ILAP Testimony In Support of LD 2176: An Act to Safeguard Personal Information and Strengthen Tenant Rights in Maine
Good afternoon, members of the Judiciary Committee. My name is Lisa Parisio, and I am here today from the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, or ILAP, in support of LD 2176.
I. About ILAP:
ILAP is Maine’s only statewide immigration legal services organization. As such, ILAP has a unique bird’s eye view over the impact of federal immigration policy on Maine’s residents, communities, workforce, and our state as a whole.
II. Protecting Personal Information Protects Access to Housing and the Overall Rights and Safety of Maine Residents:
The goal of my testimony today is to provide information and context to the committee about current federal immigration enforcement policy and how protecting tenants’ personal information safeguards access to housing as well as the overall rights and safety of Maine residents.
An important outcome of this bill would be to provide protection for tenants against landlords calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a tactic to harass, intimidate, or otherwise evict them. In addition to providing a remedy for endangering people and families in this way, this bill would serve as an important deterrent against this conduct in our state.
Daily arrest quotas are at the center of the federal administration’s mass deportation policy. Given that agenda, the majority of people being arrested by immigration officers in Maine (and elsewhere) are people who are in lawful immigration processes and who have never committed a crime in their life.¹
In this environment, a landlord calling ICE on non-citizen tenant and disclosing personal information about them, will very likely result in them being arrested, no matter who they are. Once arrested by ICE, people are swiftly moved into detention centers – sometimes on the other side of the country – where they will likely face sub-human conditions. Maine residents in detention report to us having very little food, being in overcrowded cells, being very cold, not having access to medication, not having access to showers, and more.
Despite facing loss of freedom, no one is guaranteed an attorney in the U.S. immigration system to help them at this crisis moment. Because of that, and other policy changes under the current administration that seek to undercut due process, detained people are at risk of fast-track deportation to what might be life-threatening circumstances.
III. Conclusion:
In relationships where there are power dynamics, including landlord and tenant, weaponizing calling ICE is not new. But in this environment, the stakes and human consequences are at their highest. Creating this protection and deterrent will help safeguard access to housing for all Maine residents and have other important implications for the overall public good, including protecting people’s rights, safety, keeping families together, and keeping workers at their jobs.
¹ 5% of People Detained By ICE Have Violent Convictions, 73% No Convictions, Cato Institute, (Nov. 24, 2025), https://www.cato.org/blog/5-ice-detainees-have-violent-convictions-73-no-convictions#:~:text=Of%20people%20booked%20into%20ICE,violent%20or%20property%20criminal%20conviction; Lawyers say Border Patrol in Maine is arresting people who are in lawful immigration processes, Maine Public (May 8, 2025), https://www.mainepublic.org/courts-and-crime/2025-05-08/lawyers-say-border-patrol-in-maine-is-arresting-people-who-are-in-lawful-immigration-processes.