“Immigration enforcement has been at high levels since the beginning of 2025 to now, both before and after the January ICE operation,” Lisa Parisio, the policy director for the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said. “Enforcement did not stop after that.”
Read MoreMainers are expressing shock and anger after a fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford Monday morning involving immigration enforcement officers.
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court just concluded a term marked by major decisions on cases such as: birthright citizenship, immigrant rights, executive power, and transgender students.
Read MoreDuring the last week of June, the Supreme Court issued three major immigration decisions on Temporary Protected Status, Asylum, and Birthright Citizenship. Each ruling will impact Maine immigrants, including one that paves the way for the federal administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for 1.3 million people across the country.
Read MoreOn June 30 the Supreme Court upheld the Constitutional right to birthright citizenship, striking down a Trump administration Executive Order.
ILAP’s Executive Director, Sue Roche, issued the following statement:
“ILAP applauds and is deeply grateful to the immigrant plaintiffs who came forward to defend the U.S. Constitution and challenge the Trump administration’s attempt to end birthright citizenship…
Read MoreThe Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Maine said in a statement on Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s decision on birthright citizenship “got it right,” but that its ruling last week, affirming Trump’s power to remove temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of people from Syria and Haiti, creates “grave risks of family separation.”
Read More"The administration’s attack on this fundamental right has caused tremendous harm and anxiety in our communities, as parents have lived with fear and uncertainty about their children’s citizenship, security, and future," said ILAP executive director Sue Roche. "While today’s decision affirms the rights of those vulnerable children, we know they still face grave risks of family separation with the Supreme Court’s Temporary Protected Status ruling and the administration’s ongoing mass deportation agenda."
Read MoreThe statewide Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) has helped hundreds of Haitian people get TPS in recent years, according to policy director Lisa Parisio.
“Over the past couple of years we’ve seen people from Haiti moving to Maine and making Maine home,” she said.
Parisio said ICE detention centers are on track to have their deadliest year yet, and that local ordinances are important to public safety and public trust, as many immigrants report being afraid to report crimes and abuse, assist as witnesses, seek protective orders, and send their children to school.
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