This is a big, complicated subject, and there’s no way I’m going to do justice to all its facets — or even mention them all — in a single blogpost. But let’s start with Burlington police chief Shawn Burke blaming “agitators” for triggering conflict at the infamous March 11 ICE action in South Burlington.

Yeah, well. First, the real “agitators” at the scene were the goon squads from ICE, conducting a wrong-headed, overly aggressive action designed more for intimidation than law enforcement. If not for them, there would have been no protest at all. (Scorecard: The ICE agent who started it all has officially acknowledged he was mistaken, and the three people taken into custody have all been released. So what exactly did it accomplish, eh?)

Second, I’ve been hearing officials blame “agitators” for causing all the trouble since my teenage years at the height of the Vietnam War, and it goes back even farther than that. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., outside agitator extraordinaire.

Third, well, effective agitation seems to be our best tactic in the face of galloping authoritarianism, so Chief Burke can spare me the pearl-clutching. The official processes of our putative democracy have proven to be largely ineffectual. Is it any wonder that some are choosing to take it to the streets?

Let’s start with local and state police. Their tactics are open to question, and I hope there will be a thorough accounting. But honestly, they were in a tough spot. They were legally bound to keep the peace and assist in executing a court-issued warrant. Their presence may have prevented another Minneapolis tragedy. If poorly-trained and (sometimes) ideologically-driven ICE forces had been facing an angry crowd on their own, pepper spray might have been followed by gunfire.

Emphasizing here that I don’t hold local or state police blameless, but neither do I expect them to cast down their shields and join the resistance.

Let’s move on to the Vermont Legislature. The House and Senate Judiciary Committees held a joint hearing last Thursday, featuring testimony from state and local police officials. I think this was well-intentioned, but it platformed the police’s version of events while the voices of critics and protesters were not part of the formal record. I spoke with House Judiciary chair Martin LaLonde about this; he said that so many people requested speaking time that they decided to hold two hearings — one for police and one for community views. The second hearing is likely to be held next week.

Personally, I think they could have made room on Thursday for a couple of advocacy groups like Migrant Justice or ACLU of Vermont and scheduled a public hearing for everyone else, but I don’t know what goes into holding a legislative hearing and maybe that was impracticable.

Anyway. Holding these hearings serves two purposes: Shining a spotlight, and gathering information for the legislative process. Full marks to the committees on the former point; don’t expect anything ground-breaking from the latter. They’ve been working on bills related to ICE and Border Patrol, but it’s not easy. A state’s ability to pre-empt federal authority on these issues is pretty limited. Plus as a practical reality, lawmakers have to think about what will be acceptable to risk-averse Gov. Phil Scott and his hyperactive veto pen.

Over the course of decades, our country has been assembling a nice little authoritarian toolkit when it comes to immigration, the borders, and national security overall. And there it all was, just waiting for a sociopath to make his way into the White House. Just as an example, the Border Patrol can carry out enforcement activities within 100 miles of any border. Which means all, or virtually all, of Vermont is fair game. It kinda-sorta didn’t really matter (except for the odd traffic stops in the Upper Valley) until Trump grabbed the toolkit and weaponized it.

We sure as hell can’t count on the ideologues and lickspittles who hold Congressional majorities to put up any resistance. The judiciary is a mixed bag, as laden as it is with Trump appointees. At the top of that pile is the Supreme Court, nothing more be said. And Trump is pulling every lever at his disposal to undermine the 2026 election because he knows he would face a stunning rebuke if the vote is free and fair.

Our democratic institutions are taking a real beating. The biggest source of resistance is We, the People. It might be inconvenient for our police forces, but the best hope for democracy is with the agitators, not officials. Hopefully it can be done with nonviolent action, but I can’t fully blame those who hock loogies or throw piss bags at uniformed thugs. Compared to what our government is doing, it seems like a measured response.