An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities

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STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE
_____
H.P. 1315 - L.D. 1971
An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of
State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration
Authorities
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA c. 337-E is enacted to read:
CHAPTER 337-E
IMMIGRATION
§4761. Definitions
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms
have the following meanings.
1. Department of Homeland Security. "Department of Homeland Security" means
the United States Department of Homeland Security, or its successor agency, and any of
its component agencies, including the United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement and the United States Customs and Border Protection.
2. Hold request. "Hold request" means a request issued by an immigration authority
to a local law enforcement agency, including an immigration detainer, that the law
enforcement agency maintain custody of a person in the law enforcement agency's custody
beyond the time the person would otherwise be eligible for release in order to facilitate
transfer to the immigration authority.
3. Immigration authority. "Immigration authority" means a federal, state or local
officer, employee or other person performing immigration enforcement functions,
including the Department of Homeland Security.
4. Immigration detainer. "Immigration detainer" means a written request, including
a civil or administrative warrant, issued on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security
to a federal, state or local law enforcement agency to provide notice of release of and to
detain an individual based on an inquiry into immigration status or an alleged violation of
LAW WITHOUT
GOVERNOR'S
SIGNATURE

JANUARY 11, 2026
CHAPTER
517
PUBLIC LAW
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a civil immigration law, including detainers issued pursuant to 8 Code of Federal
Regulations, Section 287.7 or 236.1, or on a Department of Homeland Security form
requesting voluntary notification of a pending release of a person identified by the
Department of Homeland Security as a suspected priority alien or requesting a law
enforcement agency to voluntarily take action to maintain custody of a detained person.
5. Immigration enforcement. "Immigration enforcement" means any effort to
investigate, enforce or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal civil
immigration law and includes any effort to investigate, enforce or assist in the investigation
or enforcement of any violations of Title 8 of the United States Code.
6. Inmate. "Inmate" means an individual in the custody of a law enforcement agency.
7. Law enforcement agency. "Law enforcement agency" means an agency in the State,
including an employee or agent of the agency, charged with enforcement of state, county
or municipal laws or with managing custody of detained persons in the State and includes
but is not limited to municipal police departments, sheriff's departments, the State Police,
a university or college campus police department, safety department or the equivalent, the
Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety.
§4762. Activities unaffected
This chapter may not be construed to prohibit:
1. Exchanging information consistent with federal law. A law enforcement agency
from sending to or requesting or receiving from an immigration authority information
regarding the immigration status of a person or maintaining or exchanging that information
with any other federal, state or local governmental entity under 8 United States Code,
Section 1373 or 1644; or
2. Actions against person pursuant to certain criminal laws. A law enforcement
agency from investigating, lawfully detaining, executing a criminal warrant or taking other
action against a person pursuant to state criminal law or federal law as provided in section
4763, subsection 2.
§4763. Prohibited activities
1. Prohibited activities. A law enforcement agency may not:
A. Except as provided in subsection 2, use agency or department money or personnel
to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, stop, arrest or search a person for immigration
enforcement purposes, including:
(1) Inquiring into a person's immigration status;
(2) Detaining a person solely on the basis of a hold request;
(3) Providing to immigration authorities information regarding the person's release
date unless that information is available to the public;
(4) Providing to immigration authorities personal information about the person,
including the person's home address or work address;
(5) Making or intentionally participating in an arrest based upon a hold request;
(6) Assisting immigration authorities in activities described in 8 United States
Code, Section 1357(a)(3); or
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(7) Performing the functions of an immigration authority;
B. Place a law enforcement officer under the supervision of a federal agency or employ
a law enforcement officer deputized as a special federal officer or special federal
deputy for immigration enforcement;
C. Use an agent or employee of an immigration authority as an interpreter for local
law enforcement agency matters regarding a person in the law enforcement agency's
custody; or
D. Transfer a person to an immigration authority unless authorized by a court order or
criminal warrant.
With the exception of willful or wanton misconduct, a law enforcement agency that acts in
good faith compliance with this section in releasing a person subject to a hold request is
immune from civil or criminal liability as a result of making the release.
2. Permitted activities. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1, if an activity
does not violate a policy of the law enforcement agency or a state or local law or policy of
the jurisdiction in which the agency is operating, a law enforcement agency may:
A. Investigate, take enforcement action against or detain a person upon reasonable
suspicion of or arrest a person for a violation of 8 United States Code, Section 1326
that may be subject to the enhancement specified under 8 United States Code, Section
1326(b)(2) and that is detected during an unrelated law enforcement activity. A transfer
to an immigration authority under this paragraph is permitted only if authorized by a
court order or criminal warrant;
B. Respond to a request from an immigration authority for information about a specific
person's criminal history, including a previous criminal arrest or conviction or similar
public criminal history record information accessed under Title 16, chapter 7, when
otherwise permitted by state law;
C. Conduct enforcement or investigative duties associated with a joint law
enforcement task force, including the execution of a warrant or sharing of confidential
information with a federal law enforcement agency or another law enforcement agency,
for the purpose of a task force investigation, if:
(1) The primary purpose of the joint law enforcement task force is not immigration
enforcement;
(2) The enforcement or investigative duties are primarily related to a violation of
state or federal law, including but not limited to terrorism, drug trafficking or
human trafficking; and
(3) Participation in the task force by the law enforcement agency does not violate
any state or local law or policy to which the agency is subject;
D. Make an inquiry into information necessary to certify an individual identified as a
potential crime or trafficking victim for a visa pursuant to 8 United States Code, Section
1101(a)(15)(T) or 1101(a)(15)(U) or to comply with 18 United States Code, Section
922(d)(5); or
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E. Give an immigration authority access to interview an individual in the custody of
the agency, as long as the immigration authority's interview request is supported by a
valid court order.
§4764. Duties of custodial law enforcement agencies
A law enforcement agency shall, for an inmate in the agency's custody:
1. Written consent for voluntary interview. In advance of an interview between the
inmate and an immigration authority regarding a civil immigration violation, provide the
inmate with a written consent form that explains the purpose of the interview, that the
interview is voluntary and that the inmate may decline the interview or be interviewed only
with the inmate's attorney present. The consent form must be written in the primary
language of the inmate and read to the inmate by a person who is not an immigration
authority. This paragraph does not establish a right of counsel that otherwise does not exist
in law; and
2. Notice of hold request. Upon receiving a hold request, provide a copy of the
request to the inmate and inform the inmate that the law enforcement agency is prohibited
under section 4763 from detaining an inmate based solely on the hold request.
§4765. Records
A law enforcement agency shall make reasonable efforts to retain for a period of 4
years a copy of a hold request and any other request along with any accompanying
information or documentation provided by an immigration authority and information on
the inmate subject to the hold request.