New DHS leadership shift
Markwayne Mullin has taken over as Homeland Security secretary and is set to execute a tougher deportation agenda while trying for a less confrontational public posture — a change that keeps ICE operations embedded at airports and prioritizes removals, raising new local risks for migrants in transit hubs. (nytimes.com)
The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin 54–45 and he was sworn in as DHS secretary on March 24, 2026. (dhs.gov) The administration dispatched ICE officers to roughly 14 U.S. airports this month, including New York’s JFK and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, while federal officials have not publicly defined the agents’ exact roles at checkpoints. (aljazeera.com) (time.com) Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport has documented use for ICE detainee transfers and local activists told officials they had tracked more than 500 transfers routed through BTV since January 2025. (mynbc5.com) (vtdigger.org) Burlington Airport Commission meetings in mid-2025 included calls from more than 100 residents demanding the airport block transfers and improve transparency; commissioners discussed nonbinding steps such as lawyer access but cited federal authority limits. (sevendaysvt.com) (vtdigger.org) Vermont-based resettlement and support organizations positioned to respond include USCRI Vermont, which provides reception and case management for refugees from countries such as Eritrea and Syria; CVOEO, which runs statewide economic and social-justice programs; CASAN, which coordinates regional asylum-support networks including Bridge to Rutland and CVRAN; and United Immigrant & Refugee Communities of Vermont, a statewide community-led group. (refugees.org) (cvoeo.org) (casanvermont.org) (uircofvt.org) State-level advocates have pushed legislation to create a Vermont Office of New Americans and more than 25 local groups signed an “urgent request” asking lawmakers to act on immigrant and refugee supports earlier in 2025. (vermontpublic.org) Mullin assumed DHS leadership amid a partial DHS shutdown that left TSA staffing strained and saw roughly 510 TSA resignations reported during the disruption, complicating airport operations as ICE deployments and detainee transfers continued to draw local scrutiny. (bloomberg.com) (compassvermont.com)
