This piece is part of a series covering the ICE Out of Maine laws. See more here.
Last September, ICE agents driving unmarked vehicles abducted a parent who had just dropped off their child at the elementary school only steps away from my house. When school officials attempted to intervene, the agents refused to identify themselves or even the agency they worked for.
This incident, which instantly traumatized an entire school system, sparked a community movement of care and solidarity – in my neighborhood and across the state. Mainers fought back by forming watch groups, sharing Know Your Rights information, and providing mutual aid for their most vulnerable neighbors.
When federal agents descended upon Maine for “Operation Catch of the Day” in late January, the movement was prepared. Regular people leapt into action in their own communities. Even so, ICE once again weaponized parents’ commitment to their children’s education, detaining another parent after drop off, this time near a Portland high school.
Responding In Real Time to Operation Catch of the Day
At the same time ICE agents were prowling Maine towns and abducting parents and children alike (a vanishingly small percentage of whom had any criminal convictions, an excuse used as a pretext for the operation when ICE said they were going to arrest the “worst of the worst”), a coalition of groups including the ACLU of Maine worked with the Maine Legislature to pass the ICE Out of Schools and State Healthcare bill.
It took effect on July 29, ensuring that frontline public employees are empowered to protect the people they serve from ICE operations that traumatize children and families in the most sensitive spaces in our state.
Having watched the ICE surges in Chicago and Charlotte earlier in 2025 and understanding that such a surge could come to Maine at any time, a group of legislators filed and sponsored the bill as early as the first week of December, weeks ahead of the legislative session.
Until recently, this bill would not have been necessary. For decades, the Department of Homeland Security maintained an internal policy prohibiting civil immigration arrests at sensitive locations such as schools, healthcare facilities, and libraries. It was a longstanding and bipartisan consensus that if people felt unsafe going to these places for fear of ICE operations, there would be serious public health and safety consequences. But in January of 2025, the Trump administration rescinded that policy, unleashing ICE to pursue arrests in these highly sensitive areas.
Sensitive Spaces Protected: “ICE Out of Schools and State Healthcare”
The ICE Out of Schools and State Healthcare law limits federal immigration authorities’ access to sensitive locations that are essential to daily life and are at the core of strong, healthy communities.
The law requires staff in certain state-controlled spaces to deny ICE agents access to private records and private spaces unless agents have a valid judicial warrant. This includes public schools and public pre-K, Maine’s two state psychiatric hospitals, and all of Maine’s state libraries (the Maine State Library, the Law and Legislative Library, and all of the libraries under the UMaine system, community college system, and Maine Maritime Academy). Additionally, the law requires the attorney general to provide guidance that can be adopted by all of Maine’s private schools, healthcare facilities, residential treatment centers, and all public libraries.
The law protects not only our children at school, people seeking information in state libraries, and our loved ones needing healthcare, but also those working in these settings. The frontline staff who keep these critical institutions running deserve to feel secure in their rights and procedures if rogue, armed agents burst into a building demanding to enter private spaces or access private information about students, families, and patients. That makes our most sensitive spaces, in my neighborhood and yours, safer for all of us.
We all have a role to play in keeping our neighbors safe from Trump’s violent and deadly deportation machine. We showed up for each other last fall and during Operation Catch of the Day, and now we can do it again by seeing that our public officials enact (and private entities adopt) the ICE Out of Schools and State Healthcare law.
Join the Fight to Get ICE Out of Maine
While the state of Maine only has the authority to regulate what is under its own jurisdiction, ICE Out laws will make every community safer.
However, these protections will only work if they're fully implemented. A wide range of public officials oversee many of the local systems affected by these laws, including county commissioners, mayors, police chiefs, superintendents, and sheriffs.
