威利斯顿是佛蒙特州一个仅有1万人口的小镇，最为人所知的，是它作为伯灵顿一个田园诗般的郊区，遍布着历史建筑和农田。
Williston, a small Vermont town of 10,000 people, is best known as a bucolic suburb of Burlington laden with historic buildings and farmland.
与该州其他地区一样，这个小镇的居民中约有90%是白人。威利斯顿很少经历特朗普政府时期那些引发激烈抗议的大规模移民执法行动。除了针对移民农场工人的几次突击检查外，美国移民和海关执法局在此几乎没有实施过拘留。
Like the rest of the state, the hamlet is about 90 percent white. Williston has seen few of the sorts of large-scale Trump administration immigration operations that have sparked raucous protests. Aside from a few raids against migrant farm workers, there has been little in the way of detentions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
换言之，过去两年间，这里爆发了针对美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）的大规模抗议活动，数百人走上街头，这一景象令人意外。
The town is, in other words, a surprising scene for the robust protests that erupted there over the past two years, with hundreds protesting against ICE.
其解释在于一座低矮的现代建筑：它的外墙由玻璃和深蓝色波纹金属板构成，即ICE的国家刑事分析与目标中心（NCATC）。该中心旨在帮助识别、追踪并逮捕全国范围内的驱逐目标。加上该地区其他国土安全部的基础设施，NCATC使威利斯顿成为了反移民执法行动的中心。
The explanation lies in a low-slung modern building with façade of glass and dark-blue ribbed sheet metal: ICE’s National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center, a facility designed to help identify, track, and arrest deportation targets across the country. Along with other Department of Homeland Security infrastructure in the area, the NCATC made Williston into a hub of anti-immigration enforcement.
然而，起初，这里的抗议活动并未遭遇其他反ICE抗议者所经历的那种言论压制。监控中心所在的奇滕登县地方检察官多次选择不起诉在该中心被捕的抗议者。
The protests, however, weren’t initially met with the sorts of crackdown against speech experienced by other anti-ICE protesters. The local prosecutor for Chittenden County, where the surveillance center is located, repeatedly opted not to prosecute protesters arrested at the facility.
但随着特朗普政府加大对左翼抗议者的攻击，威利斯顿也未能幸免。从9月开始，州和联邦当局开始寻找方法，对活动人士提出刑事指控。
As the Trump administration ramped up its attacks against left-wing protesters, however, Williston was not spared. Beginning in September, state and federal authorities have found ways to levy criminal charges against activists.
九月底，佛蒙特州总检察长查丽·克拉克突然对13名抗议者提出轻罪指控，称他们涉嫌参加了7月份在NCATC举行的静坐抗议。随后，上周联邦检察官也突然对五人提出指控，其中一些人此前已被克拉克起诉。这五名面临联邦指控的人年龄从22岁到80岁不等，据联邦当局称，他们曾多次扰乱NCATC的运作。
In late September, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark introduced surprise misdemeanor charges against 13 protesters for allegedly participating in a July sit-in at the NCATC. Then, last week, federal prosecutors unveiled surprise charges against five people, some of whom were already being charged by Clark. The five people facing federal charges, ranging in age from 22 to 80 years old, are alleged by federal authorities to have disrupted operations at the NCATC on multiple occasions.
佛蒙特州的活动人士注意到了这一时间点的巧合：这些案件正是在他们准备发起针对ICE情报中心的一周联合抗议行动之际出现的。
Activists in Vermont took note of the timing: The cases came as they ramped up to launch a concerted week of protest actions against the ICE intelligence hub.
“我们的推测是，”参与抗议的反ICE组织者朱莉·马库加说，“他们选择在抗议周临近时采取这一行动，是为了试图恐吓人们，让人们因为担心被起诉而三思而后行，不敢进行公民不服从。”在特朗普政府任期内，ICE的预算大幅膨胀，该机构投入了数十亿美元用于旨在扩大监控能力的开发项目。随着驱逐出境目标的荒谬增长以及对异见者镇压的日益加剧，这一监控基础设施将为该机构提供一个间谍软件网络，用于追踪移民、抗议者和政治对手。
“Our assumption,” said Julie Macuga, an anti-ICE organizer involved in the protests, “has been that they did this so close to the week of action in order to try to intimidate people, in order to make people think twice about doing civil disobedience, for fear that they’re going to get charged.”As ICE’s budget has ballooned under the Trump administration, the agency poured billions of dollars into development projects designed to expand surveillance capabilities. With astronomical goals for its deportations and a growing crackdown against dissenters, the surveillance infrastructure would provide the agency with a network of spyware for tracking migrants, protesters, and political opponents.
