The Golden Door: August 2026
Dear Community,
We’d like to start off this month by thanking Representative Chellie Pingree for her exceptional, ongoing leadership conducting Congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s violent, mass deportation agenda.
On August 17, Representative Pingree brought House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson, House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, and Representative Troy Carter to Biddeford to conduct a field hearing investigating ICE’s use of force and the killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. The investigation will become part of the Congressional record.
ILAP’s Executive Director, Sue Roche, was called as a witness. In her statement for the record, Sue said:
“Johan Sebastián’s death is a devastating tragedy … It is also not an isolated incident, and it was not an accident. It is the direct and foreseeable result of deliberate federal policy choices, rooted in racism and dehumanization.
ICE is an imminent public safety threat and must get out of our communities now. The billions of dollars that have been appropriated to immigration enforcement are wholly unjustifiable. Congress should take all steps to defund and dismantle ICE and put those taxpayer dollars towards the public good.”
Our hearts remain with Johan Sebastián’s family and the Biddeford community as our work continues.
In solidarity,
ILAP Team
GET LEGAL HELP
Request help for someone detained by immigration officials:
ilapmaine.org/detention
Request help for other types of immigration legal cases in Maine:
ilapmaine.org/requestMeet with ILAP to get answers to quick immigration questions:
ilapmaine.org/request#meetKnow Your Rights:
aclumaine.org/preparingforice/Make a Family Preparedness Plan:
ilapmaine.org/prepare
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.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
Federal Court Finds that Trump Administration Has Been Unlawfully Denying Bond Hearings to People in New England
WHAT IT MEANS:
As part of its mass deportation agenda, the Trump administration put in place a policy seeking to expand mandatory detention and deny certain immigrants access to bond hearings. The goal is to maximize pain and suffering by keeping people indefinitely in ICE detention centers, driving them to self deport.
In mid-August, the First Circuit Court of Appeals -- the federal appeals court which covers Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island -- found the administration’s policy unlawful. In its ruling, the First Circuit joined six other Circuit Courts who had already found the denial of bond hearings for certain immigrants against the law.
The ACLU of Maine was among the law firms representing the plaintiff, Jose Arnulfo Guerrero Orellana, and others similarly situated.
ICE is Targeting Travelers at Airports
Over the past few weeks, the administration has deployed ICE agents to airports to target people, particularly those who have overstayed visas. Read more here.
Overstaying a visa does not necessarily mean a person is in the country unlawfully, and people who have overstayed visas may be pursuing an immigration benefit or status.
There have been arrests reported in Maine at the Portland International Jetport.
Reports Show that ICE is Spending $20 Million on “Shock Gloves”
An ICE acquisition report shows that the agency is purchasing gloves that administer electric shocks. Former ICE and DHS officials have expressed deep alarm at the plan.
Representative Pingree spoke out in opposition to the gloves, highlighting lack of ICE agent training and that the gloves give them a new “opportunity for cruelty.” Senator King also issued a statement, calling for a bipartisan response to ICE’s unchecked tactics.
ILAP joined the ACLU of Maine, Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and University of Maine School of Law professors Anna Welch and Erica Schair-Cardona in a friend-of-the-court brief filed August 4 in U.S. District Court. The brief argues that under the anticommandeering doctrine, Maine cannot be forced to issue confidential license plates to federal immigration agents, and urges the court to dismiss the Trump administration's lawsuit. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows denied the federal request for confidential plates last year and later updated state policy to require assurances that covert plates would not be used for civil immigration enforcement. The Department of Justice sued in May. Maine Morning Star and the Portland Press Herald covered the filing.
Maine Calling devoted an August 4 episode to the repercussions of the Biddeford shooting, examining how the killing and Maine's new laws limiting state involvement in immigration enforcement may change ICE activity here. Executive Director Sue Roche joined the ACLU of Maine, Presente! Maine, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, and former Biddeford Mayor Martin Grohman on the program.
Sue Roche was called to testify at the August 17 Congressional field hearing in Biddeford, alongside Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain, Durán Guerrero family attorney Ben Gideon, Mufalo Chitam of the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, and Crystal Cron of Presente! Maine. Sue told the panel that ILAP had reviewed immigration documents provided by Johan Sebastián's family and confirmed that he had a pending asylum application and was authorized to work in this country. As the Boston Globe reported, Sue said: "He was following all the rules and going about a normal day when he was suddenly and viciously killed by ICE." Maine Morning Star also covered the testimony. Another Maine Morning Star article highlighted Sue’s comments that visa overstays are civil "paperwork problems" that don't "merit a militarized response.”
