The Golden Door: May 2025
Updates on the Maine State Legislative Session
This Maine legislative session, ILAP’s advocacy is focused on four key bills aimed at increasing access to immigration legal services in Maine and protecting immigrant communities and our state as a whole from local and state law enforcement needlessly engaging in civil immigration enforcement.
Here’s a rundown:
LD 1022: An Act to Protect and Increase Access to Justice in Civil Legal Matters for Persons with Low Incomes
What it does: LD 1022 would sustain and increase critical civil legal aid funding in Maine to avoid a funding cliff and help ensure that everyone in Maine, regardless of income, can access the legal help they need to stand up for their rights.
ILAP’s testimony: “Losing this funding could not come at a worse time, when immigrant communities in Maine and throughout the country are the target of a mass deportation and detention campaign, when lawful paths to legal status are being eliminated, and when due process and the rule of law are being eroded.” Read ILAP’s full testimony here.
How you can help: Write to your legislators to show your support for civil legal aid using this easy template: www.actionnetwork.org/letters/bridge-the-justice-gap-2025
LD 1259: An Act to Enhance Public Safety in Maine by Defining the Relationship Between Local and Federal Law Enforcement
What it does: LD 1259 would protect the rights of Maine residents as well as Maine’s public safety resources and economy by prohibiting local law enforcement in Maine from voluntarily contracting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 287(g) programs, one of the Trump administration’s central mass deportation policies.
ILAP’s testimony: “287(g) agreements destroy public trust and make immigrant communities even more afraid to report crimes like domestic violence to law enforcement and to assist as witnesses in criminal cases. ILAP’s clients have already reported these types of fall outs in Maine, sharing that they did not call the police when they wanted to for their own safety and that they are scared to continue serving as witnesses in court. 287(g) agreements also promote racial profiling, waste taxpayer dollars, and have economic harms as immigrant communities relocate to places that prioritize the public safety of all residents.” Read ILAP’s full testimony here.
LD 1971: An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities
What it does: LD 1971 would protect the rights of Maine residents as well as Maine’s public safety resources and economy by prohibiting local law enforcement in Maine from voluntarily assisting federal immigration officers with mass deportation.
ILAP’s testimony: “Because the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the states from being forced to hand over their resources to the federal government for purposes like this, states must voluntarily divert their resources. An absence of guardrails in state law prohibiting public safety resources from being spent on civil immigration enforcement provides this, allowing individual law enforcement agencies and even individual officers to use our state public safety resources for civil immigration enforcement instead of matters of legitimate public safety.” Read ILAP's full testimony here.
LD 1832: An Act to Clarify Available Relief for the Protection of At-risk Children
What it does: LD 1832 improves judicial efficiency and increases access to legal assistance for non-citizen children in Maine by clarifying and updating the state’s existing law related to Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) classification.
ILAP’s testimony: “Federal law and policy contain strict requirements for the content and form of state court findings. For the court’s order to effectively qualify a child for SIJ classification, the proceeding itself and the resulting order must meet these requirements. As a result, it is critical for Maine laws and procedures related to seeking SIJ findings to be clear for both judges and practitioners, and to align with applicable federal and state law.” Read ILAP’s full testimony here.
Representative Deqa Dhalac, sponsor of LD 1971, speaking to the Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
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 few weeks, as of May 30, 2025.
PLEASE NOTE: All updates are subject to rapid change.
Immigration Announcement:
Supreme Court allows Trump administration to move forward with terminating Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Venezuelans
What It Means:
The Supreme Court issued a ruling in mid-May that will allow the administration to move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from Venezuela who registered under the 2023 designation.
Approximately 350,000 people will lose their protection from deportation to the dangerous conditions that currently exist across Venezuela. ILAP estimates more than one hundred people in Maine will be affected, either by losing TPS directly or a family member losing their TPS protection and work permit.
