Two county jails in Maine have been designated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as being in “limited cooperation” with the agency by releasing illegal aliens from custody without providing notification to ICE, according to ICE’s June 2024 Detainer Acceptance Report.

ICE works with local law enforcement agencies to lodge immigration detainers against unlawfully present noncitizens that have been arrested on criminal charges and who the agency has probable cause to believe are deportable from the U.S.

The detainers are a request from ICE to the law enforcement agencies to hold the illegal aliens in custody and to notify ICE upon their release, in order to arrange for the aliens’ transfer of custody to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Jurisdictions that refuse to honor ICE detainers are commonly referred to as “sanctuary” jurisdictions, as they release illegal aliens facing criminal charges from custody back into the community without holding them for ICE-ERO or notifying the agency when doing so.

ICE tracks the number of jails and prisons nationwide that are non-cooperative or in “limited cooperation” with detainers via reports from their field offices.

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

As of June 21, 2024, a total of 551 institutions in the U.S. do not accept ICE immigration detainers whatsoever — meaning they release illegal aliens from custody with no notification to ICE-ERO prior to their release, and without adequate hold time to allow the agency to assume custody.

The Cumberland County and Hancock County jails in Maine were identified by ICE in their June “Detainer Acceptance Tracker” report as two of 146 institutions nationwide that accept immigration detainers in a “limited fashion.”

According to ICE, this means that the Cumberland County and Hancock County jails honor only half of the immigration detainer — they do take custody of the noncitizens, but do not provide adequate notification of their release in order to arrange for the orderly transfer of noncitizens to ERO custody.

“When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and carry out its mission,” ICE explains in their “Detainers 101” information page.

“When criminal non-citizens are released from local or state custody, they have the opportunity to reoffend,” the agency continues. “ICE must then expend additional, more extensive resources to mitigate potential risks and make arrests in a community setting.”

ICE states that they focus their resources on detaining and removing illegal immigrants who have been charged with crimes and that they believe are a threat to public safety.

When illegal alien offenders are released into the community, ICE officers, the illegal alien, and community members are placed at heightened risk because ICE-ERO must search for and apprehend the illegal alien fugitive in a less controlled and potentially more dangerous setting.

Below are listed just a few arrests of illegal aliens announced by ERO Boston in recent months, which typically involve serious criminal charges, including rape, murder or attempted murder and assault.

• ICE Arrests Brazilian Illegal Alien Charged in Massachusetts with Attempted Murder, Stalking, Kidnapping
• ICE Boston Arrests Illegal Alien Previously Convicted of Child Rape, Soliciting Prostitution After Sneaking Back Into US
• ‘His actions shattered a family’: Illegal Alien Who Drove Under the Influence and Killed Two Connecticut Children Arrested by ICE
• MS-13 Gang Member Who Reentered US Illegally after Deportation Arrested by ICE in Massachusetts

In February 2020, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce responded to criticism by then-Maine U.S. Attorney Halsey Frank, a Trump appointee, regarding local law enforcement refusing to comply with immigration detainers.

Sheriff Joyce said at the time that he had not honored any ICE detainer requests since 2017, with one exception, because ICE failed to provide probable cause.

“This is not anti-ICE or we don’t want to work with ICE. I hold ICE inmates all the time when they bring them in. This is an issue of, do I have probable cause to keep somebody locked up? Because that is a constitutional right for everybody,” Joyce said.

Neither Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce nor Hancock County Sheriff Scott Kane responded to questions from the Maine Wire regarding their cooperation with ICE immigration detainers.

As county sheriffs, the two elected officials have broad latitude to set policies regarding cooperation with federal law enfrocement.

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