Meanwhile, new details emerged about the day-long skirmish, which included a lengthy standoff outside a residence in South Burlington, the detention of three undocumented immigrants, none of whom were the original target, and the use of pepper spray and flashbang devices for crowd control.

Local and state police said the incident began around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sought to detain a man they believed to be Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, a Mexican citizen who had previously been deported and subsequently charged with driving under the influence in Vermont.

Federal officials pursued a car they believed Corona-Sanchez was driving in a busy neighborhood of South Burlington. The driver crashed into multiple vehicles, including two driven by federal agents, and then escaped on foot. Authorities surrounded a nearby house into which they said the driver had fled.

Occupants refused to let federal agents into the house without a warrant and, with assistance from the advocacy group Migrant Justice, summoned supporters to block the doors. Over the course of the day, the crowd swelled to more than 200 people singing and chanting as more law enforcement officers arrived.

Just after 5 p.m., an unidentified federal agent told the crowd a federal judge had issued a criminal arrest warrant for Corona-Sanchez and ordered them to disperse. Vermont state troopers wearing tactical gear cleared a path through the protesters, allowing federal agents to enter the house — and leave a short time later with three people.

Protesters sought to prevent federal agents and police from departing by blocking their vehicles while officers wrestled some protesters to the ground, pepper-sprayed them, and deployed flashbangs. At least three protesters were cited for criminal trespass, according to Vermont State Police.

On Thursday, the US attorney in Vermont said the three people detained inside the house did not include Corona-Sanchez. And, according to Rachel Elliott, a spokesperson for Migrant Justice, Corona-Sanchez no longer owned the car, was not driving it on Wednesday, nor was inside the house raided by agents.

Rather, Elliott said, the occupants included two women from Ecuador, one man from Honduras, and two minors. She said the man, Christian Jerez-Andrade, was among the passengers in the car, along with one of the minors, a 17-year-old boy. According to Elliott, the driver of the car, whom she did not identify, never entered the house. The other minor, a young girl, was spirited out of the house Wednesday afternoon, before the protest escalated.

Jerez-Andrade and the two women were being held in Vermont prisons Thursday. Their attorneys filed petitions in court seeking to keep them in Vermont, and federal judges granted their requests later that day.

Elliott described a harrowing scene inside the house. She said the 17-year-old “watched armed officers chase people through the home.” At one point, she said, a federal agent tripped and accidentally discharged their service weapon.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Top officials in the state blasted federal agents for initiating the raid and confronting protesters, all while failing to achieve their initial objective of detaining Corona-Sanchez.

“President Trump’s domestic army, ICE, came into Vermont yesterday from out of state and, as is virtually always the case, acted in an irresponsible, reckless and unprofessional manner,” said Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch, as well as Representative Becca Balint, in a statement.

Governor Phil Scott, a Republican who has long distanced himself from the Trump administration, called the incident “totally unnecessary,” and said the actions of federal law enforcement “further demonstrates a lack of training, coordination, leadership, and outdated tactics which put both peaceful protesters and Vermont law enforcement in a difficult situation.”

He thanked local and State Police, but he criticized “those there to agitate,” an apparent reference to protesters, some of whom threw water bottles and other objects at police vehicles.

Sarah George, the county prosecutor, called for the US attorney’s office to investigate the conduct of federal agents, a sentiment echoed by other officials.

One statewide officeholder, Treasurer Mike Pieciak — a Democrat viewed as a potential challenger to Scott — went a step further, calling for an independent investigation of both federal and state law enforcement.

“Who made the decision and why was the decision made for the State Police to get involved in an immigration enforcement matter?” he said in an interview.

State and local police agencies in Vermont are required to follow Fair and Impartial Policing policies, which limit the extent to which they can cooperate with federal authorities on immigration matters. Pieciak questioned whether Vermont State Police might have run afoul of those policies when they pushed through the crowd so ICE agents could reach the house.

