ILAP Applauds Wells Community Advocates for Securing End of 287(g) ICE Agreement
End of Wells 287(g) agreement means there are no more 287(g) agreements in Maine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 23, 2025
CONTACT: press@ilapmaine.org
Maine – The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) enthusiastically applauds Wells Democracy in Action and other Wells residents for their tireless, community-centered advocacy, successfully ending the 287(g) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreement put in place by the Wells Police Department last April. This victory is critical to protecting the rights and safety of Well’s immigrant residents and the community as a whole.
Expanding 287(g) agreements and securing other types of state and local law enforcement voluntary assistance is a pillar of the Trump administration’s indiscriminate mass deportation campaign. Under 287(g) agreements, local law enforcement officers are deputized to perform certain functions of federal immigration officers. These functions are outside the scope of state and local law enforcement’s typical role and divert community resources to do civil federal immigration enforcement, at community expense.
Lisa Parisio, ILAP’s Policy Director said: “It’s critical to keep in mind that the rationale for 287(g) agreements, as well as similar forms of state and local law enforcement activity, is based on patently false narratives that there is some kind of link between being an immigrant and criminality and public safety. No such link exists. In securing the end of the 287(g) agreement in Wells, community members not only took steps to protect all members of their community, they sent a clear message rejecting anti-immigrant fear mongering and dehumanization. That message will be heard far beyond Wells – it stretches across Maine and the whole country.”
287(g) programs have existed for decades, so there is a wealth of evidence about the harm they do to immigrant communities and communities as a whole. They destroy public trust, prevent immigrant communities from sharing public safety information with law enforcement, promote racial profiling, expose localities to liability and otherwise waste limited local taxpayer dollars. 287(s) programs can also have lasting economic harm as immigrant communities relocate to places that prioritize the public safety of all residents. In the current environment, with immigrants being targeted so indiscriminately, the risks and damage of having one of these programs in place is heightened.
The end of the 287(g) agreement in Wells means there are no more 287(g) programs in Maine. Earlier this year, residents in Monmouth and Winthrop stopped a pending 287(g) agreement in their community.
As ILAP applauds this important step in Wells, more action is needed to protect the rights of Maine's immigrant communities. Parisio added: “Outside of the 287(g) program in Wells, state and local law enforcement across Maine are diverting resources to assist the federal government with their agenda in other ways. ILAP has tracked at least 50 people being handed over to immigration officials at minor traffic stops by Maine law enforcement since March, but the total number of people this has happened to in our state is unknown. We call on Maine communities to continue the work happening in Wells and elsewhere in our state and ask Governor Mills to enact LD 1971, a statewide bill currently sitting on her desk that would protect Maine residents and workers from being put into ICE’s hands by Maine’s law enforcement just based on their suspected immigration status alone.”