These faith leaders were arrested for protesting ICE. Here's what they told us

Claim: An image collage of six police booking photos circulating online in September 2026 authentically shows Vermont faith leaders who were arrested after protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rating: ContextThe faiths represented among the protesters include a Quaker, two Protestant pastors, one Unitarian Universalist minister, one Methodist pastor, an Episcopalian priest and an Episcopalian archdeacon. In September 2026, social media users shared an image collage of six mug shots and claimed the people depicted were among seven Vermont faith leaders who were arrested after protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The collage circulated on Threads and Facebook (screenshotted). These six mug shots are authentic and legitimately show faith leaders who were arrested after protesting ICE. Their mug shots are available on the Vermont State Police's official news releases page and several of the faith leaders provided Snopes with comments that corroborated the version of events circulating online. As such, we have rated this claim as true. A seventh faith leader, a Quaker named Catherine Bock, was also among those arrested. Her mug shot was not included in the collage. Faith leaders attempt to stop work at ICE center In an email, Rev. Rebecca Girrell, one of the protesters and a Methodist pastor, said the faith leaders were arrested on charges of trespassing after entering the ICE National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center in Williston, Vermont, which is located in a private business park. According to ICE, the surveillance center is where the agency "analyzes data in numerous law enforcement and immigration databases to develop leads on removable noncitizens" that are then provided to field offices. Vermont State Police's news release (archived) also notes that the arrestees were protesting ICE (emphasis ours): These individuals were among a group of people who entered the building to protest federal agencies — including Immigration and Customs Enforcement — that occupy space there alongside private businesses and a medical office. The building owner said the individuals were trespassing, refused to leave when asked, and requested that police remove them from the property. State police, working in conjunction with the Williston Police Department, responded and spoke with protest leaders. That discussion led to several people leaving the inside of the building, while the others indicated they'd need to be arrested. Girrell said the protesters were attempting to prevent ICE from being able to surveil and target their neighbors, "at least for a few hours," in an act of civil disobedience, or a form of protest involving the nonviolent refusal to obey certain laws. By blocking the entrances to the ICE portion of the building, Girrell said they prevented employees from entering for their morning shift, shutting down the office temporarily. While a team of protesters on public property outside the building were not arrested, the faith leaders were blocking doors to the ICE office from inside the building, according to Girrell. "We sang, prayed, held silence, and read names of people killed in interactions with ICE," she wrote. "At the time of the arrest, we knelt in silence. Five of us complied with arrest, and two clergy 'went limp' and were carried out by police." Who are the arrested faith leaders? The names listed in the Vermont State Police news release match the names attached to the police booking photos circulating online, as shown below: The individuals arrested are: Catherine Bock, 78, of Burlington, VT Jessica Derise, 54, of Williston, VT Rebecca Girrell, 47, of South Burlington, VT Elizabeth Gleich, 36, of Middlebury, VT Karen Johnston, 58, of Colchester, VT Earl Kooperkamp, 69, of Bradford, VT Susan McMillan, 65, of Colchester, VT Girrell confirmed that each of the seven arrested were faith leaders. They all also have public affiliations to religious orders, allowing the independent verification of their identities. The six mug shots circulating online all show ordained clergy. The remaining person, Bock — whose mug shot was omitted from the collage circulating online — is a Quaker and thus from a religious affiliation that does not ordain clergy. Bock said in a phone call that her Quaker community knew she planned to protest and were in full support, but that she was acting from her "own conscience." She added that this was her fourth time protesting at the ICE facility and that she plans to attend future events, including actions scheduled from Oct. 4 to 9. She then said she saw parallels between ICE detention and her parents' experiences escaping Nazi Germany. "I think that most people don't want to see their brothers and sisters treated the way that ICE has treated people," Bock added. Revs. Derise and Gleich are Christian Protestant pastors. "As clergy, my faith does not allow me to remain silent while neighbors are dehumanized, detained, or separated from those they love," Derise said in an emailed statement. "I protest peacefully because every person bears sacred worth, no government agency is beyond moral accountability, and solidarity must be practiced - not merely preached." Johnston is a Unitarian Universalist, a liberal religious tradition that unites people based on shared values, rather than a single creed. In an emailed statement, Johnston, a minister, said her faith's values "call me and all people of conscience and faith to actively not cooperate with the system of cruelty that is fueled by this ICE spy center." Kooperkamp is an Episcopalian priest and McMillan is an archdeacon from the same faith. In an email to the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont congregation, the diocese's bishop, Shannon MacVean-Brown, expressed support for their protest. MacVean-Brown said the protest was planned "as a nonviolent action by a broad grassroots coalition of Vermont faith leaders." "As Christians, we are called not only to bear witness to injustice but to act. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbor, that is not a passive action. It is constant, immediate, and proactive," MacVean-Brown's statement reads. "Civil disobedience, which has a long history in our country and in the Episcopal Church, is one way we actively love our neighbors." The email also includes a statement from McMillan, which says America's "national leaders" claim to be Christian while authorizing "heinous and immoral policies." "Every day, from this building, ICE surveils, determining which man, woman or child should be targeted. And then that person, or someone mistaken for that person, or a brown skinned person who happens to be nearby, is kidnapped, incarcerated without due process, and their life destroyed," McMillan's statement says. "If Jesus were here in the US today, he could easily be caught in this trap and deported. This is not Christianity and I have to fight this cruelty in every way I can." ICE did not immediately return a request to respond to the faith leaders' criticisms of the agency. Snopes also reached out to Gleich for her thoughts on the protest. We await a response.