ROCKLAND — The City Council gave final approval Monday night to a local ordinance that bars municipal employees from assisting federal immigration agents unless there is a judicial order.
The vote came after 20 people spoke out about the issue with all but one resident voicing support for the ordinance. The Council vote was 4-1 with Councilor Nicole Kalloch opposing the local legislation.
Councilor Kaitlin Callahan spoke passionately about the need for the local law that takes effect Jan. 8, 2026.
“Let’s send a clear and powerful message again. We will not be governed by fear,” Callahan said.
The ordinance provides clear guidelines to city employees and makes sure that due process is protected for all people. she said. The ordinance is needed to prevent police from being deputized to enforce federally, politically-motivated actions.
The ordinance was developed with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, with a representative from that organization addressing the Council and pointing out that the amended version of the law allows police to respond to and enforce local and state laws, even at the scene of immigration enforcement.
The ordinance was developed with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, with a representative from that organization addressing the Council and pointing out that the amended version of the proposal allows police to enforce local and state laws, even at the scene of immigration enforcement.
Police Chief Tim Carroll has voiced concern about the ordinance but was not at the Monday meeting. Carroll was attending an FBI Academy event, where he serves as vice president of the New England chapter of the FBI Academy. Callahan praised Carroll and the department, but stressed the need for the ordinance.
The ordinance states that “No City employee or department shall stop, arrest, detain or continue to detain a person for immigration enforcement operation purposes, including pursuant to an immigration detainer; an administrative immigration warrant; any other immigration enforcement document; or information or suspicion that the person is not present legally in the United States, or that the person has committed an immigration violation.”
“Unless presented with a valid and properly issued judicial warrant or as part of the Rockland Police Department’s investigation of a serious crime such as human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, or firearms trafficking, no City department or employee shall: permit Immigration and Custom Enforcement, or Customs and Border patrol agents to access a person being detained by, or in the custody of, the department; transfer any person into ICE or CBP custody; permit ICE or CBP agents to use agency facilities, information (except as provided under this subsection B(5) of this Ordinance), or equipment, including any electronic databases, for investigative interviews or other investigative purpose or for purposes of executing an immigration enforcement operation; or expend time to respond to immigration-related ICE or CBP inquiries or communicate with ICE or CBP regarding a person’s custody status, home address, work address, or other information.”
Kalloch said ICE can still come here and that she does not support a law that has no backbone, and asked the councilors if they did not want to any longer be a Coast Guard City.
Rockland has been designated a Coast Guard City since 2008 because of its support for and close ties to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has been located on the Tillson Avenue peninsula since shortly after the end of World War II.
There are more than 100 Coast Guard crew members based in Rockland, and the U.S. Coast Guard Station has a crew that numbers in the mid-20s. In addition, three main vessels dock at the station — the ice breaker Thunder Bay, the buoy tender Abbie Burgess and the cutter Tackle.
John Anders, a retired Coast Guard member, said many people are being targeted by federal immigration officials not because they committed a crime, but because they are in the process of legally being in the United States.
State Sen. Anne “Pinny” Beebe-Center, D-Rockland, said she rarely attends Council meetings but that this was an issue of such a core concern that she had to come out and speak out for the ordinance.
The veteran state legislator said the federal actions are so far afield from our values that the city must reject working with them.
Retired teacher Paul Desauliners said he is a first generation English speaker in his family and he supports the ordinance.
“We need to step up and do what is right,” Desaulniers said. He said movements start in small communities not in Washington, D.C.
The ACLU of Maine issued a statement after the Council vote.
“Maine’s elected leaders should do all they can to protect their communities, and we are thrilled that Rockland has taken this decisive action,” said Michael Kebede, policy director at the ACLU of Maine. “Measures like this preserve local resources for local priorities, ensure Maine towns and cities are not complicit in or liable for federal abuses of power, and improve public safety by building trust between local law enforcement and the communities they are supposed to serve.”
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.
