ILAP Community Update: February 18, 2026
February 18, 2026
Dear Community,
We are amazed by the incredible outpouring of support — financial and otherwise — we have received over the past few weeks, allowing us to rapidly build legal capacity and develop new strategies to respond to ICE’s enhanced operation in Maine. Thank you for all the ways you have cared for and supported Maine’s immigrant communities, our team, and each other.
We responded to more than 70 requests for urgent legal help during and in the days following the enhanced ICE operation. We also provided community presentations to help people protect themselves and prepare, helped match families with other referrals and resources, and served as an on-the-ground source of information for Maine’s law and policy makers and the public about what’s happening and what’s next.
The vast majority of the Maine people arrested by ICE during the operation are in lawful immigration processes with no criminal records. Most people were racially profiled while out and about in their communities, and some were targeted at their homes. We saw violent and terrorizing tactics, including ICE stalking schools and grocery stores, snatching people off the streets, and smashing car windows. Maine residents have been sent to ICE detention facilities all across the country and are enduring inhumane conditions including extreme overcrowding, limited food, lack of access to medication, and more. We are grateful to Representative Pingree and Senator King, who continue to seek answers and accountability from the federal administration.
So many in Maine have withdrawn from public life and remain in hiding. People are not going to work. Children are not going to school. The impacts will be long-lasting and generational.
In this environment, with such a cruel, dangerous, and retaliatory federal administration, so many stories of the past few weeks can never be told. ILAP is proud to have helped secure the release of more than a dozen Maine residents who were arrested in the January operation. These include a young man who is deaf and was taken from his home, a father with a newborn in the NICU, a woman taken from her car on her way to a doctor’s appointment, a father of a one-month-old, and a young man racially profiled at a work site. We hope to help secure the freedom of other Maine residents soon.
A difficult road remains. We are continuing to respond to the ongoing immigration enforcement in our state, including the large-scale immigration enforcement raid targeting farmworkers in Skowhegan.
Thank you for your ongoing partnership, work, and shared vision of a Maine — and a country — that is home for all.
In solidarity,
ILAP Team
Immigration Law & Policy Updates
ILAP is committed to helping our community make sense of immigration news and its impact. Below is a summary of some key immigration law and policy developments from the past few weeks. All updates are subject to rapid change.
NOTE: Immigrants in Maine with questions about the below updates or otherwise in need of immigration legal help can request an appointment with ILAP: https://ilapmaine.org/get-legal-help.
Announcement:
Department of Homeland Security shuts down in response to immigration enforcement officer violence
What it Means:
The Department of Homeland Security went into shutdown on Feb. 14, with Congress not reaching an agreement on immigration enforcement reforms in the wake of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and other violent tactics.
5th Circuit Court of Appeals issues decision allowing millions to be detained without a bond hearing
On Feb. 6, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) issued a decision permitting the federal administration to hold people who entered the United States without permission in ICE detention without the opportunity for a bond hearing. A bond hearing is a process that allows people to be released from detention.
The decision could affect millions of people and is in opposition to long-standing legal precedent and understanding of federal law related to detention. It will result in people being held in indefinite detention even if they have been in the U.S. for years, have deep family and community ties, and have no criminal record.
In the current immigration enforcement environment, where ICE uses transfers to detention centers across the country punitively, Maine residents could be transferred to the states under the 5th Circuit and be affected by this decision. Some Maine residents are already being detained in the 5th Circuit.
Learn more from the American Immigration Council here.
Trump administration issues final rule seeking to essentially eliminate the appeals process in immigration court
The Trump administration has issued a final rule that will make it nearly impossible for people to appeal immigration judge decisions.
Under the rule, the Board of Immigration Appeals – which oversees appeals in the immigration court system – has expanded power to dismiss cases without hearing the merits of the appeal.
An appeals process is crucial in ensuring more correct and just decisions under the law. This rule further slashes access to due process and will result in people receiving final orders of removal without a meaningful opportunity to have their full case considered.
Learn more from the #AfghanEvac coalition here.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) updates
A federal judge ruled to keep an order in place preventing the Trump administration from terminating TPS for Haiti. Approximately 350,000 people have protection from deportation under the Haiti TPS designation. For her decision, the judge received death threats.
A federal appeals court has allowed the administration to proceed with terminating TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. The decision affects more than 60,000 people.
Administration continues targeting Somali immigrants
Attorneys are reporting that the Trump administration is fast-tracking asylum claims for Somali immigrants. Fast-tracking cases results in less time for people to find legal help and prepare their cases, and compromises access to due process.
Know Your Rights
ILAP's Know Your Rights page has trusted resources and links to more information. We encourage you to share these resources broadly.
[English] Know Your Rights:
https://ilapmaine.org/know-your-rights[Français] Connaitre Ses Droits:
https://ilapmaine.org/know-your-rights-french[Português] Conheça Seus Direitos:
https://ilapmaine.org/know-your-rights-portuguese[Español] Conozca Sus Derechos:
https://ilapmaine.org/know-your-rights-spanish[Kreyòl Ayisyen] Konnen Dwa Ou:
https://ilapmaine.org/know-your-rights-haitian-creole
ILAP provides free immigration legal help to people who were arrested by ICE in Maine.
Learn how to request help for a person detained by immigration officials and what types of immigration detention cases ILAP can help with.
For previous updates from ILAP, check out the links below:
January 30, 2026: Golden Door
January 16, 2026: Community Update
Stay Connected:
Follow ILAP @ilapmaine on social media for the latest updates:
