Maine’s license plates say “Vacationland.” Many Westporters ski, hike and sail there. Some have summer homes in the Pine Tree State.
Over the past few years, several well-known neighbors have moved there. Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents moved into the state too.
To get a first-hand feel for what’s happening, “06880” contacted former Nutmeggers, now Mainers. Two replied, from very different parts of the state.
Rev. Alison Patton spent 11 years as pastor of Saugatuck Congregational Church. She left in 2023, to lead First Congregational Church, UCC in South Portland. She writes:
It has been an intense couple of weeks, although there has been a marked decrease in verified reports of ICE activity since the snowstorm.
Rev. Alison Patton
We are weary of being constantly vigilant, and of pivoting daily to show up how and where we are needed. Still, Greater Portland communities have done amazing things in response to this invasion by ICE.
Our immigrant neighbors remain frightened, Many have been sheltering at home for weeks, afraid to leave to shop, go to school, work or attend church.
Members at First Congregational Church, UCC, along with countless other volunteers around greater Portland have been shopping and delivering groceries, accompanying children to and from school, and doing what we can to lend our support.
I have a list of 30 members and friends in our congregation who signed up to be on call to offer support to immigrant neighbors. On Sunday morning I posted grocery lists for 4 immigrant families that are sheltering in place — including families 2 towns away. Volunteers signed up within 15 minutes, to shop and deliver to all 4.
Our neighbors have reason to be afraid. We have observed that ICE is targeting our immigrant neighbors based on their skin color, not on any evidence of criminal activity. Those detained in our area include immigrants in the asylum process, immigrants with green cards and naturalized citizens.
I am beyond impressed with this community, where people are showing up for each other, protesting, organizing teams to monitor and verify ICE activity, and ramping up mutual aid efforts.
I am also grateful to be part of a strong and engaged multi-faith clergy group that is collaborating to look after immigrant neighbors, and to oppose ICE presence:
We have been holding a weekly vigil outside the Cumberland County Jail, where we have exchanged letters with many of the approximate 30 women who were detained there until recently.
Just last week they were relocated in the middle of the night, following a press conference by the Portland sheriff, in which he criticized ICE for detaining one of his own corrections officers — a man who had been thoroughly vetted for his job, and had no criminal record.
At the request of the owner, we have been standing outside the apparel factory American Roots twice a day, in shifts, to make it safer for over 50 immigrant workers — all with legal documentation — to come to work.
Maine residents outside American Roots. (Photo/Alison Patton)
Several of my colleagues gathered outside Senator Susan Collins’ office last Tuesday, to put pressure on her to deny further funding for ICE. Nine of them were arrested.
My colleagues and I were among hundreds of clergy who signed onto this open letter, opposing ICE presence in our state
We are routinely sharing information and resources, to do what we can to protect our neighbors.
I’ve been getting lots of calls from folks looking for ways to help. Last week, one of those calls came from a Staples graduate who grew up at Greens Farms Congregational Church, and now lives down the street from my church in South Portland.
Thanks for reaching out. If people ask what they can do, they can donate to local aid organizations, including Project Home (providing emergency rent assistance for those who have lost income due to detention of a family member or fear of going to work) and ILAP, which provides legal assistance for immigrants.
Folks can also put pressure on elected officials to stop funding ICE.
Chip Stephens is a native Westporter. A 1973 graduate of Staples High School, he left the Planning & Zoning Commission in 2021 to become CEO — that’s “code enforcement officers” — of 2 towns 20 miles northwest of Augusta. He is also the plumbing inspector, local health official and a firefighter. He lives in Readfield, where he long had a part-time home.
Chip Stephens
Stephens’ service in Westport includes chairing the Village District Regulation Committee and Superstorm Sandy Recovery Regulation Committee. In Westport he helped preserve Bedford Elementary School (now Town Hall), Cockenoe Island, and open space. He also coached Staples wrestling, and PAL football, basketball and baseball.
Stephens tells “06880” that most ICE enforcement is n the major cities — specifically Portland and Lewiston (home of Bates College, and a large population from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, other African nations and Afghanistan).
“This is an interesting state,” he says. “The northern region is much more conservative than the bigger cities and college towns.”
Stephens does not hear a lot of talk about immigration — or the ICE raids — in his area. What there is, he says, tends to be “I’m sick of seeing this on the news.”
Of course, politics is unavoidable. There is a wide-open governor’s race. Most candidates are Democrats. Stephens knows Republican Bobby Charles — a former naval intelligence officer, assistant Secretary of State and official in the George W. Bush White House. Charles’ platform includes support for ICE.
Still, Stephens says, immigration enforcement “is not issue #1, unless you live in Portland. It’s tiring people out, and I don’t think it’s helping the cause. A lot of people are just turning off their TVs. They’re numb to it.”
Rev. Patton came to Westport from First Church Simsbury in 2012. The congregation was reeling from a pre-Thanksgiving fire. Only a fire wall had saved the nearly 200-year-old building — the place where Westport was established as a town, in 1835 — from complete destruction.
