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CALAIS, Maine — The Calais City Council is considering a symbolic resolution asking Gov. Janet Mills to veto LD 1971, a bill she allowed to become law in January.
The Legislature passed the measure late last year to clarify how Maine law enforcement interact with federal immigration authorities and to reduce the state’s collaboration with federal agencies, such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE.
ICE began intensified operations in Maine on Jan. 20, including a greater number of agents stationed in Calais at Maine-New Brunswick border crossings.
Mills could have signed LD 1971 into law in December but declined to do so. She also withheld her veto, allowing the bill to become law without her signature, which means it will not take effect until this summer.
“L.D. 1971 is imperfect, and we should not need it, but the times call for it,” Mills wrote in an OpEd published last month in the Portland Press Herald.
Calais city councilors stopped short of voting on the resolution asking for the governor’s veto last week because several supportive members were absent, including Councilor Michael Sherrard, who has been particularly active in pushing the council to discuss it.
Calais City Manager Mike Ellis said he supported the resolution, which he viewed as a way to speak out against the “politics” surrounding immigration enforcement.
“It’s no secret the president and our governor don’t have the best relationship, and she’s running for Senate,” Ellis said. “It just all smells of politics.”
He said the U.S. Border Patrol plays a crucial role in supporting Calais law enforcement, which he described as underfunded and shortstaffed.
Toward the end of the council meeting, Councilor Elery Beale read a short statement expressing appreciation for the Border Patrol and customs enforcement. Reached by telephone later in the week, Beale said he made the statement because he sees federal agents as an integral part of the Calais community.
“We have parades — winter and summer — and they’re always there,” Beale said. “They’re people who live in this community.”
Mayor Marcia Rogers said she supports ICE going after “the worst of the worst,” as President Donald Trump has claimed, but she has been alarmed by reports of ICE agents’ lawless behavior.
“I don’t want them taking people without a warrant,” she said. “I don’t like the way things are going. I don’t like them taking children.”
The mayor echoed Ellis and Beale in expressing appreciation for the Border Patrol’s contributions to the Calais community.
“I absolutely support our border agents,” she said, adding that the controversy around ICE has “muddied the waters for border communities everywhere.”
Beale said he has seen news reports of violence perpetrated by ICE agents, but said he does not believe them.
“I think they’re making it sound worse than it is,” he said. “I mean, if something like that happened in Calais and became an issue, then of course the council is going to talk about it. But I haven’t heard of any problems whatsoever so far.
Councilors said they plan to vote on the resolution at their next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 12.
In other matters, the council unanimously supported the recreation committee’s request to transition to using the online platform MyRec to process registrations, payments and permissions for the city’s recreation programs.
The council said the platform, which Ellis estimated will cost the city about $3,200 a year, was implemented in Baileyville three years ago and is working well there.