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Marpheen Chann is a Democrat running for Cumberland County commissioner for District 5, which includes most of Portland.
I believe it’s time for Cumberland County to officially end its contract to detain those housed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and chart a different path that prioritizes economic stability, justice, and shared fiscal responsibility. At the same time, Gov. Janet Mills and the state Legislature have the opportunity to ensure the burden of cancelling the contract doesn’t fall on property taxpayers.
Maine faces acute workforce shortages that threaten our economic future. According to the libertarian Cato Institute, immigrants reduced deficits by $1.45 trillion between 1994 and 2013. Far from being a drain on public resources, immigrants are net contributors to our economy and our tax base.
In Cumberland County, where businesses already struggle to find workers, the fear created by ICE enforcement has immediate consequences. As business leaders recently wrote, ICE operations are bad for business. Business owners across Portland and surrounding communities report reduced foot traffic, staff shortages, and workers too afraid to show up for shifts.
As The Maine Monitor recently reported, county governments across Maine are under tremendous fiscal strain. Chronic underinvestment from the state has left them scrambling for revenue wherever they can find it. But ICE funding cannot be relied on to fix anemic state funding, especially if it comes at the cost of our values.
In late January, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was ending its contract with the Cumberland County Jail after Sheriff Kevin Joyce made comments critical of ICE. It moved detainees out of the jail and it is unclear where they have gone. The jail contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service to hold federal detainees, including those taken by ICE.
Proponents of the DHS contract often invoke public safety, suggesting the county is helping detain dangerous criminals. The data tells a different story.
Over 70 percent of people detained by ICE nationally have no criminal convictions. These are our neighbors: people working, paying taxes, raising families, and contributing to Maine communities. The Cumberland County Jail was being used to warehouse people whose only violation is their immigration status while they await civil proceedings or pending asylum applications.
Others argue that maintaining the contract keeps detained immigrants close to legal resources and their families. But this claim is misleading. While some people detained in Maine were arrested in the state, the majority are transferred in from other states. And many are quickly transferred out, too.
The contract didn’t prevent ICE from moving people out of state, even those with deep roots in Maine. Take Joel Andre, a Portland teenager who played pickup soccer in Kennedy Park in Portland and whose family has been detained by ICE. Detainees like Joel have been transferred to Texas, far from any Maine-based legal support or family connections. What the Cumberland County contract actually does is enable ICE to detain people from other states, separating them from their families by hundreds or even thousands of miles.
If proximity to families and legal resources were truly the concern, we wouldn’t be housing detainees from across the Northeast in a Maine county jail.
Cumberland County, like counties across Maine, has been squeezed by decades of chronic underinvestment from the state and unfunded mandates. County commissioners and residents shouldn’t be forced to choose between their values and property tax bills.
This is where I believe Gov. Mills and state leaders must step up. As the Legislature considers a supplemental budget, now is the time to allocate funds to counties to offset the loss of DHS contract revenue. This isn’t about rewarding counties for ending bad contracts. It’s about acknowledging that the state has long underfunded county governments.
Property taxpayers shouldn’t bear the burden of doing the right thing. Mills has an opportunity to lead on this issue. State legislators have the power to ensure that counties aren’t forced to choose between justice and austerity.
Counties across the country have already ended their ICE contracts without legal consequence. Maryland’s Prince George’s County ended its agreement in 2019. California counties have refused to renew similar contracts. These jurisdictions recognized that local resources should serve local needs, not federal immigration enforcement.
Cumberland County and the state of Maine can choose a different path, too. It’s no longer enough to deplore ICE’s tactics and methods. It’s time to cut all ties with an agency engaged in overreach, abuses of power, and violations of rights.