MIDDLEBURY — Three Addison County residents were taken into custody by federal immigration officials on Tuesday, July 7, during an early morning operation in the parking lot of MiddTown Dental at 105 Court St.

Details about the detainees’ identity, background and immigration status remained unknown as the Independent went to press on Wednesday.

Rachel Rivard, an owner of MiddTown Dental, said one of her assistants reported early Tuesday morning that “‘Something crazy is happening in our parking lot.’ She said, ‘I think someone is getting arrested.’”

The assistant texted Rivard some photos that showed multiple masked, armed men converge on a vehicle parked in the MiddTown Dental lot. A photo provided to the Independent also showed two of the agents wearing protective vests, one bearing the word “Police,” the other bearing the acronym “ERO,” which stands for “Enforcement Removal Operations” and is associated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The ERO, according to ICE’s website, “manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including the identification, arrest, detention and removal of aliens who are subject to removal or are unlawfully present in the U.S.”

Middlebury police received no advance warning of Tuesday’s ICE operation, according to Middlebury PD Sgt. Bill Austin.

Witnesses of Tuesday morning’s ERO Middlebury operation said they saw agents cuffing and taking a man away from the scene.

Rachel Elliott, an organizer for the Burlington-based organization Migrant Justice, informed the Independent at noon on Wednesday that in fact three individuals were detained in the ERO action in Middlebury. She said none appeared to be children, but that Migrant Justice was unable to provide more details on the detainees.

The vehicle used by the detainees was still parked in the MiddTown Dental lot as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Migrant Justice officials were checking on the detainees’ status as the Independent went to press. The organization’s stated mission is to “build the voice, capacity, and power of the immigrant farmworker community to organize for economic justice and human rights,” according to its website.

Bill Lambek, coordinator for Migrant Justice, said the organization’s role “is often to provide information to detainees and their family members about the process. We’re often the first responders for immigration detentions in the state and we partner with attorneys to try to win (detainees’) freedom…”

Lambek said more than 150 people living and working in Vermont have been detained by ICE or U.S. Border Patrol during the past two years.