“It seems like the State Police were providing the pathway, providing the opportunity for ICE agents to get into the house and conduct their search or try to execute on their arrest warrant,” he said. “And without the State Police, that would not have happened.”

But Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison, who oversees the State Police, took issue with the notion her officers facilitated the arrests.

“We did not help ICE get into the house,” she said. Rather, state troopers “created a safe corridor” through which federal agents could move, she said, “and make their way to the door, where they handled the operation exclusively.”

Morrison said her agency made the assessment, based on similar protests throughout the country, that without its involvement, federal agents were more likely to use “techniques . . . that could have harmed Vermonters.”

Lia Ernst, legal director for the ACLU of Vermont, said she was skeptical local and State Police were focused on keeping protesters safe and protecting the First Amendment.

“When they’re gearing up in masks and tactical gear, that doesn’t feel to me like an agency preparing to do those things,” Ernst said, calling for a “full and thorough” investigation.

At least one local officer was already facing scrutiny Thursday.

Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, whose police department assisted at Wednesday’s incident, said the city was reviewing the actions of a Burlington officer “who has been accused of using excessive force against protesters.”

She appeared to be referring to an officer pictured in a video circulating on social media who grabbed a woman by the arm, swung her around, and slammed her to the curb. The woman, Gwendolyn Heaghney, 33, of Winooski, said she had been trying to remove a mask from a fellow protester who was being led away by police in order to help him breathe.

“It was just like crazy whiplash,” she said Thursday as she sought treatment at a local hospital. “I’ve never really been in a physical fight, but he grabbed my arm, twisted it, and my whole body went with him.”

Heaghney said she hoped to see “something other than milquetoast” statements from politicians and police.

“I want to see some accountability,” she said.

Paul Heintz can be reached at paul.heintz@globe.com. Follow him on X @paulheintz.

An operation by federal immigration agents in South Burlington, Vermont, erupted in violence Wednesday when protesters refused to disperse and threw beer bottles, water bottles and rocks and spit on law enforcement officials.

It started when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempted to arrest a wanted person at a home on Dorset Street in South Burlington on Wednesday morning, according to WPTZ. The man, identified in court documents as Daviy Daniel Corona-Sanchez, was not located inside the home and remains at large.

Court documents obtained by WPTZ show that ICE officers were conducting “surveillance” Wednesday morning on Dorset Street when they observed Corona-Sanchez getting into a blue Toyota Camry. Multiple ICE deportation officers activated lights and sirens in an attempt to stop the vehicle.

According to reports from local and federal law enforcement, the vehicle did not stop but crashed multiple times while trying to escape. The vehicle allegedly pulled into a parking lot and two men, including Corona-Sanchez, ran into a building on Dorset Street.

After obtaining a federal search warrant, ICE officers entered the building on Wednesday afternoon, but Corona-Sanchez was not found inside. A man and a woman who were inside the home were taken into custody and are now being held at local correctional facilities.

As the situation unfolded, members of the public gathered in the area to protest the ICE operation. ICE agents attempting to leave the scene were blocked by the protesters.

State and local police responded to help handle the developing situation. They said they were not involved in executing the federal warrant or entering the residence, and they were not informed of the federal action in advance. Their role was limited to maintaining public safety, protecting the right to peaceful protest and ensuring officer safety.

State police said some of the protesters pushed and spit on troopers, flung debris including beer bottles, water bottles, umbrellas and rocks and rocked cruisers.

They said he use of force by state troopers was limited to “pushing and moving members of the public out of the way as needed, and one deployment of an irritant spray when someone in the crowd smashed a window and tried to get into a VSP van leaving the scene at the end of the operation.”

State police said one trooper suffered an eye injury from the shattered glass and was treated at the hospital and later released.

Three protesters were detained for disorderly conduct but released later in the day, police said.

