ILAP Community Update: April 25
April 25, 2025
Dear Community,
This week marks the first 100 days of the Trump administration. In these past months, we’ve seen rapid fire policy changes and unprecedented attacks on our system of laws that have translated to real harm to members of Maine’s immigrant communities. To all who have been impacted, we want you to know that we see you, we hear you, and are in solidarity with you now and always.
These past 100 days have also been marked by people across Maine showing up for each other. Mainers in every corner of our state have been making clear that immigrants are valued, respected, and needed.
People have been coming together to protest and speak out in Wells, the first town in Maine to enter into a harmful agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This past week, community members in Monmouth and Winthrop in central Maine demonstrated the power of the people and successfully stopped their police department from actively partnering with ICE to target immigrant communities through such an agreement. These advocates rejected false and dehumanizing narratives and secured a better future for everyone in their community.
While policy decisions will keep coming down from the highest offices in the country, what happens next will be determined by what happens in our communities. Let’s keep our sleeves rolled up, keep standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and build the future we want to see.
In solidarity,
ILAP team
Update from ILAP: Our team set out to provide weekly updates to our community through the first 100 days of the Trump administration. We’ve stretched ourselves to accomplish that goal and are grateful for the outpouring of support and action we’ve seen.
We remain committed to helping our community understand the impact of immigration changes and ways to take action. Going forward, we will be providing updates twice a month and sharing urgent, stand-alone action alerts in between.
CALL TO ACTION
Take Action for Union Member Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia on May Day
May 1, or May Day, is International Workers Day and working people will be mobilizing across the country to declare: One Struggle, One Fight, All Workers Unite!
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a man wrongfully removed from the U.S. and sent to a Salvadoran work prison, is a member of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Union. Kilmar’s union is calling on working people everywhere to join them in demanding Members of Congress work to bring Kilmar home.
Check out this powerful video of a union leader demanding Kilmar’s return and take action below.
Your voice matters - thank you for stepping up to make a difference. You can find contact information for your elected officials and more advocacy resources on ILAP's Take Action Resources page!
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 developments from the past week, as of April 25, 2025.
PLEASE NOTE: All updates are subject to rapid change.
Immigration Announcement:
Supreme Court temporarily blocks Trump administration from sending men being held in Texas to El Salvador under Alien Enemies Act
What It Means:
Legal challenges to the Trump administration’s abuse of power using the Alien Enemies Act continues, with the Supreme Court temporarily stopping the administration from removing a group of men being held in Texas to a Salvadoran mega-prison on April 19th. The Alien Enemies Act is an obscure wartime power last used to incarcerate Japanese Americans during World War II.
The Supreme Court previously ruled that the administration could not remove people using the Alien Enemies Act without due process, and this emergency order came in response to the administration taking steps towards violating that order and attempting to remove more people without giving them a fair opportunity to challenge their removal.
The administration continues to allege that the people it is seeking to remove to El Salvador have criminal records and are gang members but reporting shows the majority are not and no evidence has been provided to show they are gang members.
In addition to attempting to forcefully remove more people from the U.S. without due process in violation of the Supreme Court’s ruling, reporting from Reuters shows the administration is moving people within the U.S. to potentially position them for removal in violation of other court orders.
President Trump issues memorandum to prevent undocumented people from receiving Social Security Benefits, which they are not eligible for
The administration continues to push a false narrative that undocumented people are collecting social security benefits that they are not eligible for. No evidence supports these claims.
Despite not being eligible for these benefits, undocumented taxpayers contribute to social security, and other funds.
ICE invests $30 million in new mass surveillance tool
Creating surveillance infrastructure is central to the Trump administration’s plan to deport as many people as possible from the United States.
In a new contract, ICE is paying a software company $30 million dollars to develop a system to target “affiliates of known transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), violent criminals, and visa overstays.”
While the administration has maintained that its agenda is to target people who are public safety threats, evidence shows that people with no criminal records are being detained and deported and there is no evidence to show that many of the people the administration has accused of being affiliated with gangs actually are.
For previous updates from ILAP, check out the links below:
April 18, 2025: Community Update
April 11, 2025: Community Update
April 4, 2025: Community Update
Know Your Rights
An important step you can take now to protect yourself is to learn your rights! See ILAP’s resources here.
Stay Connected:
Follow ILAP @ilapmaine on social media for the latest updates:
Members of the Maine Bar can support ILAP’s work by donating to the Campaign for Justice, a special collaborative fundraising effort by Maine’s legal community to support legal aid.
