By Andy O’Brien
Governor Janet Mills has opted not to sign LD 1971, “An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities,” a bill that would prohibit law enforcement from stopping, investigating, interrogating, arresting, or detaining someone solely for the purpose of immigration control. LD 1971 would also ban law enforcement from complying with constitutionally questionable requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain individuals solely for immigration enforcement purposes.
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The Maine House previously voted 75-73 and the Maine Senate voted 20-14 to enact LD 1971, which was sponsored by Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D-Dist 120, South Portland). The bill will now be held over until the next legislative session beginning in January 2026. At that point, Governor Mills will have three days to either veto or allow LD 1971 to become law without her signature.
Last month, the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee voted on party lines to carry over LD 1259, “An Act to Enhance Public Safety in Maine by Defining the Relationship Between Local and Federal Law Enforcement.”
The bill’s sponsor Rep. Ambureen Rana (D-Dist 21, Bangor) urged the committee to carry over the bill to provide more time for discussions with law enforcement agencies and for study of similar bills that have passed in other states.
“I just want to make sure we’re having a really thoughtful process,” she said. “I hope we can come back to this in the following session and make sure we have everyone on the same page.”
From a strategic standpoint, advocates expressed the hope that spacing both bills out across multiple sessions might improve the odds of passage.
