HARTFORD — The police chief and Selectboard this week grappled with how to uphold a 2020 town ordinance offering protections to Hartford’s immigrant communities, while also complying with state statutes and federal law.

At issue is an updated version of Vermont’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, which the Hartford Police Department adopted in July of last year.

The policy allows state and local police agencies to share information about an individual’s citizenship or immigration status with federal immigration authorities. It also allows agencies to share any information about a person with federal authorities if there are public or officer safety concerns, or “law enforcement needs” unrelated to immigration law, the policy states.

The policy conflicts with the Welcoming Hartford Ordinance the town adopted in 2020.

“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” Police Chief Gregory Sheldon said at Tuesday’s Selectboard meeting, which was attended by about 30 people in person and 26 on Zoom.

The town’s ordinance prohibits town officials from assisting federal immigration authorities in carrying out their civil immigration enforcement duties.

Hartford police and other town officials are not to request or disclose information about a person’s citizenship or immigration status unless “such information sharing is necessary to an ongoing investigation of a felony, for which there is probable cause, and the investigation is unrelated to the enforcement of federal civil immigration law,” the ordinance states.

The ordinance also prohibits arrest or detention solely on the belief that the person is in the United States illegally.

In other words, Hartford has a higher standard for permissible information sharing between town police and immigration authorities than the state.

Should Hartford amend the policing policy to conform with its welcoming ordinance, it would be at odds with the state’s Criminal Justice Council, which could force the town to adopt the council’s default policy.

The council drafted the updated policing policy, the creation of which is mandated by state statute, in April 2024 to promote equity and impartiality in policing and to “clarify the circumstances in which officers can consider personal characteristics or citizenship or immigration status when making law enforcement decisions,” the policy states.

Vermont’s police departments are required to adopt each component of the policy created by the council, though they may add additional components to their versions of the policy.

The problem for Hartford is that for its ordinance and the state policy to align, it would need to remove some of the policy’s language rather than add to it.

And if the Criminal Justice Council rejects Hartford’s modifications, the town will be subject to the default version of the state policy.

“There is not an option here,” Sheldon said at Tuesday’s Selectboard meeting. “If we change it,” he added, the council “is going to change it back.”

Were Hartford to defy the council, it could prevent Hartford’s police officers and trainees from accessing the state police academy.

“We’re told that the training that new officers need, and existing officers need for recertification, is not necessarily going to remain available to the town and its officers if we’re not in compliance with the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy,” Town Manager John Haverstock said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Burlington-based immigrant-advocacy group, Migrant Justice, reached out to the Hartford Police Department to recommend that the town maintain its protections for vulnerable populations.

“We’re pushing for Hartford to apply those more stringent standards in order to reduce the risk of collaboration with federal immigration agents based on discrimination and bias,” Migrant Justice organizer Will Lambek said by phone Wednesday.

The Hartford Police Department does not share information with immigration authorities, Sheldon said at the Selectboard meeting.

“We don’t know when they are in town,” he said. “We don’t want to know.”

But to Lambek, the “carve-outs” in the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy are a slippery slope.

“The concern is that a policy that allows for unfettered information sharing, even if it is a narrow type of information, creates a situation where police officers are empowered to share information,” he said. “And once you open that door it’s difficult to close it.”

In Vermont, there has been an uptick in “confirmed interactions” with federal immigration officials since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Lambek said.

“We’ve seen an increased presence of ICE and a more aggressive enforcement posture,” he said, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Of concern to town officials in addition to the state policing policy is whether Hartford’s welcoming ordinance violates a federal law, known as 8 USC § 1373, that prohibits towns from limiting communication with federal agencies regarding the immigration and citizenship status of individuals.

The case law on that issue is “unsettled,” Lambek said, adding that Hartford could argue that it is not obligated to comply with it.

The town’s next step, which is in progress, is to meet with the Criminal Justice Council to solicit its interpretation of the compatibility of the town ordinance and the state policing policy. Haverstock is in the process of scheduling that meeting, he said.

“We are threading a needle,” Selectboard member Kim Souza said at the meeting, between “being as scrupulous as we can and not flagrantly disobeying laws, but protecting the human rights of people in our community.”

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.