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Diana Page retired to Maine after spending 45 years overseas in the Peace Corps, press corps and State Department.
Who’s afraid of the big unmarked vans? We are! My Canadian and Brazilian friends, married to Mainers, are afraid to go certain places for fear they might be pulled into vans, taken away from their kids. What makes them different from other Mainers is black hair, darker skin tones, a certain “immigrant” look.
Now we, as good neighbors, are organizing our “neighborhood watch” groups, with phone alerts, if we see vehicles that could belong to the misnamed “Department of Homeland Security.” Since they changed the Department of Defense to the Department of “War,”why not call them the “Department of Terror”?)
Gov. Janet Mills should step in to uphold the protection of the law.
Can a lawyer stand by while someone is kidnapped by a masked agent who claims to act for the U.S. government without identification? What about warrants? What about unreasonable search and seizure? And what if the person is a child, a legal resident or a U.S. citizen?
For months, we’ve seen judges in other states rule against these illegal actions by the Department of Homeland Security. The best way to keep Maine safe is preventive action, and our state legislators gave Gov. Mills the means to separate our police from the thugs
The bill is LD 1971, entitled an “Act to Protect Workers in the State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities.” It was sponsored by Rep. Deqa Dhalac of South Portland.
It was amended, thanks to the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, to ensure that working with joint task forces on drugs and other crimes would not be affected. Police officers in Maine don’t have a lot of spare time; we’re not paying them to help the well-funded Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE). And Maine shouldn’t have to pay the liabilities cost of ICE “mistakes.”
The amended LD1971 passed in the House, 75-73, and the Senate, 20-14, on June 18, but the governor held it until the next session in January, when she can either veto it or allow it to pass without her signature.
Mills told the press the new law was too broad and “confusing.”
Does she believe her role as governor is to fight “confusion,” not take a stand to defend the rule of law? Does campaigning for a Senate seat take precedence over her job as governor?
Politics is about leadership and taking responsibility. We can’t wait until 2026.
