PORTLAND – It’s been nearly six months since President Donald Trump took office, and among the whirlwind of new policies and executive orders was a series of new stances on immigration that to date have created a culture of fear among immigrants in Maine, according to the people who work with them.

Sue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said she has worked at providing legal services for immigrants out of the nonprofit’s Portland offices for 25 years. Even following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she said, there wasn’t as much unease among her clients as there is today.

“People are afraid to send their kids to school, they’re afraid to go to the doctor’s appointment, people are not accepting new jobs, they are not accepting promotions, not going to work in some cases,” she said. “People are just very uncertain.”

On Jan. 20, the Trump Administration announced a series of new directives aimed at protecting America from what the administration described as an “invasion” from illegal immigrants.

“Many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans,” the administration wrote. “Others are engaged in hostile activities, including espionage, economic espionage, and preparations for terror-related activities.  Many have abused the generosity of the American people, and their presence in the United States has cost taxpayers billions of dollars at the Federal, State, and local levels.”

The Immigration Legal Advocacy Project did not have exact numbers of clients available, but Roche said her caseload has gone up significantly since the January announcement. So too have calls to the ACLU of Maine. 

Anahita Sotoohi, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said in 2024, it was “extraordinarily rare” for her offices to get calls asking about legal services or similar assistance for immigrants.

Since January, however, ACLU of Maine has gotten “multiple” calls per week, Sotoohi said. In the past few weeks alone, she said, ACLU of Maine has had roughly a dozen such calls. 

“In many ways this is an exceptional time,” she said.

Sotoohi was particularly critical of the Trump Administration’s use of section 287(g) of the US Immigration and Nationality Act. The section allows ICE to enter into agreements with local law enforcement, and an executive order from Trump is encouraging ICE to take full advantage of the section.

In Maine, police departments in the towns of Winthrop and Monmouth were considering signing such agreements, but backed off amid public pressure. The Wells Police Department did sign such an agreement back in April, but earlier this month Police Chief Jo-Ann Putnam announced she was putting the agreement on hold.

In her announcement, Putnam said she was taking a “wait and see approach” regarding possible new legislation in Augusta that could forbid such agreements in Maine.

Sotoohi said such agreements are dangerous because they encourage racial profiling.

“What that often results in is the local police interrogating anyone who looks or sounds like they just don’t belong here,” she said.

Roche cited an example of one client, whom she declined to name, who lived in Waldo County. The man, she said, had a wife and children, and was in the state legally working under a permit with a pending application for citizenship that had not yet been fully processed.

Roche said the client went to assist a family member at a traffic stop, and the police asked him about his immigration status (Roche did not indicate the police department in question).  

The man, Roche said, was arrested and transferred out of state. Roche’s office worked to get him eligible for bond, and even then had to fight with ICE agents who still refused to release him right away when family members attempted to post bond to pick him up.

“This is just one example of the amount of time it takes and the amount of effort and resources to represent someone,” she said.

There is some evidence increased numbers of ICE-related arrestees are being held in Maine. Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce said that on April 30 alone, there were 69 inmates being held at the Cumberland County Jail related to ICE arrests.

“To give you some perspective, we had 57 ICE inmates on Jan. 29, 2025, and 31 on Dec. 9, 2024,” Joyce wrote in an email.

Joyce said “in most cases” he did not know whether the detainees were arrested in Maine or were transferred from out of state.

Roche said her office has had some success in protecting immigrants in Maine, but defending them is proving more complicated than it ever has been.

“I have never seen this egregious, unlawful treatment where we don’t know if the government’s going to be following the law or not so that makes it difficult to advise clients and you have to give them the most conservative advice because we just don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. 

Sotoohi said public support is also crucial to help protect immigrants in Maine. 

“I would encourage people to just continue to use their voice to speak up against local law enforcement getting involved in doing the federal government’s work for it whenever they have the chance,” she said.