Open Records Request

The Trump administration is using Maine to facilitate its mass deportation efforts. We’re demanding more information about federal operations and how state and local law enforcement may be helping to carry out these cruel policies. 

Specifically, we are monitoring how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) are using Maine’s state and local law enforcement and detention facilities to detain immigrants.  As part of processing and removal operations, ICE and CBP often use state and local law enforcement resources to arrest and detain immigrants. This includes using staff time, facilities like jails and prisons, and vehicles. Once in detention, people are often subject to harsh conditions and transferred between detention facilities without notice, harming their welfare and their access to legal counsel.  Valued members of our communities are being detained with little to no information regarding their circumstances. We believe it is crucial for Mainers to know how their public officials are supporting federal immigration enforcement, which often violates people's constitutional rights. 

These abuses of power threaten all people, regardless of their immigration status. Actions targeting specific minority groups undermine due process rights for everyone as power is consolidated and our system of checks and balances is dismantled. 

We’ll continue to update this page as we receive records concerning Maine law enforcement’s involvement with Trump’s dangerous and unprecedented mass deportation efforts.  

Date

Thursday, April 17, 2025 - 2:00pm

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During traffic stops, Maine State Police have called federal immigration agents to the scene and taken people to federal immigration agents following the stop. We're demanding information to learn more about Maine's cooperation with federal immigration agencies.

When state and local police cooperate with federal immigration agencies, many of their practices are rife with racial profiling and stereotyping. Some people may fear traveling in their own communities, knowing state police may deliver them to federal agents simply because of the color of their skin, their name, their accent, or their language.

When state and local law enforcement agencies carry out harmful immigration policies on behalf of the federal government, they expose state and local governments to even more legal liability and harm other investigations. For instance, if state police violate a person's civil rights while enforcing federal immigration law, the state is liable for their actions even though the officers were not even acting to enforce state law. Additionally, witnesses to incidents like a car accident may be less likely to come forward to share what they saw if they may be targeted in the process.

We're demanding information about:

  1. All Maine State Police (MSP) traffic stops in which the individual stopped was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) custody between January 1, 2019, and January 17, 2023.
  2. All documentation associated with the stops in item 1.
  3. All documentation showing the number of people MSP transferred or released to ICE or CBP custody between January 1, 2019, and January 17, 2023.
  4. All communications between MSP and ICE or CBP regarding the transportation of people who are not US citizens.

See our request in the PDF at the bottom of this page or here.

This request is in progress and the page will be updated after we have received and analyzed all relevant documents. Last updated: June 3, 2024.

Date

Tuesday, January 17, 2023 - 2:00pm

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Many Maine towns and cities are turning to policies that ignore the root causes of unsheltered homelessness and threaten unhoused residents' rights. We're seeking more information to learn about policies and enforcement practices in Lewiston and Auburn.

As cities like Portland forcibly displace unhoused residents, we're seeking information to learn about the policies and enforcement practices happening throughout the state, including in Lewiston and Auburn. Policies like camping bans harm unhoused residents, are a waste of resources that ignore the root causes of homelessness, and threaten unhoused people's constitutional rights.

See our requests in the PDFs at the bottom of this page or here and here.

This request is in progress and the page will be updated after we have received and analyzed all relevant documents. Last updated: June 3, 2024.

Date

Thursday, March 14, 2024 - 2:00pm

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