“我们看到的是，在国家级、州级和地方各级，监控手段的可及性都出现了巨大的增长，”担任监控技术监督项目执行主任的律师米歇尔·达尔表示。“我们现在正在这些类型的监控大网中心中看到这一趋势。”NCATC是全美仅有的两个类似设施之一。它被设计用于快速响应现场特工的信息请求，通过开源情报收集与先进的监控工具相结合，在互联网上搜寻线索并筛查社交媒体。
“What we’re seeing is this really huge increase in access to surveillance at both the national, state, and local level,” Michelle Dahl, an attorney who serves as the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. “We’re seeing that play out now in these types of surveillance dragnet centers.”The NCATC is one of only two facilities like it in the nation. It is designed to rapidly respond to requests for information from field agents by using both open-source intelligence gathering and advanced surveillance tools to scour the internet and trawl social media for leads.
尽管移民和海关执法局（ICE）在威利斯顿已设有设施多年，但在特朗普政府任内，该机构已投入大量资源以扩大其运营范围。
Although ICE has had facilities in Williston for years, significant efforts have been made to expand the scope of facility’s operations under the Trump administration.
根据ICE于2025年首次发布、并于今年八月重新发布的政府承包商招聘文件，国家犯罪分析技术中心（NCATC）旨在雇用至少十二名分析师，全天候响应请求，并在短短三十分钟内提供目标信息。该中心与负责运营ICE全国举报热线及其国家执法支援中心的办公室协同运作，后两者同样是ICE位于威利斯顿的主要设施。
According to government contractor recruiting documents first posted by ICE in 2025 and reposted this August, the NCATC is designed to employ at least a dozen analysts to answer requests 24 hours a day, coming up with target information in as little as 30 minutes. The facility operates in tandem with the office running ICE’s national tipline and its National Law Enforcement Support Center — two other major ICE facilities based in Williston.
达尔表示，尽管选址于此，威利斯顿的资源集中体现了“融合中心”模式的特点，该模式旨在实现国家设施、联邦探员与地方警察局之间的信息快速共享。
Dahl said that despite its location, the gathering of resources in Williston is characteristic of the “fusion center” model designed to allow rapid dissemination of information between national facilities, federal agents, and local police departments.
“融合中心无需设在特定地点以收集监控数据——这正是全国范围内高度网络化监控的运作方式，”她说，“它们可以设在任何地方，并能够接入整个全国网络。”由于ICE在佛蒙特州的扩张，NCATC迅速成为该州规模最大的持续性抗议活动之一。在过去一年中，数百人参加了在该中心外举行的集会。
“The fusion centers don’t have to be located in any place to collect surveillance — that’s how highly networked surveillance is across the country,” she said. “They could put it literally anywhere and be able to access the entire nationwide network.”As a result of ICE’s expansion in Vermont, the NCATC has quickly become the subject of one of the the state’s largest recurring protests. Over the past year, hundreds of people attended rallies outside the center.
部分示威者采取了非暴力直接行动。在一次事件中，神职人员进入大厅并封锁了入口。数十人在抗议活动中被捕，但均未受到起诉——直到九月底，佛蒙特州总检察长克拉克开始接手此前由奇滕登县检察官萨拉·乔治拒绝追诉的案件。
Some demonstrators took up nonviolent direct action. In one instance, clergy entered the halls and blocked an entrance. Dozens were arrested as part of the protests, but none were charged — until late September, when Clark, Vermont’s attorney general, began taking up cases that Sarah George, the state’s attorney in Chittenden County, had declined to pursue.
“我们一直在查看案卷，当时以为这些指控不会被追究，”罗安·韦德回忆道。他是因在该设施前抗议而被起诉的13人之一。“事情突然发生，确实让我们感到相当震惊。”后来才得知，这些指控源于一个不同寻常的举措：佛蒙特州警察开始绕过乔治，直接将案件提交至总检察长办公室。与其他案件不同，佛蒙特州警察从未将这些指控文件送达乔治的办公室。
“We had been checking the docket and were under the impression that charges were not being pursued,” recalled Roan Wade, who was one of the 13 people charged for protesting at the facility. “It was definitely kind of a shock to have that happen.”It later emerged that the charges had stemmed from an unusual move: The Vermont State Police began circumventing George and instead took their cases directly to the attorney general’s office. Unlike in other cases, the Vermont State Police never delivered these the charges to George’s office.
