PORTLAND — With the potential that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may be coming to Portland and Lewiston in the coming weeks, Cumberland County District Attorney Jacqueline Sartoris is emphasizing safety.
She wants everyone to feel free to exercise their First Amendment rights but wants them to be prepared to see a different type of law enforcement operation that may be more aggressive than what they are used to seeing.
“I would ask that people peacefully protest, really emphasize that,” Sartoris said Friday. “And let’s hope that in a few weeks we’re able to say whatever has happened here we have handled well.”
Sartoris also said it’s important to remember that no one is above the law, even federal agents who come to Maine. She said in watching what’s happened in other cities, ICE agents are not working to de-escalate situations the same way local law enforcement officers have done.
She said particularly since the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, many local officers have undergone training to keep situations from becoming violent.
“There is no kind of blanket immunity for federal agents so if they break the law, we would of course review evidence and information and seek to charge a case if we felt that was appropriate as we would anyone else,” she said.
Cumberland County District Attorney Jacqueline Sartoris in her office on Friday. (Spectrum News/Susan Cover)
She said while there may be a higher bar for agents accused of a crime, they do not have absolute immunity from prosecution.
“We are a nation of laws, not of men,” she said. “The rule of law is the most important thing in this country that holds us all together. It is the glue that allows our communities to be as different as they are, to all coexist.”
Sartoris’ comments came two days after several of Maine’s top political leaders talked about their concerns that ICE agents may soon come to Maine’s two largest cities.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat seeking her party’s nomination to run for the U.S. Senate, warned federal officials that she does not want to see aggressive tactics here.
“To the Federal government I say this: if your plan is to come here to be provocative and to undermine the civil rights of Maine residents, do not be confused – those tactics are not welcome here,” she said in a statement released this week.
And on Friday, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-2nd District) urged restraint because it has not been confirmed that ICE operations will occur in Maine.
“For now, with so much uncertainty, I have been urging everyone with a platform to avoid spreading unsubstantiated gossip or fear,” Golden wrote in his weekly newsletter. “In fraught moments, we need to be careful with each other and our community.”