While a key committee in Augusta moved legislation to the floor that would make it more difficult for police in Maine to cooperate with federal authorities enforcing immigration law, councilors in the Knox County seat of Rockland shot down a similar measure this week in a signal that state and local officials may not be on the same page on the question.
The Maine Legislature’s Committee on the Judiciary voted on Monday in favor of a bill aimed at hindering local law enforcement’s cooperation with immigration authorities like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on the same day that the Rockland City Council voted down a similar local measure.
“I would love to hear feedback from law enforcement, but it’s almost impossible for law enforcement to give feedback on a five-and-a-half page amendment when it’s made public 14 minutes before the public hearing is scheduled,” said Rep. Rachel Henderson (R-Rumford) speaking during the bill’s work session.
“As far as the bill goes, this would effectively turn Maine into a sanctuary state, and we’re actively seeing on a national level how that’s playing out currently in California from what’s happening, it’s not peaceful protests, it’s violent riots,” she added.
Monday’s work session considered a last-minute amended version of Rep. Deqa Dhalac’s (D-South Portland) bill, LD 1971, which included significant changes from the initial draft while maintaining the original purpose of restricting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
The amendment softened some of the more extreme language, such as removing a provision preventing all state employees from inquiring about immigration status, while maintaining a prohibition on inquiries by law enforcement.
The bill still prevents local law enforcement from working with federal authorities solely for the purpose of immigration enforcement, sharing information with those authorities under many circumstances, or making arrests based on immigration violations.
The committee’s chair, Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland), initially resisted directly answering a question from Rep. Elizabeth Caruso (R-Caratunk) about whether law enforcement was consulted on the amendment.
Sen. Carney dodged the question and pushed it off onto the committee’s deputy chair, Rep. Amy Kuhn (D-Falmouth), who claimed not to know whether law enforcement was consulted on the amendment.
Even Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland), who typically sides with the farthest left legislators, recognized Rep. Caruso’s question as legitimate and eventually received an answer.
“I just wanted to piggyback off of the representative’s question because I just don’t see any harm in answering it, I think it’s a, a [sic] valid question,” said Sen. Talbot Ross.
Carney directed the question to Michael Kebede, the Policy Director at the Maine American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who acknowledged that law enforcement was not consulted on the amendment but claimed that everything in it was intended as an “olive branch” for law enforcement.
After a discussion on the bill, the committee’s chairs moved to vote on it, despite opposition from some on the committee, including Rep. Dani O’Halloran (D-Brewer), who thought that the bill was not ready for a vote.
The vote led to a 7-6 “ought to pass as amended” recommendation, with all Republicans and Rep. O’Halloran voting against it.
“My city is very concerned about this bill, we have a lot of issues with out-of-country gang violence, drugs, guns,” said O’Halloran, “In good conscience, I can’t take the risk of voting for something that’s going to cause harm to my community.”
On the same day that the Judiciary Committee moved forward with Rep. Dhalac’s anti-ICE bill, the Rockland City Council narrowly voted 3-2 on Monday night to reject a similar policy at the local level.
The policy, proposed by Councilor Kaitlin Callahan and supported by many public testimonies during the policy’s public testimony period did not enjoy the support of local law enforcement.
It would have prevented the Rockland Police Department from partnering with ICE and drew opposition from Police Chief Tim Carroll. He did, however, promise that the Rockland Police Department would not enforce immigration law or ask about immigration status.
Rockland Mayor Penny York and Councilors Adam Lachman and Nicole Kalloch voted in opposition, with Councilor Nate Davis joining Callahan in support of the policy.
That vote led to acrimony and charges of being partisan between councilors, with Callahan taking to Facebook to accuse Kalloch of ‘political activism,’ to which Kalloch responded:
“When you use phrases like ‘across the country’ or ‘this isn’t about the Rockland Police Department’ and considering that 90% of the proposal was copied and pasted from New York rather than our own police chief, it becomes clear to me and to many of your constituents and surrounding community members that you are acting more like a political activist than a council member.”
