A group of Maine attorneys led an "emergency" march through Portland's East Bayside neighborhood Friday to protest what they say is the disregard by ICE agents for the "rule of law."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has arrested more than 100 people in Maine this week as part of an ongoing, large-scale operation.
Jennifer Wriggins is a retired University of Maine law school professor who joined the protest dressed as the Statue of Liberty.
"There should be accountability and there should be rules that actually follow the Constitution, and I'm concerned that neither of those things is happening right now," she said. "The Justice Department is being used as a personal enforcement tool of the President, and that is contrary to what we think of as the basic rule of law."
After seeing a memo that suggests ICE agents can forcibly enter homes without a judicial warrant, Wriggins says she's worried about the loss of Fourth Amendment constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure and what that will mean going forward.
The memo, which was reported by the Associated Press and other national outlets, appears to contradict longstanding guidance that immigration lawyers have been giving to clients for decades: that agents don't have a right to enter a place of residence without a warrant.
When asked about the memo during a press conference at Portland City Hall Thursday, Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King called the memo "blatantly unconstitutional."
"I think immigration laws should be enforced, but not in this way," said Wriggins. "I'm a lawyer, and I believe in the US Constitution and the rule of law, meaning that people are supposed to be treated equally under the law and the Constitution is supposed to be followed."
David Webbert helped to organize the march. A Maine-based attorney and member of Maine Lawyers for the Rule of Law, he said the group chose the East Bayside neighborhood for their march because it is actively being targeted by ICE "to let residents know they have their back."
Webbert says he and other volunteer lawyers with Maine ACLU have a good track record of getting those detained by ICE released, but he said, in these cases, time is of the essence.
"The judge gets to say, 'Hey, do you have a good reason for holding this person?' And if they don't, they have to release them. And we're winning those cases in a very large majority," he said. "But if they move the person out of state before we can do it, then we can't sue in Maine, and they take them to Texas or places that they think the system is going to be more favorable to them. So it is, it is important to be quick."
Webbert says the group has plans to file lawsuits against ICE and individual ICE agents as soon as next week.
"I want to sue them for money. So, if you work for ICE and you break the law, we're going to, we're going to try to get the legal system to make you pay money for it."
