Title: ICE Detains Burlington Taxi Driver in Immigration Crackdown
Federal immigration agents detained a 63-year-old Somali taxi driver at Burlington airport on New Year’s Day, marking the latest arrest in a nationwide crackdown that has reached into Vermont’s small immigrant communities.
Hussien Noor Hussien was sitting in his cab at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport when two unmarked vehicles surrounded his van. Surveillance footage shows several agents pulling him from the vehicle, handcuffing him, and driving away, leaving his empty cab behind.
Hussien has lived in Vermont for 13 years and operates Freedom Cab. After arriving as a refugee in 2004, he settled in Burlington with his wife and five children, all U.S. citizens, ranging from age 3 to 17.
The detention reflects a broader federal enforcement campaign targeting Somali immigrants following allegations that some community members in Minnesota defrauded the government of hundreds of millions in COVID-19 relief funds. President Trump has sent thousands of agents to Minneapolis, home to the largest Somali population in the country, where protests have turned violent and agents killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti last Saturday.
Vermont hosts about 500 Somali residents, mostly concentrated in Burlington and Winooski. While no widespread enforcement has emerged here, Hussien’s arrest has shaken the community and concerned teachers and neighbors familiar with his family.
ICE’s Boston field office posted Hussien’s arrest photo on social media on January 2, showing him handcuffed and flanked by two agents. The post described him as a “criminal alien from Somalia” and tagged the account of Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old YouTuber whose viral video about alleged fraud at Somali childcare centers helped trigger the current crackdown.
Shirley previously attended White House discussions and his work influenced the Trump administration to increase enforcement targeting Somali communities.
“He is not a government figure,” said Abdirisak Maalin, executive director of United Immigrant & Refugee Communities of Vermont. “It’s not right. They are doing this just to hurt immigrant communities, not to take people down that are bad in the community.”
The Somali Bantu community began settling in Burlington in 2003, with many fleeing civil war and persecution.