WMTW covered the hearing and included video of testimony from Johan Sebastián's parents, Omar Durán Plata and Dora Guerrero, who traveled from Colombia. WABI reported on Governor Janet Mills' opening remarks. The full hearing is available to watch.
Policy Director Lisa Parisio spoke with Maine Public about newly released federal data showing that ICE arrested 75 people in Maine in June, the highest monthly total since the January enforcement surge. Lisa said arrests are increasingly happening close to home, with many people reporting they were leaving for work or a necessary medical appointment when ICE arrested them. Many of them, she said, are asylum seekers who entered the country on a visa. The Bangor Daily News carried the story as well.
Lisa also spoke with the Bangor Daily News after White House border czar Tom Homan visited Maine's northern border and promised a state lawmaker that immigration agencies would take more enforcement action in the state. Lisa called the administration's effort to strip Temporary Protected Status "cruel and unjustifiable," and said hundreds of Haitian TPS holders in Maine are at risk of deportation. The story also ran in The County.
Working Alongside Presente! Maine
Since July, Presente! Maine has been the constant presence for Johan Sebastián's family, and for a Biddeford community carrying grief and fear together. They have also been one of the clearest voices calling for accountability. Executive Director Crystal Cron testified at the August 17 field hearing in Biddeford, telling Congress what this loss has meant and asking members to act.
In their own words, Presente! is a grassroots organization by and for displaced and dispossessed Afro/Indigenous-Latines in Maine. Alongside their community, they design and run survival programs that meet urgent public health, climate, and human rights needs, while working within systems of power toward a more equitable, joyful, and resilient future. Their work spans community health and wellness, food sovereignty and land stewardship, and leadership and community power building.
If you are able, please support their work directly and follow them on Instagram at @presentemaine.
How Mainers Are Showing Up For ILAP
Earth & Soul Pottery held its first outdoor fundraiser on August 22 in Hollis, with music from Jen Kearney, wood-fired food from Slow Burn, and a silent auction of pottery and metal wall art benefiting ILAP. Our thanks to everyone who came out.
On August 16, ILAP staff tabled at a Lake Street Dive concert fundraiser, talking with concertgoers about ILAP's work and how to get involved. Our thanks to the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition for the invitation and for making space for coalition members at shows across the summer.
That same day, Eleanor Morse brought This Foreign Land to Peaks Island, her second event for the novel since July's launch at Print: A Bookstore. The book follows families separated at the southern border and moves between Maine, Texas, and Ecuador.
Planning something for ILAP? Let us know at contact@ilapmaine.org and we will help spread the word.
Voices in the Press
In the Portland Press Herald, Francine Garland Stark and Andrea Mancuso of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence wrote an op-ed about Maine's new law limiting Maine law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE, and what it means for immigrant survivors of domestic violence. In the op-ed, they write:
“Immigrant survivors already faced substantial barriers to seeking help, including language barriers, financial dependence, social isolation and concerns about their immigration status. Predictably, events over the last year have worked to make those barriers insurmountable for most. Victims in Maine are not reporting crimes, not seeking or renewing protective orders and are hesitant to seek out community services... Rebuilding trust and ensuring that survivors feel safe seeking help remains critical to protecting victims and holding offenders accountable. Much work lies ahead, and while we all have a role to play, Maine’s new law is key.”
The law took effect July 29.
ILAP is currently hiring for a Human Resources Director.
Human Resources Director
Lead ILAP's human resources administration, developing policies and practices that are equitable, effective, and compliant, and supporting supervisors and staff in building a resilient workplace that promotes staff wellbeing and collaboration.
Base salary for 2026 ranges from $89,116 to $99,725. Additional compensation is available for proficiency in relevant client languages.
Send a cover letter and resume to hr@ilapmaine.org with the subject line "HR Director." Review of applications begins September 10, 2026.
For previous updates from ILAP, check out the links below:
July, 2026: July Golden Door
June, 2026: June Golden Door
May 28, 2026: May Golden Door