In 2026, ILAP will prioritize defending immigrant communities from mass enforcement, responding to systemic issues in immigration detention, defending humanitarian immigration pathways, advocating for the rights and protection of immigrant children, expanding access to immigration legal services, and supporting efforts to help people meet basic needs.
Read MoreThank you for all the ways you have cared for and supported Maine’s immigrant communities, our team, and each other.
Read MoreILAP remains devastated at the news of the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Our hearts are with Alex’s loved ones and the city of Minneapolis. We condemn the federal government’s brutal occupation of Minneapolis and send unwavering solidarity to the city’s immigrant communities and allies.
Read MoreMaine – The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project is seeing a drop in new requests for emergency legal help for people arrested by ICE in Maine. We have responded to over 60 requests for help made on behalf of people detained by ICE and are actively fighting to secure the freedom of many of these detained individuals. We hope that ICE’s enhanced operation in our state has ended, but we caution people that an end to the operation does not mean the end of all ICE or Border Patrol enforcement in our state now or going forward.
Read More“The fear is reverberating across Maine, and so many people have completely withdrawn from public life,” Sue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said in a statement. “There is no guarantee an ICE surge or operation will not happen again, and the increased enforcement in Maine since the beginning of the Trump administration has been devastating in and of itself.”
Read MoreAdvocates said they were still trying to locate and free people who had been taken out of Maine. “We have a lot of work and rebuilding ahead,” Sue Roche, director of the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said in a statement. “So many people have completely withdrawn from public life.”
Read More“There are not adequate words to describe how difficult the past week has been,” Sue Roche, ILAP’s executive director, said in a statement. “In ILAP’s legal triage, we are seeing mostly people in lawful immigration processes with no criminal records being arrested. Many have been racially profiled and abducted from their cars off the street, and some have been targeted at home. ICE is stalking grocery stores and schools. The lack of due process or humanity in this enforcement operation is appalling.”
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