Effort to restrict Maine police from carrying out federal immigration enforcement splits lawmakers
A narrow majority of the Judiciary Committee recommended on Monday that the Legislature pass a bill to restrict local authorities from carrying out federal immigration enforcement.
LD 1971 would place restrictions on enforcement activities absent formal agreements with federal authorities, and the version advanced was amended to clarify what would and would not be permitted under the bill as a means to address pushback from police groups.
The vote was 7-6, with Passamaquoddy Tribal Rep. Aaron Dana absent. Those opposed — the Republicans on the committee and Democratic Rep. Dani O'Halloran of Brewer — raised objections, both to the bill's substance as well as the decision to take the vote on Monday.
The vote came amid growing scrutiny of local law enforcement collaboration with federal immigration authorities and followed days of protests over the Trump administration's workplace raids in Los Angeles with residents and activists facing off with local and federal officers.
Rep. Rachel Henderson (R-Rumford), who voted against the measure, said the bill would 'effectively turn Maine into a 'sanctuary state,'' and argued, 'we're actively seeing on a national level how that's playing out currently in California.'
President Donald Trump has since deployed the National Guard to the protests, the first time a president has activated a state's National Guard since 1965 without a request from a governor — something Gov. Janet Mills and other Democratic governors condemned in a joint statement. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is now suing Trump over the deployment.
Others on the committee asked for more time to consider the bill.
Sen. David Haggan (R-Penobscot) requested another work session, but committee co-chair Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) said that the committee is already working past deadline.
Rep. Jennifer Poirier (R-Skowhegan) also tried to push for more time by requesting the bill be carried over into next year, which is what the committee decided to do last week with a related proposal.
The committee carried over LD 1259, which would explicitly prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from entering into contracts with federal immigration enforcement authorities.
Participation in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program has grown across the country after President Donald Trump revived it to bolster ICE's capacity by deputizing local police officers to detain immigrants, an authority otherwise generally reserved to federal authorities. The program was discontinued in 2012 due to the discovery of discriminatory practices such as racial profiling. Wells Police Department is the only Maine agency that has opted to join. However, Wells paused its agreement to see if the Legislature votes to ban such contracts.
The committee also voted down a competing plan, LD 1656, which would prevent local agencies from adopting any policies that restrict them from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law.
Rep. Elizabeth Caruso (R-Caratunk) requested more time to hear from law enforcement on the latest changes to the bill.
A few additional tweaks were made since last week when Auburn Police Chief Jason Moen, who is president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, said an earlier amendment assuaged his concerns 'to some extent.' The overarching concern from law enforcement has been about the bill hindering federal task forces that are not primarily for immigration enforcement but sometimes touch on some immigration issues, such as drug enforcement partnerships.
Michael Kebede, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, said the version that passed on Monday was crafted to explicitly address those concerns but that law enforcement did not have a hand in drafting the amendment.
'I just don't feel like this is doing our due diligence,' Caruso said.
But Rep. Adam Lee (D-Auburn) said, 'Respectfully, I couldn't disagree more.' Regarding the latest changes, he said, 'We've protected the one thing we've heard from the chiefs of police that is a problem.'
The amended version clarifies that the legislation doesn't prohibit state or local law enforcement from conducting investigative and enforcement duties as part of a joint law enforcement task force,as long as its primary purpose is not immigration enforcement.
Further, it removed provisions that would have prohibited state and local law enforcement agencies from providing office space for immigration authorities and prohibited state employees from inquiring about a person's immigration status unless necessary to determine service eligibility or ordered by law.
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