ACLU of Maine v. City of Sanford et al.

We’re suing Sanford for refusing to comply with Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. We’re asking the Cumberland County Superior Court to order Sanford to turn over public information about their police department’s cooperation with ICE and CBP – something 112 other Maine agencies have already done.

On March 12, 2026, the ACLU of Maine filed a lawsuit against the City of Sanford, the Sanford Police Department, and the Sanford Chief of Police for unlawfully withholding public records related to the Sanford Police Department's cooperation with U.S. Immigration Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Throughout 2025 and 2026, the ACLU of Maine submitted 117 identical record requests to agencies throughout the state to understand how state and local law enforcement may be supporting federal immigration operations. The requests were made under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, and sought incident reports about traffic stops that led to law enforcement turning people over to ICE or CBP custody. 112 have responded in full, but Sanford has withheld these crucial public records.

Sanford officials claimed they could not release incident reports because they contained confidential information. Instead, they provided two call logs, which provided virtually no substantive information. The ACLU of Maine responded, sharing that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has established that public records containing confidential information are public records and that they must be disclosed with appropriate redactions. Moreover, the call logs contained redactions of confidential information, indicating Sanford officials already knew this. Instead of engaging in good faith, Sanford officials suggested the ACLU of Maine seek a court order.

Our lawsuit argues that incident reports are indisputably public records, and that Sanford is improperly denying public records under Maine law. The Law Court has established that when public records contain a combination of confidential and non-confidential information, the records must be disclosed with appropriate redactions. (See those cases here and here.)

Additionally, Sanford has acted in bad faith under Maine law in two ways:

• Sanford’s claim that incident reports cannot be disclosed has no legal basis and demonstrates clear opposition to the public knowledge of Sanford officials’ actions.
• By repeatedly instructing the ACLU of Maine to obtain a court order, Sanford has conceded that the incident reports can be disclosed. Under FOAA, the proper avenue for disclosure of records is for the agency to simply disclose records – not to force an appeal by arbitrarily withholding them.

Government transparency is a core pillar of a functional democracy. It is a crucial mechanism for people to understand what is happening within their communities and allows them the opportunity to hold their governments accountable. Officials must not think that they can hide their activities from public scrutiny.

The ACLU of Maine is committed to shedding light on how government agencies operate throughout the state to inform the public and hold government officials accountable to the people and to the law. Throughout 2025 and 2026, the ACLU of Maine has submitted dozens of records requests to better understand how state and local law enforcement in Maine may be supporting federal immigration operations.