“莎拉·乔治确实曾拒绝处理过一些案件，但这13起案件甚至从未被正式提起，”州参议员塔尼亚·维霍夫斯基表示。她是参议院司法委员会的成员，并补充说，这一前所未有的举措在佛蒙特州似乎符合法律规定。“就我所知——我也咨询了司法系统内的执业律师——这种做法没有任何先例。”决定对反ICE活动的抗议者提起诉讼，迅速在佛蒙特州民主党主流派中引发了强烈争议——而总检察长克拉克正是该党成员。
“There have been cases that Sarah George has declined, but these 13 cases were never even brought,” said state Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding that the unprecedented move appeared to be legal in Vermont. “This type of stepping outside of our normal court system, as far as I can tell — and I also spoke to actual attorneys in the system — there’s no real precedent for it.”The decision to prosecute protesters for anti-ICE activity quickly ignited a firestorm among the Vermont Democratic Party establishment — which Clark, the attorney general, belongs to.
在该决定公布后的几天内，州参议院多数党领袖、财政官，以及众多代表、候选人和地方官员纷纷谴责这些指控和克拉克的异常行为。
Within days of the decision becoming public, the state Senate majority leader, treasurer, and a host of representatives, candidates, and local officials all issued condemnations of the charges and Clark’s unusual actions.
“我认为这一决定极其令人担忧，”尼基尔·戈亚尔告诉《拦截者》。他是其中一个包含被起诉抗议者的选区的州参议员候选人。“无论是在本州还是其他州，都有大量先例表明，检察官不会浪费宝贵的资源去追究那些试图阻止法西斯机器绑架我们邻居的和平抗议者。”被起诉的抗议者之一韦德表示，这一起诉决定反映了美国左翼更广泛的发展趋势——左翼内部在处理反ICE抗议活动的问题上，有时存在明显的分歧。
“I found that decision to be extremely concerning,” Nikhil Goyal, a state Senate candidate in one of the districts containing charged protesters, told The Intercept. “There is enormous precedent, both in and out of our state, where prosecutors don’t use precious resources to go after peaceful protesters simply trying to stop a fascist machine from kidnapping our neighbors.”Wade, one of the charged protesters, says that the decision to prosecute is emblematic of wider trends among the national left, who have at times been starkly divided in their treatment of anti-ICE protests.
“这凸显了民主党的一些虚伪之处，”他们说道。“那些声称反对特朗普、对抗这个法西斯政府的人，同时也是起诉抗议者的人。”很快，另外五名抗议者也将面临联邦指控。
“It highlights some of the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party,” they said. “The same folks who claim to be opposing Trump and fighting this fascist administration are also prosecuting protesters.”Soon, the federal charges would come down against the five additional protesters.
无论是在州法院还是联邦法院，这些指控都是在反对ICE在佛蒙特州行动的活动人士组织的全国性“行动周”开始前不久提出的。
The charges, both in state and federal court, were filed just ahead of the beginning of a national “week of action” organized by activists opposed to ICE’s operations in Vermont.
组织者表示，他们预计将有数百人参与，而这些抗议活动将成为历史上针对ICE国家监控中心最大规模的直接对抗。一些组织者称，这些逮捕行动反而进一步激发了民众的抗议热情。
Organizers say that they expect hundreds of participants and that the protests are slated to be the largest instances of direct confrontation to ever target ICE’s national surveillance center. Some organizers say the arrests are only helping to fuel further activism.
“这实际上只是让这个问题受到了更多关注，”抗议活动组织者马库加说道。
“All it’s really done is bring a lot more attention to the issue,” said Macuga, the protest organizer.
而佛蒙特州警察则表示，任何与该设施抗议活动相关的进一步指控都将绕过地方当局，直接移交州总检察长处理。（州警察并未回应置评请求。）“镇压只会催生反抗，”抗议者韦德说道。“说真的，这反而引发了更大的愤怒。”
For their part, the Vermont State Police indicated that any further charges pertaining to protests at the facility will continue to circumvent local authorities and instead be referred directly to the attorney general for prosecution. (The State Police did not respond to a request for comment.)“Repression breeds resistance,” said Wade, the protester. “If anything, it’s caused a lot more outrage.”