By Andy O’Brien

On May 12, Rockland residents came out in support of a proposal that would add more oversight to federal border enforcement grants. The order, sponsored by City Councilor Kaitlin Callahan, would prohibit the Rockland Police Department from accepting any grant funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without a written agreement as to the terms of the funding. It would also require that the terms of the grant first receive approval by the City Council. The Rockland City Council voted 5-0 to postpone a vote on the order until its June 9 meeting.

Operation Stonegarden grants are a controversial program under the DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that provide funding to local law enforcement agencies to enhance cooperation and coordination with Customs and Border Protection’s U. S. Border Patrol. The funds are typically used to reimburse police departments for overtime hours involving border enforcement, with a stated focus on preventing, protecting against, and responding to terrorist attacks.

However, critics of the grants fear that the grants are being used to collaborate in the arrests and detention of immigrants without any criminal backgrounds. An estimated 70 percent of arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are the result of a detainer and transfer of custody from another law enforcement agency.

In Rockland, these concerns have been at the forefront of some residents’ minds as the Trump administration steps up efforts to arrest and deport people, many of whom have no criminal records, are following legal pathways to asylum, or are even U.S. citizens. 

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At the May 12 meeting, supporters of accepting Operation Stonegarden grants said the money would ensure that the City Council is able to better monitor the police department’s relationship with immigration enforcement agencies, and ensure that immigrant rights are protected. Opponents noted that there is no clear documentation of what agencies expect from cities in return.

“Be careful who you partner with,” said resident Kenney Miller. “At the end of the day, agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the ones we see in the news rounding up immigrants, including many of whom are here legally, they’re the ones who get deployed when the Secretary of State unceremoniously revokes people’s visas for exercising their freedom of speech.”

Miller pointed out that sheriffs have also been calling Border Patrol when stopping immigrants at routine traffic stops, when they otherwise would give non-immigrant drivers a “slap on the wrist.” Miller used the example of an immigrant reported to Border Patrol  by the Waldo County Sheriff at a routine traffic stop in Montville in March. 

Publicly available data is not available indicating which law enforcement departments in Maine receive Stonegarden grants, but the $81 million program disburses about $1 million to Maine, including $150,000 to Knox County. Rockland’s share is projected to be about $10,000 of its total $3.1 million police budget.

Stonegarden grants have been controversial in Rockland as far back as the first Trump administration, when the Rockland City Council voted 4-1 to reject a $7,000 grant. Then, in 2024, the council voted 3-2 to accept the money. The Rockland Police Department has said on numerous occasions that it does not have the authority to enforce U.S. immigration law, and that the Stonegarden grant would be used for community policing during the summer months..

In April, DHS updated its “standard terms and conditions” for recipients of grants and cooperative agreements to require that information regarding the citizenship and immigration status of any individual be shared. In addition, recipients would need to honor requests from ICE to detain individuals for immigration enforcement purposes.

Civil liberties groups have charged that these immigration holds are unconstitutional because they involve detaining individuals without formal charges or due process. The DHS terms and conditions also prohibit grant recipients from publicizing the existence of immigration enforcement operations.

On the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) website is a downloadable daily activity report template that recipients of Stonegarden grants must send to MEMA for reimbursement. Officers must fill out boxes on the template recording the number of vehicle stops, citations issued, drug seizures, and “illegal aliens turned over to [Border Patrol].”

The Knox County Sheriff’s Department, which handed a man over to immigration enforcement after a routine traffic stop on May 5, has received a Stonegarden grant. Although the Knox County Sheriff’s office had not responded to requests for an interview by press time, the Knox County Commissioner Ed Glaser said his understanding of the grant’s intended purpose is to facilitate the arrests of violent offenders or drug dealers with criminal records.

“It wasn’t intended as a tool for immigration enforcement,” he said. “I also have heard that what is expected in exchange for the grant has been changing, and I hope to discuss the changes with the sheriff to see if it still makes sense for Knox County to apply for and accept the grant.”