Vermont’s Governor Pete Shumlin has introduced a ‘bias-free’ policing policy that will ban state police from inquiring into the immigration status of any individual that is stopped by officers in the state.

Some local police agencies in Vermont were already adopting a hands-off approach when stopping suspected undocumented aliens, focusing more on criminal activity and not immigration violations.  Now the entire state police force will follow that protocol.

The police can still ask someone’s immigration status if it is pertinent to a criminal investigation but not when investigating civil violations like routine traffic stops.  Praise came immediately for Governor Shumlin from the state’s American Civil Liberties Union and numerous immigrant advocacy organizations.