Action Alert:
Take Action to Protect Maine’s Public Schools, Hospitals, Daycares, and Libraries from ICE
Ask Your Maine Representatives to Support LD 2106!
For decades, both Republican and Democratic federal administrations have had policies in place that limit immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such as public schools and hospitals. These policies were built on a commonsense understanding that the importance of people being able to access these locations without fear is a matter of overall public health and in the interest of everyone.
One of the first actions the current federal administration took in office was to end this longstanding policy. As broad and indiscriminate immigration enforcement has dramatically ramped up in Maine and beyond, Maine’s noncitizen residents are living in deep fear and anxiety, scared to leave their homes, go to work, take their children to school, seek healthcare, and more.
LD 2106 would require ICE to have a valid judicial warrant signed by a judge to conduct enforcement at schools, hospitals and healthcare facilities, daycares, and libraries as well as protect people’s information that might be held at these places. Importantly, the bill also provides guidance and support to teachers, healthcare workers, and other employees at these locations, ensuring they are not put in crisis situations and forced to make individual decisions.
Call or email your Maine state Representative and Senator today and urge them to support LD 2106! Submit your message through the form below, or find your State Senator here and your State Representative here.
A NOTE FOR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES: Noncitizens and citizens alike can take part in these actions. Maine's Representatives and Senators represent all of us, regardless of immigration status. You do not need to identify your immigration status when contacting your State Representatives. If you are a noncitizen, you can leave out personal details that might identify you. As always, stay safe and make the decision that is right for you.
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On September 12, 2025, just as the new school year was getting started, immigration officers arrested a parent who had just dropped off his child at an elementary school in the school’s driveway. This arrest, which did not need to be conducted at an elementary school, sent shock waves across the community, state, and entire country, and made clear that immediate steps are needed to protect Maine’s children, families, and provide support for workers at places like schools, daycare facilities, hospitals, and healthcare facilities, and libraries.
In an op-ed published on September 27, 2025, ILAP Co-Legal Director Melissa Brennan provided more context on what kind of precedent this arrest could set and its impact on not only the students and parents at Portland Public Schools, but across the state. The urgency and critical need for these protections is deepened by the current ICE operation in Maine, with reports of parents being arrested after dropping children at school, and other ICE activity near these sensitive locations. |
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Samuel*, a high school junior who has not been going to school for fear of being taken by ICE, shares his experience:*
"If I go to school and ICE catches me or my brothers, my mom will not know where we are. That's why I don't want to go to school. And also because at school they tell us to turn off our phones and put them in a safe place, so if we are in the cafeteria or the bathroom we cannot call anyone. I have a group chat in my phone, and nobody is going to school because all my friends are Latin people. Right now it's getting worse. People are scared to walk to school or go to the bus because that is dangerous because ICE could catch them. If the school provided their own bus, that would be great, but people in high school have to take the metro bus." *Name has been changed to protect identity |