Each year, we are featured by dozens of local, regional, and national outlets on what changes to immigration laws and policies mean and how they impact Maine’s immigration communities. You can read our recent coverage below.
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The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project’s (ILAP) executive director, Sue Roche, issued this statement on Pingree’s Sept. 22 oversight letter regarding the Scarborough ICE facility.
“ILAP clients have been denied their right to have their attorneys join them at appointments at the ICE Scarborough facility multiple times over the past months. These have included check-in appointments for people who are in immigration court proceedings," Roche wrote. "In the current environment, with the federal government flagrantly disregarding due process and attempting to indiscriminately deport as many people as they can, having your attorney by your side during any ICE appointment is beyond critical."
Sue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, a nonprofit that provides legal assistance to immigrants, said attorneys in Maine have been rebuffed on “multiple occasions over the past months” when trying to join clients at their routine appointments, including clients with active immigration cases.
“In the current environment, with the federal government flagrantly disregarding due process and attempting to indiscriminately deport as many people as they can, having your attorney by your side during any ICE appointment is beyond critical,” Roche said in a written statement.
Policy Director Lisa Parisio discusses President Biden's plan to severely limit access to asylum and its potential for harmful impacts on "In the current environment, with the federal government flagrantly disregarding due process and attempting to indiscriminately deport as many people as they can, having your attorney by your side during any ICE appointment is beyond critical," said ILAP Executive Director Sue Roche.
In a written statement, the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project said its clients have been denied attorney access "multiple times" over the past several months.
The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project confirmed to Maine Morning Star that its clients have been denied the right to have their attorneys present at appointments at the field office over the past few months, including during check-in appointments for people who are in immigration court proceedings. Arrests at such proceedings have been reported elsewhere across the country.
“While someone might desperately want and need the abuse to stop, the consequences of a partner being detained or deported and a family ripped apart can add additional harm and trauma to the situation,” Melissa Brennan, co-legal director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said in an email, agreeing to speak only about broad concerns and not Rivera Martinez’s case.
UUCB Concerts for a Cause presents Maine's popular and award-winning Don Campbell Trio to raise money for the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project and Oasis Free Clinics.
More than 50,000 migrants are being held in detention nationwide as part of the Trump administrations mass deportation goals. And the numbers are projected to rise rapidly with the new funding boost for ICE. We examine what has been happening in Maine since January in terms of arrests, detentions, and deportations. Who is being targeted by law enforcement, how many in Maine are affected, and what legal questions are being raised?
Featuring Melissa Brennan, co-legal director of ILAP, as a panelist.
“It Can’t Happen Here” is considered a dystopian novel published in 1935 by American journalist and author Sinclair Lewis, set in Vermont. It follows a populist politician who quickly rises to power to become the United States first outright dictator and the courageous newspaper editor who sees the politician’s fascist policies for what they are and becomes an ardent critic. It’s compared to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Nazi Germany and some say mirrors the current political climate in the United States now.”
Executive Director Sue Roche talks about the impact of a federal law restricting asylum seekers’ ability to work for six or more months after arriving in the U.S. and the resilience of asylum seekers in Maine.
“While Maine’s state and local resources should not be wasted to investigate immigration status in any case, many of those impacted were known to be in a lawful immigration process, have a valid work permit, and no criminal record,” Executive Director Sue Roche said in a statement.
“The reality is people are being essentially disappeared and are picked up roadside and their whereabouts may be unknown for days at a time,” Melissa Brennan, co-legal director of Maine’s Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, told Maine Public. ICE is also executing a deliberate strategy of moving detainees out of state and even out of the country to prevent them from accessing community or legal support, she and others have pointed out.
