FAQ: VT family planning in case of ICE arrest

Dec 21

Written By VAAP

Supporting Immigrant Families in Vermont 2025

Info for Volunteer Lawyers, Guardians, and Immigrant Parents

Vermont Legal Aid is renewing efforts to protect at-risk immigrant parents and their children through emergency minor guardianships and family preparedness plans.

This is a strategy being implemented nationwide to ensure at-risk immigrant parents’ voice and choice in their children’s future in the event that the parents have contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the two law enforcement branches of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Here’s everything you need to know about this critical initiative and how you can ask for help (if you are an immigrant parent) or how you can volunteer to help (if you are interested in serving as an emergency guardian or guardianship attorney).

What is the Immigrant Emergency Minor Guardianship Project?

This project helps under- and undocumented parents establish legal pathways to safeguard their parental rights and ensure their children’s care in case of deportation or detention. By creating emergency minor guardianships, parents can designate a trusted adult to act in their children’s best interests in the event that the parents become detained and/or deported, avoiding the risk of Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) custody or family separation. Learn more on our Community Resources page, which features the following nationally vetted resources:

Why is this project important?

Preserving Parental Rights: Without minor guardianships, children of detained or deported parents risk being placed in DCF custody, which lacks mechanisms to reunite families outside the U.S.
Family Preparedness: Guardianships empower parents to make thoughtful decisions about their children’s care, ensuring stability and security.
Community Impact: Over 100 mixed-status families in Vermont, and potentially dozens more under-documented families who might become separated if parents are detained but not their children, need these legal protections to navigate an uncertain immigration landscape.

who can request and receive free legal help from this project?

This project will prioritize legal service for parents of U.S. citizen and otherwise documented children because they are the most likely to become separated in the event of an ICE arrest.

Expanding Service: Depending on how many volunteer lawyers sign up, this project will also help parents of under- and undocumented children who may find themselves alone if their parents become detained during a worksite raid while the children are at school, for example.
Identify a Guardian Now: This project will supply the lawyers but it is up to immigrant families and communities to identify guardians. Families will need to have identified guardians first BEFORE becoming eligible for legal assistance.

How Can Volunteer Lawyers Help?

Volunteer lawyers play a vital role in this initiative by:

Attending Clinics: Participate in clinic-style events to help families prepare minor guardianships, power of attorney documents, and retainer agreements.
Providing Ongoing Representation: Represent parents’ interests in Probate Court if a family separation occurs due to ICE detention.
Committing Time: Attend at least one evening clinic, with 1-3 client families assigned per clinic.

Do VOLUNTEER LAWYERS Need Immigration or guardianship Law Experience?

No. Volunteer lawyers or guardians do not need prior relevant experience. Vermont Legal Aid provides free Continuing Legal Education (CLE) training coordinated by experienced attorneys and advocates from Vermont Legal Aid, VAAP, Migrant Justice, and UVM Bridges to Health. Training materials will guide you through the guardianship process and provide support during clinics. VAAP will publish these training materials here once they become available.

What Should Potential Guardians Know?

Guardianship responsibilities may seem daunting, but here are key points to ease your concerns:

Temporary Role: Minor guardianships are structured to align with parents’ specific wishes and timeframes.
Legal Clarity: The process ensures that guardians’ roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, avoiding confusion during stressful situations.
Support System: Guardians will work with lawyers to understand and navigate their responsibilities.

What Should at-risk IMMIGRANT PARENTS Know?

Some things to consider when choosing a guardian and making a plan for them include:

U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents are Safest: Guardians with USC or LPR status are less likely to face immigration enforcement themselves, providing greater security and stability for the child.
Guardianship is Not Immigration Relief: Guardianship ensures care and stability but does not provide immigration status or deportation protection for under- or undocumented children. It supports children while parents address immigration legal challenges.
Make a Family-Specific Plan: Community organizations and service providers can help introduce you to potential guardians who you can trust to carry out your wishes in the event that you are detained or deported. Account for applicable scenarios, such as,
- What happens if only one parent in a two-parent household is detained? What happens if both parents are detained?
- hat happens if a solo parent is detained and shares housing with other relatives or friends with varying degrees of legal status?
- What happens if parent(s) become detained and there are relatives in other states who the parent trusts with long-term care for the children if that becomes necessary?
Plan Ahead for Costs: While guardians can assume receiving eligible children’s public assistance after taking legal custody of the child, note there is no public remuneration or financial support program for guardians.

Where and When Are legal Clinics being Held?

Starting in January 2025, Vermont Legal Aid plans to host about two clinics per month, alternating between Chittenden County and Vermont’s rural areas. Clinics will be held in the evening to accommodate families’ schedules.
Community organizations and service providers will advertise these clinics quietly with their clients rather than publicizing them, to avoid drawing unnecessary attention from DHS.

How Can IMMIGRANT PARENTS REQUEST LEGAL SERVICES?

Contact your service provider(s) to request that they notify you of upcoming clinics.
If you have arrived in Vermont more recently or are not yet in touch with local service providers, review this list to contact an affinity group or local support organization in your area.

