access to legal help. Find your legislators: legislature.vermont.gov/people Call the State House: 802-828-2228 When you call, identify your first name and town, and leave this message: “Hi, I’m calling to urge my legislators [Senator NAME] and [Representative NAME] to protect Vermont immigrant families by please: Fighting ICE surveillance through S.71; Restoring federal accountability in S.208; and Restoring Vermont Legal Aid helpline funding in H.951 so immigrant families can stay healthy, housed, and safe. Thank you.” 📌Why this matters: immigrant safety starts here S.71: Fight ICE surveillance. Businesses have had an outsized voice in shaping data security in Vermont. They are counting on organizations that represent and serve the communities most vulnerable to data being weaponized—including immigrants, trans people, and other targeted minorities—to be too busy responding to federal attacks to speak up. But not today. Because we have all of you, lawmakers can hear that Vermont must not let private data systems become tools for ICE surveillance. If you want to learn more about the importance of data protection, check out the ACLU of Vermont's Firewall of Freedom Campaign as well as the Electronic Privacy Information Center's testimony regarding S.71.  S.208: Restore federal accountability. S.208 was supposed to ensure that law enforcement officers operating in Vermont are identifiable and accountable to the public. But the bill has been weakened so that federal officials are carved out. Some lawmakers are afraid that a recent Ninth Circuit decision prevents Vermont from acting. We urge them to read that decision narrowly and distinguish Vermont’s approach by crafting S.208 broadly—not singling out ICE, but covering all federal agents exercising law enforcement powers in our state. Trump cannot be the only one pushing the law. Vermont has a legacy as a legal laboratory in service of the common benefit. Now is the time to double down. H.951: Restore the Vermont Legal Aid helpline. We are grateful that the FY27 budget includes $200,000 for a Vermont Legal Aid immigration attorney, which stands to sustain the central and southern Vermont community immigration lawyers pilot while we strategize for FY28. But that cannot come at the expense of the intake line that helps clients get connected with counsel in the first place. Cutting the Legal Aid helpline while funding a lawyer is like cutting the charge nurse from a hospital emergency department. The helpline is the front door to justice for people facing housing, benefits, health care, domestic violence, discrimination, disability, education, and other crises—and these are immigrant justice issues too. ⏩Every call matters: ask three friends to call, too After you call, please forward this email or text three friends and ask them to call too. Every call matters. Every message helps. Vermonters are watching, and we expect our state to stand with immigrant communities. With gratitude and urgency, Jill Martin Diaz, Esq. Executive Director Donate to VAAP Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2026, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.