❓WHAT HAPPENED: Governor Janet Mills (D) of Maine allowed LD 1971, a law barring state police from enforcing federal immigration laws, to pass without her signature.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Governor Janet Mills, Democratic state Representative Deqa Dhalac, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Maine’s Republican Party.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The law will take effect in January after Mills declined to veto it within the required ten-day window.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Maine is making clear what we believe: that the federal government should overhaul a failed immigration system… and that no one will make us abandon our neighbors based on the color of their skin or the country they once, if ever, called home.” – Janet Mills
🎯IMPACT: Critics, including Maine’s Republican Party, argue the law endangers public safety by limiting cooperation between state and federal law enforcement.
Maine’s Governor Janet Mills (D) has decided she will allow LD 1971, a law preventing state police from enforcing immigration laws or assisting federal immigration authorities, to pass without her signature. Mills stated that she feels U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has engaged in “unacceptable actions,” though she admitted the new law is “imperfect.”
Mills failed to act within the ten-day window to sign or veto the legislation, effectively allowing it to become law automatically when the Maine legislature reconvenes in January. In an op-ed published on Monday, Gov. Mills criticized ICE for targeting individuals she described as “law-abiding” and accused the federal government of “weaponizing” immigration enforcement. She also repealed a prior executive order requiring state police cooperation with ICE.
The bill was introduced by Democrat state Representative Deqa Dhalac, a Somali immigrant and the first black Muslim woman elected to Maine’s state legislature. Dhalac argued that the law would “protect the dignity, due process, and public safety of all who call our state home,” while accusing local police cooperation with federal immigration authorities of eroding trust with immigrant communities.
Maine’s Republican Party strongly criticized the decision, stating, “Limiting cooperation between Maine law enforcement and federal authorities… shows a reckless disregard for public safety and will put Maine’s public at risk.” The GOP also warns that the law shields dangerous criminals and hinders law enforcement from protecting the public effectively.
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