News From the Field

Actions to take now.

Brave Little State Defiance Initiative

From Champlain Valley Indivisible’s newsletter: In case you missed it in last week’s newsletter: CVI and IMRV are part of an emerging Vermont network of Indivisible groups joining forces to galvanize our leaders in Montpelier to use every state power available to protect Vermonters from harm caused by the Trump agenda – seeking executive actions from the Governor, protective cutting-edge legislation from the Statehouse, and innovative interventions from the state’s Attorney General and state Treasurer. The current focus is on a slate of legislative proposals designed to block repressive policing in Vermont and reduce harm to Vermonters caught up in adverse federal immigration enforcement activities.

The Dekleptocracy Project (DKP)

DKP is a Texas-based investigative nonprofit dedicated to putting anticorruption atop the pro-democracy movement’s national political agenda. In a recent article titled Vermont’s Role in Trump’s Gulag Archipelago, DKP details how a Burlington-based firm - Florina Insurance Company - operates a critical piece of the nation’s largest ICE contractor, the GEO Group. Florina saves GEO millions of dollars a year by serving as a “captive insurance” firm for GEO. Vermont leads the nation in this niche but vital industry and Vermont voters can influence the kinds of companies the State authorizes to operate here. We encourage you to read the piece, along with the primer we have prepared on the captive insurance industry, and take action.

Since DKP’s piece was published in November, Rep. Leonora Dodge (D-Chittenden) has committed to sponsoring a bill that would increase oversight on captive insurance for ICE contractors. Specifically, she is asking for statutory language to 1) target regulations requiring insurers to certify that their parent companies aren’t violating human rights; 2) impose additional requirements on companies profiteering from immigration detention; and 3) create financial penalties that offset any subsidies Vermont provides these companies.

Action 1: Contact your > state Representative and state Senator, sharing that you read Vermont’s role in Trump’s Gulag Archipelago, that you are concerned about Vermont supporting human rights violations, and that you urge them to support legislation increasing oversight on captive insurance for ICE contractors.

Action 2: Contact members of the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development and the Senate Committee on Finance (see bottom of page 7 here) to indicate the same.

Action 3: Contact Sandy Bigglestone, Deputy Commissioner of the Captive Insurance Division of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), to ask how she can support Vermont requiring insurers to certify that parent companies aren’t violating human rights.

Posted Dec 11, 2025