Two Maine prisons are releasing illegal immigrants without notifying ICE, the agency says

Two county jails in Maine have been classified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as having “limited cooperation” with the agency because they released illegal immigrants from custody without notifying ICE, according to ICE's June 2024 Detainer Acceptance Report.

ICE works with local law enforcement agencies to obtain immigration detention for illegally present noncitizens who have been arrested on a crime and who the agency has reasonable grounds to believe may be subject to removal from the United States.

The warrants are a request from ICE for law enforcement to detain the illegal aliens and notify ICE of their release in order to initiate the transfer of the detention to ICE enforcement and deportation operations.

Jurisdictions that refuse to comply with ICE warrants are commonly referred to as “sanctuary cities” because they release illegal immigrants facing criminal charges from custody and reintegrate them into the community without detaining them for ICE-ERO or notifying the agency.

ICE uses reports from its field offices to track the number of prisons and detention centers across the country that are not cooperating with detainees or are only cooperating to a limited extent.

Maine falls under the jurisdiction of the ICE-ERO field office in Boston, which also covers Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

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As of June 21, 2024, a total of 551 facilities in the United States do not accept any ICE immigration arrest warrants. That is, they release illegal aliens from custody without notifying ICE-ERO prior to their release and without sufficient time for the agency to detain them.

The Cumberland County and Hancock County jails in Maine were identified by ICE in its Detainer Acceptance Tracker report released in June as two of 146 facilities across the country that accept immigration detainees on a “limited basis.”

According to ICE, this means that Cumberland County and Hancock County jails are accepting only half of immigration detention: they are taking noncitizens into custody but are not notifying them of their release in time to facilitate an orderly transfer of the noncitizens to ERO custody.

“When law enforcement fails to respect immigration arrest warrants and release serious offenders onto the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and fulfill its mission,” ICE explains on its “Detainers 101” information page.

“When criminal aliens are released from custody, they have the potential to reoffend,” the agency continues. “ICE must then devote additional, more extensive resources to mitigate potential risks and make arrests in a community setting.”

ICE says it focuses its resources on arresting and deporting illegal immigrants who are accused of crimes and who it believes pose a threat to public safety.

When illegal immigrants are released into the community, ICE officers, the illegal immigrants, and community members are at increased risk because ICE-ERO must search for and apprehend the illegal immigrants in a less controlled and potentially more dangerous environment.

Below are just a few of the arrests of illegal immigrants that ERO Boston has announced in recent months. These are typically for serious crimes such as rape, murder or attempted murder, and assault.

In February 2020, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce responded to criticism from then-Trump-appointed Maine U.S. Attorney Halsey Frank of local law enforcement's refusal to comply with immigration arrest warrants.

Sheriff Joyce said at the time that he had not served an ICE warrant since 2017, with one exception because ICE could not provide sufficient evidence to support the charge.

“This is not against ICE, and we don't want to work with ICE. I detain ICE detainees all the time when they come in. This is a question of whether I have reasonable grounds to detain someone. Because that is a constitutional right for everyone,” Joyce said.

Neither Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce nor Hancock County Sheriff Scott Kane responded to Maine Wire's questions about their work with ICE immigration detainees.

In their role as county sheriffs, the two elected officials have considerable discretion in setting policies regarding cooperation with federal authorities.

You can read ICE’s full June 2024 Detainer Acceptance Tracker report below: