When Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., traveled to Minneapolis on a Congressional oversight mission several weeks ago, she saw a city under siege. Some 3,000 masked federal agents dispatched by President Donald Trump were roaming the city, snatching people from their homes and streets, often without warrants or explanation. 

Balint fears Vermont could be next. 

“This is not a law enforcement effort, this is about power and control and submission,” Balint said of what she observed in Minneapolis. She said that the killing of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis “just absolutely shook me to my core, not just because of the violence and the loss of life, but also immediately the lying about these two people” by the Trump Administration. 

“This is about the president punishing states and municipalities that he does not feel like give him enough fealty,” Balint said. “Any state that did not vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, they're in the crosshairs. And we must assume that at some point this President will try to make an example of us, and we can't be caught flat footed.”

Last week, Balint said she and Senators Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., met with Gov. Phil Scott to prepare for that potential day.

Though in another sense, that day has already arrived. Just this week, FEMA denied disaster aid to Vermont for 2025 flooding in the Northeast Kingdom. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “also oversees FEMA," Balint said. "And the President is using FEMA right now to pick winners and losers. And the winners are Republican states, and the losers are so-called democratic states,"