Maine Police Grapple With New Law Restricting Cooperation With Federal Immigration Agencies

Six weeks after a new Maine law sharply curtailed how state and local police can interact with federal immigration authorities, law enforcement leaders across the state say they are following the rules, even as some warn the restrictions could produce unintended consequences.

The statute, which took effect July 29, bars Maine police officers and sheriff's deputies from asking about a person's immigration status or sharing personal information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection, except when the inquiry is tied to a state or federal criminal investigation such as human trafficking or terrorism. Jail staff are prohibited from honoring ICE hold requests that are solely for civil detention.

Multiple sheriffs and police chiefs said the law has cut them off from contacts at the Department of Homeland Security whom they once relied on for translation help and for background details that don't appear in standard criminal checks, such as a person's history abroad or the circumstances of their entry into the country.

"It's always better to have open lines of communication with other agencies," Androscoggin County Sheriff Eric Samson said. "Sometimes collaborative issues fall by the wayside because you can't do that."

Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce echoed that concern, arguing the law removes discretion that officers need to do their jobs safely.

"Law enforcement has a lot of discretion," Joyce said. "When you get laws that take away discretion, there are going to be bad outcomes. And I think we're going to, at some point, see a bad outcome that was not thought of."

Samson said the impact is already tangible. He pointed to a recent case in which a man from Auburn accused of sexually assaulting a woman was released from the Androscoggin County Jail after posting bail, despite a request from ICE to keep him detained.

"It would be a good public safety practice to notify immigration if somebody they have interest in was due to be released and they were a danger to society, so they can act on that," Samson said. "We can't do that anymore."

A Backdrop of Heightened Federal Enforcement

The restrictions landed against a backdrop of intensified federal immigration operations nationwide. On July 13, less than three weeks before the law took effect, an ICE agent shot and killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford. ICE said agents were "conducting targeted surveillance" on the address of someone with a final order of removal. A lawyer for Durán Guerrero's family disputes that any such order existed, and Sen. Angus King has said the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the man was not the agents' intended target.

Earlier in the year, in January, ICE carried out a weeklong enforcement operation across Maine that resulted in roughly 200 arrests. A review of ICE data showed that most of those detained had no criminal history, and many were later ordered released by U.S. District Court judges who ruled the detentions unconstitutional.

Joyce said he has noticed ICE becoming less transparent and detaining immigrants who pose no threat to public safety. Sharon Gandarilla-Javier, an assistant professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said laws like Maine's are a response to what she described as unchecked federal enforcement.

"The reason why these states are coming up with these laws is because the administration is letting these ICE agents do whatever they want, however they want," Gandarilla-Javier said.

Maine is among several states that have enacted laws limiting cooperation with ICE, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

How Departments Are Adapting

The ACLU of Maine sent letters on July 30 to more than 100 municipal police departments, all 16 county sheriff's offices, and a range of state agencies, outlining what the law requires, what it prohibits, and what remains permitted.

"People are free to have their own opinions on the law — the important thing is that the law is followed," said Anahita Sotoohi, an attorney with the ACLU of Maine, which helped craft and advocate for the legislation. She said the organization hopes agencies will reach out if they need help navigating the statute's requirements.

Some agencies began adjusting their practices months before the effective date. Maine State Police announced in December 2025 that they would comply with the law. A spokesperson said last month the agency has experienced no complications so far.

Brunswick Police Chief Scott Stewart, who also serves as president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, said his department began implementing the rule in March. He distributed a memo and a copy of the statute to officers with a straightforward directive: "Familiarize yourself with the restrictions associated with it."

Stewart said the law has forced officers to take additional steps where they previously would have contacted immigration authorities directly, such as using a phone-based translation service instead of reaching out to a Border Patrol agent.

The Sanford Police Department held three training sessions on the new law, including one led by state police and another conducted by Dirigo Safety, an independent law enforcement consultancy.

In Fort Fairfield, Police Chief Matthew Cummings said the law hasn't dramatically altered operations in his community, where Border Patrol agents have long supplemented a single-officer department by directing traffic at crashes and fires, responding to domestic disturbances, and providing backup at traffic stops. Agents are often first on scene, he noted. Cummings said his officers have begun relying on a professional phone-based translation service instead of calling Border Patrol for language assistance.

"We will obviously comply with every portion of state law," Cummings said.

Several municipalities, including Portland, Lewiston, and Waterville, have passed broader local ordinances that bar city staff, including police, from sharing residents' data with ICE.

The Maine Criminal Justice Academy has certified 400 federal officers to enforce state laws. A list of those officers and their specific roles was not available. The new law does not affect those federal officers, who are permitted on a limited basis to enforce Maine statutes.

Exceptions and Ongoing Concerns

The law carves out exceptions for local officers who serve on task forces with federal agents, provided the task force's primary mission is not immigration enforcement.

Emmylou Manwill, who directs the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program at Boston University School of Law, said the flow of information between local police and federal investigators remains essential when pursuing trafficking operations.

"Historically, it was best practice to have local law enforcement working alongside those federal agencies," Manwill said. "But I think now we're in a reality where the local immigrant community trust has really eroded, and now people are very suspect of anybody who's working with federal officers."

Manwill noted that the Department of Homeland Security division typically responsible for investigating transnational crime and human trafficking, known as Homeland Security Investigations, has been redirected under President Donald Trump to focus more heavily on civil immigration arrests. That shift, she said, has made it harder for trafficking survivors to come forward.

Manwill predicted that laws like Maine's, along with a similar measure recently signed in Massachusetts, will help rebuild some of that lost trust.

"The last thing we want to happen is, you know, us helping a client report to law enforcement and our client ending up in removal proceedings or ICE detention," she said.

Sotoohi said the ACLU has so far received mostly brief acknowledgments from agencies thanking the organization for clarifying the new obligations. She said she believes early signs are encouraging.

"Our motivation with these letters," Sotoohi said, "is our belief that these new laws have made strides in protecting people in Maine, and making sure our state and local resources stay in our communities."

The ACLU has also sent guidance letters to state-run health care facilities, libraries, and schools, which are subject to other recently enacted restrictions on sharing Mainers' data with ICE.