Fifteen Bangor-area faith leaders are urging a building owner to reconsider renting the property to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE is reportedly opening a facility in Newport at 12 Water St., which previously housed the Newport District Courthouse. The building is owned by lawyer Charles Cox.
Leaders across multiple faiths wrote a letter to Cox, asking him to reconsider his decision to “host an agency that threatens the neighbors we are called to love.” The leaders plan to deliver it to Cox’s Bangor office Thursday afternoon.
Cox did not respond to a request for comment.
ICE’s reported opening of an office in central Maine comes just two months after an ICE agent fatally shot Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeford. The killing renewed scrutiny of immigration activity in Maine as it also continues to surge nationwide under the Trump administration.
“Why is an attorney – who respects the rule of law and due process – assisting an agency with a well-known record of law-breaking and violations of human rights,” the letter said.
Aiding ICE creates a clear and present danger to all people, but especially to people of color, refugees, Muslims and migrant workers, the letter said. It lists the actions of ICE, which have led the agency to losing the trust of people.
The letter points to the killing of Guerrero, as well as the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. It also outlines the hiring of “poorly qualified and unstable” ICE agents, like David Brouillette, who shot Guerrero.
It also references that about 70% of people detained by ICE in Maine had no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.
“This is like hosting a pack of feral, rabid dogs in our neighborhood,” said the Rev. Jarrett Kerbel, a rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bangor. “Why would we condone such a dangerous and threatening intrusion into our community?
“While Mr. Cox has the right to use his property as he wishes, we plan to appeal to his conscience, and his care for his neighbors, the neighbors all Christians are called to love.”
The multifaith letter is signed by leaders, including Kay Carter of the Religious Society of Friends; the Rev. Michael Rhyne pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Bangor; the Rev. Andrew Moeller, minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor; and the Rev. Jodi Cohen Hayashid, organizer for Multi-faith Justice Maine.