Dear Marilyn,
Thank you for contacting me about the immigration enforcement actions taken by the Trump Administration. Like you, I’m deeply concerned about how these policies are harming our friends and neighbors.
Maine is home to over 50,000 immigrants —more than 8,000 of whom are seeking asylum and have likely already survived unimaginable hardship—who contribute actively to our communities and local economies. Asylum seekers are lawfully present while their cases move through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or the courts, and many other immigrants in Maine hold work permits, green cards, or are pursuing other lawful paths to permanent status in the U.S. All they want is a safe life and the means to provide for themselves and their families. This administration wants to make it impossible for them to build their lives here. Asylum seekers, lawful immigrants, and undocumented immigrants are distinct groups, even though this administration’s policies often blur those distinctions .
Since taking office in 2025, President Trump has reinstated and expanded the dangerous and reckless immigration policies he enacted in his first term. In his first months in office, Trump launched a sweeping agenda of anti-immigrant policies—issuing Executive Orders to expand detention and deportation, impose travel bans, restrict refugee admissions, and make it harder for immigrants to access pathways to remain in the U.S. lawfully. In particular, he directed the Department of Homeland Security to expand detention infrastructure in the country and begin detaining anyone arrested by Homeland Security for deportation. This has led to arrests in schools, hospitals, courthouses, and workplaces, causing fear and confusion across the country.
Here in Maine, we regularly see reports now of Homeland Security detaining someone in our community. The recent arrests of a work-authorized Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer, a pastor from Westbrook, and an individual seeking medical attention after a car crash, not to mention the countless unreported stories of workplace and roadside arrests, are cause for alarm and expose a broader pattern: The immigration enforcement tactics used by this administration are more opaque, more punitive, wildly inconsistent, and are enabling unchecked authority and undermining trust in lawful pathways. Instead of going after the most dangerous people, these enforcement actions do not distinguish between individuals with pending asylum cases, those with valid work authorization, and those without lawful status—instilling fear among law-abiding residents who are simply trying to live, work, and care for their families.
My office has heard from several Maine employers that their work-authorized employees —including home health aides, food processors, construction workers, educators, and religious leaders—are being targeted for detention. Several of these employees passed background checks as a requirement of their employment. These are not failures of the individuals – many of whom are here lawfully, working with authorization, or actively pursuing legal pathways to permanent immigration status. They are failures of a system that makes it dangerously easy to jail people who are lawfully present and fully participating in and contributing to our community. This blurring of lines between lawfully present immigrants and those who are intentionally breaking the law undermines confidence in the system and penalizes those who are following the rules.
As someone who has long worked in Congress to fix our broken immigration system and correct the cumbersome work permit authorization process, the reports of workplace sweeps and of people with valid work permits being detained are particularly disturbing. Employers across Maine take great pride in welcoming new Mainers to help fill their workforce needs. To target people who are not only contributing to our economy but enriching our communities is nonsensical and flat-out wrong.
My staff also hear almost every day from people whose loved ones have been detained. In many cases, these arrests involve lawfully present individuals with pending asylum claims or valid work permits, yet families are left without clear information. Families contact my office because they do not know why their family member has been arrested, if they are in Customs and Border Patrol custody, or ICE custody or where they have been sent--a local county jail or a detention facility in another, often rural part of the country. While my team can help find these family members by reaching out to Customs and Border Parol and ICE directly or, using the ICE online detainee locator, because of the separation of powers between Congress and the judicial branch, there is unfortunately only so much my office is able to do.
Let me be clear. Homeland Security has always been able to move detainees between jails and states, particularly in New England, where several states share a field office and immigration court in Massachusetts. But now we are seeing a dramatic shift from what used to happen. In the past, ICE transfers were less frequent and usually involved individuals with final removal orders. Now, asylum seekers, children with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and others still awaiting hearings are being swept into detention and transferred far from their families and, importantly, legal representation. My office has received reports of random traffic stops targeting people following a lawful immigration process and with no criminal background, resulting in a transfer to a rural Texas detention facility. We have heard from people arriving home after an overnight shift caring for people with disabilities to learn that Homeland Security has been to their house and is now looking for them. This is not normal. By targeting people who are following lawful processes alongside those who are not, the Administration has eroded trust in immigration enforcement
Members of Congress have the constitutional and legal authority to oversee any federal agency, program, or infrastructure in their district. That includes ICE detention centers. It is deeply alarming that several Members have been denied entry to these facilities and only reinforces the idea that the Trump Administration is above the law and unconstrained by our Constitution. For months, we have heard about the deplorable conditions in many of these detention centers. Some of the accounts are truly horrific. The Administration’s efforts to undermine congressional oversight represents a brazen assault on the separation powers and our system of checks and balances.
The Trump Administration has made it abundantly clear that it will stop at nothing to meet its deportation goals— even if it means sweeping up immigrants who have taken every step required to lawfully live and work here. This isn’t just morally and legally indefensible; it’s disastrous for our democracy—eroding trust in government, jeopardizing public safety, and undermining the very values this country holds dear.
I strongly believe that we should focus on enforcing immigration laws that are already in place, and addressing our nation’s workforce needs while protecting the rights of American workers, preserving families, defending our national security, defending the rights of migrants to seek asylum at our borders, as guaranteed under U.S. and International law, and expanding alternative pathways for lawful migration. I also believe it is critical that we ensure access to legal representation for those who have been detained, a right to which is being made even more challenging due to the remote locations of the facilities and the obstacles created by this administration.
I know these are frightening times for many. If you have chosen to make Maine your home, I promise to do everything in my power to ensure that you and your community are given the rights, protections, and opportunities you deserve. I am grateful that you chose Maine, and that you continue to choose to contribute to our culture, our state, and our nation by being here.
No matter what, I will keep fighting for a stronger, fairer, compassionate, and economically sound immigration system that provides a pathway to citizenship allowing full and fair consideration as Americans, and all of the same rights and responsibilities that come with it.
Sincerely,
Chellie Pingree
Member of Congress
Please do not reply to this message, as this inbox is unattended. To contact me, please visit my website at http://pingree.house.gov. If you need immediate help with a federal agency, please call my Portland Office at 207-774-5019 or toll free at 888-862-6500. |
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