Somebody spray-painted hateful and threatening messages, including “kill yourselves” and “hang yourself,” on a U.S. Homeland Security building in Williston over the weekend.
The building, at 237 Harvest Lane, was hit sometime between 2:45 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, said Williston Police Chief Patrick Foley. The graffiti, in black paint, runs the length of all four sides of the building. “We will kidnap you and your kids,” reads one message on the building’s east side. “Scum” was painted in block letters across an entrance.
On Sunday, the building, which appeared to be empty, was blocked off with yellow crime scene tape. So was a property directly across the street that houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices. No graffiti was visible there.
Foley said that authorities had not determined yet whether federal or local law enforcement would take the lead in the investigation.
The vandal struck just days after news broke that ICE plans to ramp up operations in Vermont, where the agency has back-office support staff numbering in the hundreds. At an ICE facility near the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, ICE plans to add staff to monitor social media to look for sites to raid as part of President Donald Trump’s massive deportation efforts.
On Sunday, protesters with the Party for Socialism and Liberation gathered by the building that had been defaced to protest ICE. One of them, Vivan Bose-Pyne, said other groups were joining to protest ICE’s plan to ramp up surveillance.
“There’s many people who are outraged at the idea of surveillance ramped up this high and are here to give a unified message,” Bose-Pyne said.
The graffiti was “unfortunate,” Bose-Pyne said, expressing doubt that any member of the groups protesting was involved.
“Right now, ICE is trying to find any excuse they can to attack people, and especially organizers, and they have the full ability to control the narrative,” Bose-Pyne said.
Not long afterward, more protesters arrived and stood in the road between the two buildings. They listened to speakers who decried ICE’s surveillance and increased deportations. Many held signs, including: “MAGA is a disease,” “Money for people’s needs, not mass surveillance” and “Stop terrorizing our friends + family +neighbors.”
Sasha Goldstein contributed reporting.
