An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 1971
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: DHALAC, TALBOT ROSS

Legislative Document
No. 1971
H.P. 1315
House of Representatives, May 13, 2025
An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the 
Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with 
Federal Immigration Authorities
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative DHALAC of South Portland.
Cosponsored by Senator TALBOT ROSS of Cumberland and
Representatives: ABDI of Lewiston, DEBRITO of Waterville, HASENFUS of Readfield, LEE 
of Auburn, MACIAS of Topsham, RANA of Bangor, SATO of Gorham, YUSUF of Portland.
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. Civil immigration warrant. "Civil immigration warrant" means a warrant for a 
violation of federal civil immigration law.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 
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.
6. 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.
7. Inmate. "Inmate" means an individual in the custody of a law enforcement agency.
8. 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. 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 on the basis of a hold request;
(3) Providing information regarding the person's release date unless that 
information is available to the public;
(4) Providing 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
(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;
D. Transfer a person to an immigration authority unless authorized by a court order or 
criminal warrant; or
E. Provide office space within a law enforcement agency facility for use by an 
immigration authority for a generalized search of or inquiry about an inmate.
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 sharing of confidential information with 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 unrelated to immigration enforcement; 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);
E. Give an immigration authority access to interview an individual in the custody of 
the agency; or
F. Arrest or detain a person upon a hold request if the person:
(1) Has been convicted of murder or a Class A, B or C crime;
(2) Is subject to pending criminal charges when bail has not been set;
(3) Is subject to an outstanding arrest warrant;
(4) Is identified as a possible match in the federal terrorist screening database or 
similar database;
(5) Is subject to a final order of deportation or removal issued by a federal 
immigration authority; or
(6) Presents an unacceptable risk to public safety as determined by the law 
enforcement agency.
3. Detention solely for immigration enforcement. If a person is being detained solely 
for the purposes of immigration enforcement, the person must be released as soon as 
possible and may be detained no longer than 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and 
federal holidays.
4. State employees. A state employee, other than law enforcement officers, judges and 
counsel for defendants in criminal proceedings, may not inquire about a person's 
immigration status unless:
A. Determining the person's immigration status is necessary for the determination of 
program, service or benefit eligibility or the provision of state services; or
B. The state employee is required by federal or state law or by court order to inquire 
about the person's immigration status.
5. Exceptions. This section does not prohibit:
A. 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
B. A law enforcement agency from asserting the agency's own jurisdiction over a 
criminal law enforcement matter.
§4763. Duties of custodial law enforcement agencies
1. Custodial duties. A law enforcement agency shall for an inmate in the agency's 
custody:
A. 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
B. Upon receiving a hold request, provide a copy of the request to the inmate and 
inform the inmate whether the agency intends to comply with the request.
2. Custodial prohibitions. A law enforcement agency may not:
A. Restrict access to an in-custody educational or rehabilitative program or good 
behavior credit-earning opportunity on the sole basis of citizenship or immigration 
status, including whether the inmate is in removal proceedings or an immigration 
authority has issued a hold request or civil immigration warrant against the inmate; or
B. Consider citizenship or immigration status as a factor in determining an inmate's 
custodial classification level, including whether the person is in removal proceedings 
or an immigration authority has issued a hold request or civil immigration warrant 
against the inmate.
§4764. Records
A law enforcement agency shall retain indefinitely 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, including:
1. Race. The inmate's race;
2. Gender. The inmate's gender;
3. Birthplace. The inmate's place of birth;
4. Date and time of arrest. The inmate's date and time of arrest;
5. Charges. All of the inmate's charges of arrest;
6. Receipt of hold request. The date and time of receipt of the hold request;
7. Custody. The date and time that the inmate was taken into custody by the 
immigration authority acting under authority of the hold request;
8. History. The inmate's immigration and criminal history known or recorded in the 
hold request;
9. Accompanying information. A listing of any accompanying information or 
documentation regarding immigration status or proceedings; and
10. Copy provided. Documentation that a copy of the hold request was provided to 
the inmate as required by section 4763, subsection 1, paragraph B.
SUMMARY
This bill enacts provisions to clarify the relationship of state and local law enforcement 
agencies, including correctional facilities, and state employees with federal immigration 
authorities.  The bill:
1. Prohibits a law enforcement agency from stopping, investigating, interrogating, 
arresting or detaining a person for immigration enforcement purposes, including in 
response to a hold request, immigration detainer or administrative warrant issued by the 
United States Department of Homeland Security, or allowing the United States Department 
of Homeland Security access to inmates or inmate information or providing law 
enforcement agency resources or personnel to assist immigration enforcement activities;
2. Clarifies that a law enforcement agency upon a request from the United States 
Department of Homeland Security may arrest and detain a person and perform other law 
enforcement duties due to suspected criminal activity or other reasons not solely based on 
the person's immigration status;
3. Establishes the permissible scope of collaboration of a law enforcement agency with 
a joint law enforcement task force;
4. Requires a law enforcement agency to release as soon as possible and detain no 
longer than 48 hours a person determined to be held solely for immigration enforcement 
purposes;
5. Establishes duties and prohibitions for law enforcement agencies regarding 
immigration issues of inmates, including requiring the agency to inform an inmate of the 
inmate's rights prior to interview by an immigration authority and whether the agency 
intends to comply with a hold request and prohibiting an agency from restricting access to 
educational programming and good conduct credits or determining an inmate's custodial 
status based upon the inmate's immigration status; and
6. Prohibits state employees other than law enforcement officers from inquiring into 
immigration status unless the inquiry is required by law or necessary to provide the service 
sought by the resident.