Scarborough calls on Congress to investigate activities at local ICE facility

Members of the Scarborough Town Council voted Wednesday to pass a proclamation calling on Maine’s congressional delegation to look into the operations of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in the town after a federal agent shot and killed a man in Biddeford earlier this month. 

But residents who spoke at the town council meeting said the proclamation doesn’t go far enough.

“We’re not in charge of federal immigration policy, but all eyes in Maine are on us as the only town that hosts a facility,” said Mary Ellen Galante, a Scarborough resident and retired nurse midwife, who objected to the proclamation because it “places all of the responsibility for action on our federal delegation and not on our town.” 

Galante was among the roughly 70 people who attended the packed meeting, while more than 50 others braved the rain outside holding signs calling to get ICE out of Maine.

New restrictions on state involvement in immigration enforcement take effect Wednesday

The killing of 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero on July 13 has renewed scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement in Maine and many residents have called for local and state leaders to do more to protect communities in the state. 

The question of how much power a community has to challenge federal activities within its jurisdiction is one that has wracked the state since President Donald Trump’s administration launched its enhanced enforcement operation in January. Several new laws took effect Wednesday that limit local cooperation with federal immigration agencies.

ICE in Maine

Unlike many other states, Maine does not have a standalone ICE detention center. The Scarborough processing facility is an administrative building for routine check-ins with three small, short-term holding cells. Detainees have historically been held in local jails or transferred to detention centers in Massachusetts or New Hampshire, or as far as Texas.

But during the meeting, several speakers raised concerns that ICE was misrepresenting what was occurring at that location.

“I think there are legitimate questions about whether the ordinances and the plans that have been put into place are consistent with what is happening in practice there,” Maine Rep. Sophie Warren, a Democrat who represents Scarborough, told Maine Morning Star. Warren presented a petition signed by more than 370 Mainers, 175 of which are Scarborough residents, calling on the council to take specific actions, including formally investigating the operations at the ICE facility and enforcing local laws and other municipal tools to rein in unlawful activities, which she said has precedence in Oregon.  

The U.S. General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate, leased the facility from owner AEY, LLC. According to the agency’s lease inventory, the current 15-year lease began in 2021. 

Since ICE arrived at the site, local community members have regularly demonstrated outside the facility, and hundreds demonstrated in Scarborough the day after Guerrero was killed.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts made an unannounced visit to the Scarborough facility on July 17, during which he confirmed that is where the officer who shot Guerrero works.

In December, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree also visited the Scarborough facility after concerns were raised about attorneys not being permitted to accompany their clients to routine check-ins. 

Josh Soley, the leasing and property manager for the building, said the GSA has the authority to sublease the facility to whichever agency they choose and that neither the state nor landlord has a say in who occupies the building.

Soley said he’s in support of the protests but believes the facility has nothing to do with what happened in Biddeford. He said people are “trying to find a place to put their voice, but I think it needs to be better targeted.” 

But Scarborough councilmember Jon Anderson said that he believes Soley “must be part of this conversation.” Anderson said residents should know whether the company intends to extend the lease when it expires, and said Soley should also explore whether there’s a “mutually agreeable path” to end the lease arrangement with GSA early, “given the tragedy that occurred from the ICE agent employed at that facility.”

GSA declined to comment on the proclamation or the terms of the current lease agreement. 

“I have a 20-page lease that I need to re-sign every single year and it asks me not to do unlawful activity,” Scarborough resident Sarah Lunt told the council. She added, “I would assume that that includes murdering someone in cold blood.” 

Proclamation details

The proclamation asks Maine’s congressional delegation to engage with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to review the facility and evaluate alternatives, “including the relocation or discontinuation of such operations at that location.” 

It further asks for transparency and community engagement regarding federal immigration enforcement activities and for the delegation to “ensure that federal actions conducted within Maine respect human dignity, civil rights, public trust, due process, and community safety and commit to raising concerns with federal officials should evidence emerge that these standards are not being upheld.”

The town notes that proclamation should not be interpreted as opposition to lawful immigration enforcement but rather, the “expectation that such enforcement be conducted in a manner consistent with the values of safety, transparency, accountability, and respect for all people.”

While a handful of residents expressed concern that the resolution was beyond the purview of the council and would open the town to lawsuits from the federal government, the vast majority who spoke said they supported the proclamation as a first step for the town to take.

Congressional support

Ahead of the meeting, Pingree, who represents the southern Maine district that includes Biddeford and Scarborough, told the Scarborough council that the town “has every right to ask whether continuing to host this facility serves the interests of the community.”

“In my view, that question deserves serious consideration from the Department of Homeland Security,” Pingree wrote in a letter. “When a federal facility reaches the point where its very presence undermines the public confidence and leaves residents feeling less safe, the federal government has a responsibility to reconsider if that facility belongs there at all.”

Pingree added that she’s “exploring every available avenue to address enforcement operations and the continued presence of ICE in Scarborough.”

Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Rep. Jared Golden did not comment on the proclamation. They previously sent a joint letter to the DHS Inspector General calling for a full, transparent investigation into the shooting and King has called for a review of ICE protocol.

Emma Davis contributed reporting to this story.