How Can VOLUNTEERS Get Involved?

Volunteer as a Lawyer: Fill out the Volunteer Guardianship Form to join our list of attorneys committed to helping families.
Volunteer as a Guardian: Contact a local affinity group, community organization, or service provider to express interest in volunteering as a guardian.
Spread the Word: Share this blog post with colleagues interested in volunteering and direct them to Barb Prine at Vermont Legal Aid:

How likely is it that immigrant families will need to take action on their emergency plans?

Not immediately likely! Here is why:

The prospect of mass deportations creates fear and confusion, but it is important to note that misinformation and fear tactics are a deliberate strategy used to intimidate immigrants and mixed-status families.
The numbers of arrests, removal proceedings, and deportations Trump is promising are numerically impossible to achieve unless Vermont law enforcement cooperates with federal requests to help implement federal immigration law, which the Vermont Attorney General has repeatedly promised will NOT happen and which Vermont law and policy prohibits.
Incoming “Border Czar” Tom Homan has said DHS will prioritize for enforcement individuals who the agency determines pose a threat to public safety or national security.
- Even when the first Trump administration rescinded the previous administration’s “enforcement priorities” policy, in practice Trump continued to prioritize alleged community safety threats and threats to national security for arrest and removal.
- Even after the second Trump administration rescinds the current “enforcement priorities” policies by outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas and Principal Legal Advisor Doyle, the administration is likely to follow those same priorities in practice as incoming Secretary Homan has already indicated.
Immigrant families can continue safely accessing public services and supports without fear.
- There is no precedent for human services agencies breaching information privacy laws and sharing personally identifying information with ICE.
- Most individuals will not be subject to a “public charge” analysis and receiving public assistance will not make someone a target for deportation.
Despite political rhetoric, logistical and legal challenges make Trump’s “mass deportations” no more probable than the removal rates typical of the last several presidencies:
- During Trump’s first administration, mass deportation promises resulted in 1.5 million removals and 1 million voluntary departures or turn-backs—numbers consistent with other recent administrations.
- Obama similarly oversaw over 1.5 million removals and 1 million voluntary turn-backs during each his two terms (for a total of 3M removals and 2M turn-backs).
- Biden has similarly issued 1.5 million removal orders, alongside a staggering 5 million voluntary departures or turn-backs driven by public health-based exclusion policies implemented under Title 42 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That said, we live in a border zone where DHS law enforcement presence is greatest and where government insulation from accountability for denying immigrants their rights is highest.
- Immigrants have rights with ICE, but we routinely see ICE violate those rights without consequence and without remedy for the immigrants’ harmed.
- We need federal litigators willing to file suit to enforce ongoing APA and due process rights violations by DHS. We also need friends and neighbors to contact the National Lawyers Guild for help setting up border zone legal observer networks.
Our key takeaway is that deportation remains a possibility but the backlog of immigration cases, logistical constraints, and legal protections significantly reduce the likelihood of widespread, immediate action.
Families should focus on preparedness rather than fear, ensuring they have plans like guardianship paperwork in place to protect their children in the unlikely event of ICE arrest.

Let’s say immigration enforcement does increase in vermont. what happens following an arrest?

ICE detains people it believes to be “removable” under the Immigration Nationality Act, which can include people who lack immigration status or who stand to lose their temporary or permanent status because of things like serious criminal convictions.
ICE arrests can occur at home, work, or in public spaces. Individuals are taken into custody immediately, and families may not receive updates about their location for hours. Having guardianship paperwork ready ensures a trusted adult can step in right away.
ICE detention times vary. Some individuals are detained for days or weeks, while others may face months in custody. In the event of an immigrant parent’s arrest, prepared guardianship documents allow the designated guardian to assume legal responsibility for the detain parent’s child immediately, avoiding DCF involvement and keeping the child in a supportive environment. Guardianship documents provide detained parents with the peace of mind knowing their children back in their community are safe.
Immigrants charged with removability have the right to a fair hearing and administrative review, with varying process due depending on their status and length of time in the United States.
- Families released from custody can continue fighting their deportation case while living in the community. Guardians would return children to non-detained parents while they navigate ongoing immigration legal proceedings.
- However, if parents remain detained, guardians would provide continuity of care and make decisions based on parents’ instructions.
- If a parent is ordered removed and deported, guardians would help facilitate decisions about the child’s future and present welfare and stability pursuant to the immigrant parent’s instructions, whether they remain in the U.S. or join the parent abroad.
- Volunteer legal representatives can advocate for parental rights in Probate Court.

Project Background

Vermont Legal Aid began this project in 2017 in response to family separation policies under then-President Trump. With the renewed threat of mass deportations under President-elect Trump, Vermont Legal Aid is reviving this effort to protect vulnerable families. In its first phase, the project helped over 25 families complete emergency guardianship paperwork. This year, VLA aims to assist over 100 families. Join us in safeguarding Vermont’s immigrant families. Your support can make a life-changing difference for children and parents navigating uncertain futures.

VAAP https://www.vaapvt.org