Read ILAP’s full press release and call on Congress to intervene here.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are affected by this decision, live in Maine, and need legal help, you can contact ILAP starting June 3rd: https://ilapmaine.org/request.
Department of Homeland Security terminates Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghanistan, affecting more than 10,000 people who arrived in the U.S. in need of protection following the collapse of the country to the Taliban in 2021.
Experts at Global Refuge made clear in their response that the administration’s decision “contradicts U.S. intelligence and human rights assessments, and in doing so, will jeopardize thousands of lives.”
PLEASE NOTE: If you are affected by this decision, live in Maine, and need legal help, you can contact ILAP starting June 3rd: https://ilapmaine.org/request.
House passes Reconciliation Budget Bill, now on to the Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives passed their reconciliation budget bill, which includes $160 billion for immigration enforcement as well as imposes massive fees for asylum and other humanitarian protections and shortens work permit validity periods. The bill will now move on to the Senate for consideration.
Judge finds that administration violated court order by unlawfully removing people to South Sudan
In a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s forcible removals of people to third countries where they are not nationals, a judge found that the administration unlawfully deported people to South Sudan without due process, in violation of a court order.
The court has ordered the administration to return them to the U.S. to receive due process or give them the opportunity to defend against their removal from the U.S. at another location overseas. The administration has now asked the Supreme Court to overturn this order.
For previous updates from ILAP, check out the links below:
May 16, 2025: Community Update
April 30, 2025: April Golden Door
Snapshots from Our Spring Gathering
Thanks again to all who joined ILAP for our Spring Gathering last month. We are grateful to Nathan Tsukroff of Tsukroff Photography who helped capture the spirit of the evening. You can check out all the event photos here!
ILAP in the News
Policy Director Lisa Parisio spoke with Maine Public about the spike in indiscriminate immigration enforcement in Maine, sharing that ILAP has seen at least ten cases involving people who have been detained despite being in lawful immigration processes with valid work permits and no criminal history.
ILAP and the ACLU of Maine have each filed separate habeas corpus petitions in federal court, challenging the detention of their individual clients by federal immigration authorities. In the Portland Press Herald's coverage of these cases, Executive Director Sue Roche highlighted the importance of a bill currently being considered by the Maine Legislature.
Maine Public and Maine Morning Star covered the Maine Legislature's Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this month on two bills aimed at protecting Maine resources from being used for mass deportation. ILAP was among those who provided testimony in strong support of both proposals.
The Bangor Daily News investigated the impact of collaboration between local authorities and federal immigration officials through the story of Lewiston teenager Jose Adalberto Herrera, who has spent two months and counting at a detention center hundreds of miles away as a result of a traffic stop. Co-Legal Director Melissa Brennan described the "needless, abject cruelty" in this case.
The Maine Monitor exposed the long history of labor violations by Worcester Resources, a Washington County wreath-making company that employs many immigrant workers. Co-Legal Director Alice Kopij highlighted the courage in takes for immigrant workers to come forward to report abuse and unsafe working conditions.
Catch ILAP at Portland Pride
ILAP is proud to help LGBTQIA+ immigrants living in Maine apply for immigration protections and find safety and stability - and we are excited to show our pride at Portland Pride again this year!
The parade in Portland kicks off at 1pm on Saturday, June 21st. You can catch ILAP spreading a message of safety, and belonging: Maine is Home for All. Hope to see you there!
You can also check out Equality Maine and Equality Community Center for more info about Pride events happening across the state this June.
Last Chance to Apply!
Interested in helping create emails like these and broadening people's understanding of ILAP's work and mission? ILAP is currently seeking a full-time Communications and Development Specialist and applications will be accepted through Thursday, June 5th.
The salary range for this position is $70,040 - $78,280 and includes a generous benefits package.
If you think you might be a great fit for this position, we hope you'll apply! If you know someone who might be, please share this opportunity. Visit ilapmaine.org/employment to learn mo
