ACLU of Maine Legal Analysis of Maine’s New ICE Out Laws

From the introduction by the ACLU of Maine:

“In 2025 and 2026, the Maine legislature passed a package of important bills to protect Maine’s immigrant residents and ensure they can access state and local services without fear that doing so will lead them or their loved ones to be targeted by federal immigration authorities. This suite of laws, collectively referred to here as the ICE Out laws, became effective on July 29, 2026. Together, these laws keep ICE out of critical domains of our daily life. First, a pair of new laws keep ICE out of policing. The primary ICE Out of Policing law, LD 1971, prohibits state, county, and local law enforcement agencies from engaging in most forms of cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts. A companion ICE Out of Policing law, LD 2058, clarifies that a longstanding Maine law requiring jails to hold criminal arrestees for other law enforcement agencies does not require jails to hold civil arrestees for ICE or Border Patrol (or any other agency carrying out civil immigration enforcement). Second, a new law keeps ICE out of schools and healthcare. The ICE Out of Schools and Healthcare law, LD 2106, bars public schools, state healthcare institutions, and state libraries from giving immigration enforcement agents access to nonpublic areas or providing access to sensitive records unless they can produce a valid judicial warrant. Third, a new law keeps ICE out of our homes. The ICE Out of Our Homes law, LD 2176, prohibits landlords from disclosing certain personal information about tenants, including tenants’ national origin or immigration status.

These ICE Out laws tackle the federal government’s unconstitutional mass deportation campaign from multiple angles, helping to ensure that Maine’s immigrant residents can safely access essential locations like schools and hospitals, housing, and public safety. As the effective date of the ICE Out laws has passed, the ACLU of Maine has prepared this memorandum to explain the new legal landscape. We invite schools, healthcare facilities, law enforcement agencies, trade associations, and others whose members or constituencies are regulated by Maine’s ICE Out laws to borrow liberally from our analysis. (Read: we’re doing your compliance work for you.)”