Federal agents eventually deployed tear gas and loud bangs could be heard around 7 p.m. as they tried to leave the scene, WPTZ reported. Several protesters could be seen running away and screaming as loud bangs and smoke filled the street. The crowd had completely dispersed by about 7:30 p.m.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott issued a statement calling Wednesday’s operation “totally unnecessary.”

“The actions of federal law enforcement, from outside the state yesterday, further demonstrate a lack of training, coordination, leadership, and outdated tactics which put both peaceful protesters and Vermont law enforcement in a difficult situation,” Scott added. “I want to be clear, how the events concluded, and the tactics deployed by federal officials, as well as actions of those there to agitate, further escalated a situation that was avoidable from the start. It’s examples like this that further divide communities and law enforcement and result in more harm being done than good.”

WPTZ said they have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the incident, but have not heard back.

Federal authorities deployed flashbang devices and pepper-sprayed those who refused to allow police cars to depart.

The incident began around 7:30 a.m., when federal authorities attempted to detain a man in a busy neighborhood of South Burlington, according to local and State Police. The man fled in a car and struck several other vehicles — including two operated by ICE officials who were attempting to box him into a parking lot, police said. The man was seen entering a nearby house.

Migrant Justice, a Vermont-based activist group, activated its rapid response network, prompting supporters to arrive at the house and block its doors so that authorities could not enter. As a dozen masked ICE officers stood sentry, more activists joined the scene throughout the day — chanting, singing and, at times, hurling insults at authorities.

Police shut down traffic for several blocks around the house, which is located between a middle school and a shopping center, not far from Interstate 89.

Grace Oedel, a nonprofit executive and rabbi, was among those leading the crowd in song. In an interview, she compared ICE’s actions to those that took place in Nazi Germany, where relatives of hers were killed.

“This is completely, clearly immoral, abjectly racist, dehumanizing policy,” she said. “And it is our human duty to stand for our neighbors and make sure everyone and everyone’s children are safe.”

At times during the day, the protest took on a carnival-like atmosphere. Rae Beecher, a South Burlington resident, carried over a charcoal grill and set it up outside the house to cook hotdogs.

“I am here as a person who abhors what is going on here and also fights for the freedom of eating, as well,” Beecher said, rotating hotdogs with grilling utensils. “I feel like my duty as a neighbor is to make sure that everybody is fed in every circumstance.”

But the mood turned darker around 5 p.m., when a law enforcement official in an unmarked vehicle pulled up in front of the house and announced to the crowd that a federal judge had issued a criminal arrest warrant for the person they believed was inside.

Dozens more federal, state and local police officers arrived — many in tactical gear, holding rifles aloft — and pushed their way through the crowd, entering the house with the help of a battering ram. Officers shoved several people to the ground.

“ICE, out! ICE, out!” protesters chanted.

Nearly half an hour later, police escorted two women and a man from the house to an unmarked SUV, but it remained trapped at the scene as protesters lined the street on either side. Some threw dirt, banana peels and water bottles at the cars. Officers donned respirators and fired pepper spray projectiles. Some police vehicles escaped by crossing the median and speeding away before protesters could stop them.

Four members of the crowd were detained by local and state law enforcement and quickly released, according to South Burlington Police Chief Bill Breault.

The fate of those inside the house was unclear. ICE did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

According to Seven Days, a Burlington newspaper, the warrant was issued for Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, a Mexican man who faced previous charges for criminal trespass and driving under the influence. It was not clear whether Corona-Sanchez was among the three occupants of the house.

At a press conference Wednesday night at South Burlington City Hall, local and state police sought to distance themselves from the actions of their federal counterparts. They said their departments had complied with state policies limiting cooperation with federal authorities on immigration matters — and were focused on keeping protesters and officers safe.

Breault criticized what he called “poor decision-making and planning” by federal authorities — citing their decision to apprehend someone in a busy neighborhood as children were heading to school.

“That would not have been how I would have done it,” he said. “I will be clear about that.”

Paul Heintz can be reached at paul.heintz@globe.com. Follow him on X @paulheintz.