Vermonters value their privacy and are proud to live in vibrant and welcoming communities. Those values being are threatened by U.S. Border Patrol's plan to build eight, 200-foot surveillance towers in northern Vermont towns, with two more in upstate New York.
These surveillance towers would transform our communities, threatening the privacy and civil liberties of community members, damaging local economies, and accelerating the militarization of our region. For all of these reasons, the ACLU has voiced loud opposition to this plan, joined by hundreds of concerned Vermonters and Vermont's Attorney General.
Border communities on both the northern and southern borders are some of the safest in the country. And yet, we have seen small towns transformed by border militarization to the point they now look and feel like war zones.
That's why we are asking every resident of Vermont to contact Vermont's Congressional delegation and urge them to oppose border militarization and the surveillance towers.
Border Patrol is a self-styled federal paramilitary force, responsible for extensive, documented human rights abuses nationwide, with a corrupt and toxic internal culture and zero meaningful oversight or accountability.
It's difficult to overstate how dangerous the Border Patrol has become, and it's clear the agency isn't going to change. As with our federal immigration policies, it's time to advance alternatives far more reflective of our laws and values, our shared humanity, and respect for human rights.
Vermonters don't want 200-foot-tall surveillance towers in their towns and don't want those towers operated by a notoriously abusive federal agency like the Border Patrol, and the ACLU will fight to stop these towers from being built.
