This story appears as part of a collaboration to strengthen investigative journalism in Maine between the BDN and The Maine Monitor. Read more about the partnership.
A Waterboro woman was on her way to work on Jan. 20 when she received a call from her partner. He said he had been detained by immigration agents after putting their 4-year-old on the school bus.
“They said they’ll give you 30 minutes to come back for the baby,” he told her, referring to the couple’s 10-month-old.
Kadi, who asked to be identified by her first name out of fear of retaliation, returned home to find four people who she believed to be federal agents standing near dark SUVs, some wearing masks. She said they did not tell her which government agency they were with and refused to provide their names or badge numbers when she asked.
“I’m not going to give that,” one agent responds in a video of the encounter.
“I’m legally allowed to have that,” Kadi says.
“You’re legally allowed to ask for it,” he responds.
It was only when the agents called in a fifth, seemingly senior official, that Kadi said she was able to get a first name and badge number from that agent, despite demanding that information from the agents on scene for nearly an hour.
Immigration agents have come under fire in recent months for obscuring their faces with masks and not making it clear who they are and who they work for while detaining immigrants at record levels across the country.
A partial government shutdown continued this week as Democrats in Congress pushed for reforms to the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement practices, including a prohibition on masks and other accountability measures.
Federal agents making arrests are supposed to identify themselves as immigration officers “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so” and to carry identification with them. But in Kadi’s situation and other documented cases across the country, their masks and lack of standardized uniforms have raised questions about their affiliations.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions from The Maine Monitor about its policies, but officials have said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents are wearing masks because of concerns for their personal safety.
Those pushing for reforms have countered that allowing masked, unidentified agents to conduct operations puts both civilians and law enforcement at risk and makes it harder to hold officers accountable for misconduct. They have also noted that these practices diverge from those employed by local law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.
In Maine, law enforcement identification practices are largely guided by custom and individual department policies, not legal requirements.
State statute requires that officers with sheriff departments and the Maine State Police wear distinctive uniforms when conducting their work, but does not mention nametags or other personal identifiers, or indicate if and when officers should disclose that information; those details are left to internal rules. Local police departments, meanwhile, each have their own set of policies.
While written guidelines differ, law enforcement leaders across the state told The Monitor they expect their officers to be clearly identifiable while on the job and to provide their name when asked.
“It’s common courtesy,” Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce said. “We want people that we’re dealing with to know that we are legitimate.”
‘I could be some creepo’
The Monitor reached out to more than a dozen law enforcement agencies in the state and found that at least 10 have policies that guide how officers wear uniforms. Some policies explicitly note that uniforms must include officers’ names; other agencies said they do as a matter of course.
At least 10 departments have policies requiring that officers state their names when making arrests or traffic stops. Most of the departments The Monitor spoke to said it’s standard practice for officers to introduce themselves, even if their agencies do not have explicit policies.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office policy requires that officers identify themselves or carry identification. If officers are serving a warrant, Joyce said he wants them in identifiable clothing for the safety of police and civilians.
“Because if I don’t, then you just have a bunch of people in plain clothes coming through the door and people have a right to protect themselves and their property,” Joyce said. “And that’s when bad things happen. So we want people to know this is a lawful event.”
He said it is concerning when other agencies operate without identifying themselves because people will not know who is law enforcement.
“Even though I’ve got an unmarked car with blue lights doesn’t mean I’m the real deal. I could be some creepo,” he said. “We kind of drill this into our folks that, if you’re not in uniform, if you’re not in a marked car, you have to be extra careful to let people know who you are.”
In Androscoggin County, Sheriff Eric Samson’s staff aren’t allowed to make traffic stops in unmarked vehicles unless deputies are in uniform, with rare exceptions for “egregious” circumstances. Otherwise, he said, members of the public would have no way of knowing whether they were being pulled over by law enforcement or by bad actors imitating law enforcement.
