Several dozen people crowded into the Cumberland County commissioners’ meeting Monday, urging the sheriff to stop letting ICE book people at the county jail.
Brendan McQuade, a sociology professor at the University of Southern Maine, said holding people for ICE enables the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
"The federal government cannot operate its deportation machine without cooperation from county jails," McQuade said.
Sheriff Kevin Joyce said his department is squeezed between people who want an end to cooperation with ICE and those who want to see even more collaboration.
"You folks are fired up. People that want to lock them all up are fired up. And we're trying to do the best we can to do what's right for everybody," Joyce said.
Joyce said there are about 60 people in ICE custody currently at the jail. Many of those who testified said the agency is leaning on local jails to further its mass detention priorities, while instilling crippling fear among immigrant communities in Maine. The commissioners did not indicate what, if any, action they would take on the matter.
