Donald Trump promised to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.
Now, ICE and CBP have violated the rights of thousands of immigrants and even arrested more than 170 U.S. citizens this year alone. People with valid visas have been arrested by masked agents without identification, detained in undisclosed locations for days without contact, and denied access to lawyers and loved ones. Children return from school to learn that their parents are gone.
But our communities are not powerless. State and local officials have the power to protect the due process rights of all people.
For decades, communities across the country have pushed back against federal abuses of power in immigration enforcement by refusing to be complicit in violating people's constitutional rights. Since Trump's first term, at least nine states have passed laws limiting the role of local officials and police in federal immigration enforcement.
Maine also has a proud history of protecting people's rights. In 2004, Governor John Baldacci signed an executive order prohibiting state officials from inquiring into people's immigration status. A year earlier, Portland enacted an ordinance prohibiting city staff – including police – from inquiring into immigration status. In 2017, Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island restrained local police from involvement in federal immigration enforcement. And today, local officials across the state are introducing measures to ensure their communities are not complicit in civil liberties violations carried out under Trump's "mass deportation" agenda.
Earlier this year, Maine lawmakers passed LD 1971, a bill that would restrict state and local police from participating in federal immigration enforcement. The bill will become law next year unless the governor vetoes it in January.
A threat to anyone's civil liberties is a threat to us all. Maine towns and cities do not have to be complicit in the president's abuses of power and violations of our rights. We urge Mainers to call on their local officials to defend civil liberties and refuse to participate in this unprecedented and cruel campaign.
