WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) today released the following statement:

“We are horrified to learn of the detention of Vermont pastor and nursing assistant Steven Tendo by ICE outside of his workplace today — just days ahead of a regular check-in with immigration authorities. Pastor Tendo fled persecution and torture in Uganda and has lived peacefully in Vermont for many years as a valued member of our community. People like Pastor Tendo are exactly who our asylum system is meant to protect. We join together with many Vermonters in calling on the Trump administration to ensure Pastor Tendo is allowed to return to Vermont and that he is immediately afforded full due process, including the right to contact his attorney while his appeal is considered.”

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-vermont-delegation-statement-on-ice-detention-of-vermont-pastor-and-nursing-assistant/

Steven Tendo, a Ugandan minister and nursing assistant who moved to Vermont in 2021 while seeking asylum, was detained in Shelburne on Wednesday morning by federal immigration agents, according to the union he’s a part of and the advocacy group Migrant Justice.

Tendo was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside a health care facility where he works, said Will Lambek, an organizer with Migrant Justice, and Tendo’s union, UVMMC Support Staff United. It’s possible that agents from one or more other federal agencies were involved in Tendo’s detention as well, Lambek said.

After being detained in Shelburne, Tendo was transported to an ICE facility in Manchester, New Hampshire. As of Wednesday evening, he was in custody at the Strafford County Jail in Dover, New Hampshire, according to ICE’s online detainee tracker. That’s one of a handful of prisons ICE uses to hold detainees in New England.

https://vtdigger.org/2026/02/04/ugandan-asylum-seeker-steven-tendo-detained-by-ice/