Samson said his deputies provide their names when asked and will clarify that the department doesn’t use badge numbers if a member of the public wants one. (Many departments in Maine do not use badge numbers.) His staff will also share business cards in some circumstances. Giving members of the public names makes it easier to keep track of any complaints that come in, he said.
Brunswick Police Chief Scott Stewart, who is president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, said his department’s policy states that officers must identify themselves by providing a card or badge when interacting with the public, “except when impractical or when the identity is obvious.”
“We do expect you to have your name tag on. We do expect, if someone asks you, you simply tell them,” he said. “You don’t have to tell them where you live, don’t have to tell them your first name, but you could certainly tell them your name because, again, it’s not going to be a secret in a town in Maine.”
Push for transparency
Kadi said she is managing care for her four children by redoing her work schedule and getting babysitters while her partner sits in a detention center out of state. For now, her youngest three children believe their father is on a work trip while Kadi figures out next steps.
After the detention unfolded in her driveway in January, she posted two videos of her interactions with agents on TikTok, which have received thousands of views.
“They wouldn’t share anything with me, and then they start asking me questions like, ‘Are you guys legally married, are you guys this,’” Kadi said. “And at one point I was like, ‘I’m not sure why you think I have to answer your questions, but you don’t have to answer my questions.’”
The Monitor spoke to three legal experts who echoed her concern and said it is important for members of the public to be able to determine if they are interacting with legitimate law enforcement officers. Two civil rights lawyers likened ICE’s practice of using masked agents wearing non-standardized tactical gear to a federal secret police force.
“Good policing and basic trust with the community generally requires the people out there in patrol cars and interacting with the community to show their faces,” said Max Brooks, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. “We have a long tradition of public officials including police officers not having their identities be secret.”
David Webbert, a civil rights attorney in Maine, said that federal agents’ refusal to identify themselves can be dangerous, as citizens may unknowingly resist officers, or it can make it easier to impersonate officers.
“If you don’t know who they are, you can’t hold them accountable. That destroys the rule of law,“ Webbert said. “Secret police is not consistent with the rule of law. It’s consistent with a dictatorship.”
Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland, introduced a measure last fall to ban masks for law enforcement, including ICE, operating in the state, but the Legislative Council declined to consider it for the current session.
Several other states, including Vermont, Maryland, Oregon and Washington, are weighing similar proposals. A new law that took effect in California earlier this year both bans masks and requires that law enforcement officers clearly display their agency affiliation and an officer’s name or badge number. After it was challenged by the Trump administration, a judge struck down the mask ban for singling out federal officers but upheld the identification requirement.
In a letter last summer, a coalition of state attorneys general, including Aaron Frey of Maine, urged lawmakers to pass legislation requiring federal agents to show their identification, citing “images of masked, armed men and women, dressed in plainclothes and traveling in unmarked vehicles, snatching people from streets, homes, workplaces, and courthouses.”
“It is shocking that we have reached a point in America where such a common-sense set of measures must be enshrined into law,” they wrote. “But in light of recent events, such legislation is necessary to protect the public, ensure accountability, and preserve the reputation and effectiveness of law enforcement at every level of government.”
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, recently introduced the Stop ICE Intimidation Act, which would block expanded ICE staffing and limit access to surveillance tools.
As the debate in Congress continues, Pingree told The Monitor that while she thinks it is time to abolish ICE altogether, in the meantime she will not support a Homeland Security funding bill that does not include mandatory body cameras, clear use-of-force limits and a ban on masks, among other accountability measures. (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said recently that agents in Minneapolis will start wearing body cameras in the wake of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.)
In an email, Pingree mentioned an incident that occurred in Portland in the fall, where officers apprehended a parent outside an elementary school and refused to identify themselves. She said it took hours of calls to find out they were Drug Enforcement Administration agents working on behalf of ICE, which she said “underscores the chaos and confusion being caused by DHS’ secret-police tactics.” She also cited increased reports of criminals impersonating ICE agents.
“There’s a reason why a vast majority of local police departments require their officers to identify themselves,” Pingree wrote. “Trust and transparency matter.”