WELLS, ME – Earlier in October, the Wells Police Department officially withdrew from the 287(g) partnership program with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which said program lends authority to state and local law enforcement to collaboratively engage in immigration enforcement operations alongside the agency.
The state of Maine officially has zero police departments within the state collaborating with ICE under the 287(g) partnership program following the exodus of the Wells Police Department on October 21st. Said partnership program, established under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, affords state and local law enforcement “the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under” ICE’s oversight.
Wells Police Chief Jo Ann Putnam confirmed the end of the professional collaboration with ICE during a select board meeting earlier in October, with her reasoning behind the move stemming from the widespread backlash ICE, and by extension perceived collaborators with the Trump administration, has faced in recent months.
“I have consistently maintained that politics in policing should remain separate,” Chief Putnam noted in a statement regarding the separation from the ICE partnership program, adding, “Unfortunately, as of late, these lines have become blurred.”
While Chief Putnam wasn’t physically present during the October 21st select board meeting where the news broke, her statement confirming the end of the Wells Police Department’s partnership with ICE was read aloud by the town manager Michael Pardue. Continuing the statement from Chief Putnam, Pardue stated, “The Wells Police Department will continue to support federal partners and uphold the law as appropriate. However, our involvement in the MLA 287(g) task force model is hereby terminated, effective immediately.”
This past April, when the Wells Police Department initially agreed to work alongside ICE via the 287(g) partnership program, local backlash spurred almost immediately. Within weeks of the April announcement, Wells locals asserted demands during select board meetings to immediately dissolve the relationship with the police department and ICE.
By May, the Wells Police Department officially placed the collaborative agreement with ICE on hold but had yet to deliver a final decision on the nature of their professional relationship with the federal agency until the recent select board meeting in October.
Peg Duddy, who reportedly represents Democracy in Actions Wells which has used the controversial leftist protest aggregator website Mobilize.US to rally anti-ICE demonstrators, said in a statement on the matter, “We are relieved that the contract has been withdrawn. From the very start, it was very important for us to stand with the immigrant community.”
The anti-ICE activist attributed the police department’s decision to separate from ICE as being a direct result of their group’s incessant protesting of the enforcement of federal immigration law, adding, “It really is and has [been] a team effort.”
The state of Maine officially has zero police departments within the state collaborating with ICE under the 287(g) partnership program following the exodus of the Wells Police Department on October 21st. Said partnership program, established under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, affords state and local law enforcement “the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under” ICE’s oversight.
Wells Police Chief Jo Ann Putnam confirmed the end of the professional collaboration with ICE during a select board meeting earlier in October, with her reasoning behind the move stemming from the widespread backlash ICE, and by extension perceived collaborators with the Trump administration, has faced in recent months.
“I have consistently maintained that politics in policing should remain separate,” Chief Putnam noted in a statement regarding the separation from the ICE partnership program, adding, “Unfortunately, as of late, these lines have become blurred.”
While Chief Putnam wasn’t physically present during the October 21st select board meeting where the news broke, her statement confirming the end of the Wells Police Department’s partnership with ICE was read aloud by the town manager Michael Pardue. Continuing the statement from Chief Putnam, Pardue stated, “The Wells Police Department will continue to support federal partners and uphold the law as appropriate. However, our involvement in the MLA 287(g) task force model is hereby terminated, effective immediately.”
This past April, when the Wells Police Department initially agreed to work alongside ICE via the 287(g) partnership program, local backlash spurred almost immediately. Within weeks of the April announcement, Wells locals asserted demands during select board meetings to immediately dissolve the relationship with the police department and ICE.
By May, the Wells Police Department officially placed the collaborative agreement with ICE on hold but had yet to deliver a final decision on the nature of their professional relationship with the federal agency until the recent select board meeting in October.
Peg Duddy, who reportedly represents Democracy in Actions Wells which has used the controversial leftist protest aggregator website Mobilize.US to rally anti-ICE demonstrators, said in a statement on the matter, “We are relieved that the contract has been withdrawn. From the very start, it was very important for us to stand with the immigrant community.”
The anti-ICE activist attributed the police department’s decision to separate from ICE as being a direct result of their group’s incessant protesting of the enforcement of federal immigration law, adding, “It really is and has [been] a team effort.”
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