Legislature sends bill limiting police cooperation with ICE to Governor’s desk

By Andy O’Brien

The Maine Legislature voted largely on party lines on June 18 to enact  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,” sponsored by Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D-Dist. 120, So. Portland), which would  prohibit law enforcement from stopping, investigating, interrogating, arresting, or detaining someone for immigration purposes. The bill would also ban law enforcement from complying with the constitutionally questionable requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain individuals solely for immigration enforcement purposes. 

The Maine House voted 75-73 and the Maine Senate voted 20-14 to enact LD 1971. Governor Mills has ten days (excluding Sundays) after enactment to take action on the bill. Two Democrats, Stephan Bunker (D-Dist. 75, Farmington) and Dani O’Halloran (D-Dist. 20, Brewer), joined Republicans in opposing the bill in the House. Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Dist. 18, Oxford) joined Democrats in supporting it in the Senate. 

In response to concerns from law enforcement officials that the original bill could prevent local police from collaborating with federal authorities on criminal cases, lawmakers amended the bill to clarify that it still allows law enforcement to assist federal immigration agents in criminal investigations for crimes like terrorism, drug trafficking, and human trafficking. Nevertheless, law enforcement organizations like the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and the Maine Sheriffs’ Association remain opposed to the bill out of concerns it would still hamper their ability to partner with federal authorities.

Supporters of the bills argued that local law enforcement should not be engaging in civil immigration enforcement because it takes away the focus on local public safety and deters immigrants from reporting crimes for fear of arrest. Such efforts have been linked to racial profiling, unlawful detentions, and expensive lawsuits, they said. On June 17, Rep. Deqa Dhalac said her bill would provide clarity to law enforcement so they can focus on their primary mission of safeguarding our communities and upholding state laws.

“The people this bill aims to protect are your neighbors, your coworkers, your children’s classmates,” she said. “They want what we all want – to work hard, live peacefully and contribute to everything that makes our beautiful state a great state.”

While President Donald Trump originally announced that his administration would focus immigration enforcement efforts on violent criminals in the country illegally, numerous press reports have documented U.S. Immigration Customs and Customs Enforcement arrests of people without any criminal records and deporting them without due process, sometimes in violation of court orders. In recent weeks, the President’s immigration crackdown has intensified as his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has given ICE a quota of 3,000 arrests a day, an increase of 650 per day in the first five months of the President’s term.

Speaking in favor of the bill, Rep. Sean Faircloth (D-Dist. 24, Bangor) cited several cases where he believed ICE overstepped its authority, such as deporting three children who are U.S. citizens, including a child with stage 4 cancer who was sent out of the country without his medication in April. He pointed to the case of Jeanfranco Alejandro Flores Salazar, whom a  federal judge recently ruled was unlawfully arrested by border patrol in Calais, and detained for 65 days based on a tip from a “concerned citizen.” Faircloth said the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) had also informed him of a woman who was reported by law enforcement to federal immigration agents and arrested for a suspected immigration violation after stopping to help an individual involved in a car accident in Oxford County.

“Colleagues, these stark, real cases present Maine with a historic choice,” said Faircloth. “Laws were broken in the cases I just described, but not by Mr. Flores Salazar, not by the good samaritan woman who stopped to help a crash victim.” He added, “Vote for this bill in honor of that good samaritan.”

Rep. Tavis Hasenfus (D-Dist. 57, Readfield) argued that the bill was necessary because the U.S. Constitution requires that the government must follow due process, and is forbidden from unlawfully arresting and detaining individuals. He noted that this principle has long guided common law jurisprudence and can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the foundational principles of justice established by the  Magna Carta of 1215.

“These are not just lofty ideas. They are the very bedrock of liberty,” said Hasenfus. “And yet we now face a moment in which the basic right to liberty and the fair application of justice is under assault. When an individual is seized by the government and shipped without notice to obscure holding facilities, due process is not a luxury. It is a moral imperative.”

Republicans spoke out in strong opposition to the bill, saying that it would jeopardize public safety –  despite numerous studies showing that immigrants in the United States commit crimes at lower rates than the U.S.-born population. In an emotional speech, Sen. Scott Cyrway (R-Dist. 16, Kennebec), who is a retired Kennebec County deputy sheriff, said that the bill would make Maine less safe and put local law enforcement lives at risk. He told his colleagues that passing the bill would be like telling Capitol Police who “take care of you and look out for you” that “they don’t matter anymore.”

“I’ve been up at the Border Patrol, up at the Canadian border and I’ll tell ya they’re great guys,” said Cyrway. “They’re just like me. They’re no different, but we’re treating them like they’re some foreigner that’s going to come in and do some bad stuff. They’re just trying to do their job. They’re trying to keep you safe.”

Cyrway falsely interpreted the amendment’s language as prohibiting local law enforcement from collaborating with federal immigration agents on terrorism, drug trafficking, and human trafficking cases. Following Cyrway’s speech, his Republican colleague Rick Bennett pointed out that the amendment explicitly focuses on immigrant enforcement and clearly provides an exemption for those federal crimes.

“I would encourage members to simply read the amended version of this bill. I believe that many of the concerns that people had about that balance have been addressed,” said Bennett. “I, for one, am concerned about the use of Maine resources and the taking of those resources for activities that are governed by whatever party is in the White House. We need to focus on Maine, and I believe that this amended version actually accomplishes that.”