STATE OF VERMONT
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
VERMONT STATE POLICE
Vermont State Police details involvement with federal law-enforcement action in South Burlington
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vermont (Thursday, March 12, 2026) — The Vermont State Police is providing additional information regarding the agency’s involvement with a federal law-enforcement operation Wednesday, March 11, in South Burlington.
Like local counterparts including the South Burlington Police Department, the state police received no advance notice from federal officials that they were planning to carry out the targeted arrest of an individual. VSP’s involvement began during the early afternoon Wednesday following a request for assistance from South Burlington police for additional resources to help ensure public safety and the right to peaceful protest after a crowd gathered around a home on Dorset Street that was the subject of the federal operation.
During the afternoon, state and municipal law enforcement received notice from federal authorities that they were in the process of obtaining a federal criminal arrest warrant and intended to execute the warrant at the Dorset Street home later in the day. State and municipal law enforcement also was informed that additional federal resources were being sent to Vermont to assist with this operation.
As details of the federal action emerged, state and local police recognized the federal operation could affect daily life in the immediate area, including the dismissal of local schools. State and local police made efforts to minimize the impact of the pending federal action. Federal authorities agreed to adjust their planned operations if state and local police could facilitate officer safety during their forthcoming action.
Late in the afternoon, the Vermont State Police was notified that a federal judge sitting in Vermont had signed a federal criminal warrant authorizing entry into the Dorset Street house.
VSP was notified that federal authorities were prepared to execute the warrant at that time. Federal authorities went to the property, announced their intent to execute a warrant and directed the crowd to disperse. The crowd took no action to comply with the directive. At that point, federal authorities asked the state police to deploy the Critical Action Team to protect members of the public and to protect law enforcement who were carrying out a lawful court order.
Use of state and municipal law enforcement resources in this manner conforms with the state of Vermont’s fair and impartial policing initiatives.
While in formation, members of the Critical Action Team were pushed and spit on by people in the crowd, and some protesters attempted to separate individual CAT members from the line. Later, the crowd blockaded law-enforcement vehicles; flung debris at police including beer bottles, water bottles, umbrellas and rocks; and grabbed and rocked VSP cruisers.
VSP resources on scene included uniformed troopers and CAT members. All troopers displayed Vermont State Police insignia and activated body cameras. CAT members wore their standard uniform, which includes protective gear such as helmets and face guards along with masks that are intended to protect the troopers from bodily fluids and chemical agents, not to conceal their identities.
Federal agents executed the arrest warrant, including breaking down the door to the home, entering and searching the residence. VSP troopers were in the area of the entryway of the home to facilitate communications with federal agents while monitoring what was occurring outside the house. VSP had no radios that allowed direct communications with federal officers.
An initial review indicates the extent of uses of force by state troopers was pushing and moving members of the public out of the way as needed, and one deployment of an irritant spray when someone in the crowd smashed a window and tried to get into a VSP van leaving the scene at the end of the operation. One trooper received an eye injury from the shattered glass and was treated at the hospital and later released.
As standard protocol, Vermont State Police commanders will perform a thorough review of all troopers’ actions to ensure compliance with policy.
The state police took two people into custody on charges of disorderly conduct during the incident: Robert Langellier, 34, and Joel Margulies, 30. They were processed and released with a citation to appear for arraignment April 23 in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Burlington. A third person, Dillon Tanner, 33, was cited on a disorderly conduct charge and released on scene; he also is due in court April 23.
As state and local police began to reduce their presence on Dorset Street, members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement deployed flash-bang devices and chemical agents to break up the crowd and allow one final ICE agent and a vehicle to leave the scene.
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