When federal immigration officers recently arrested a married couple outside the Cumberland County courthouse, the move drew criticism and concern from advocates.

But it was not the first time U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had shown up at a Maine courthouse. For months, lawyers in Portland have observed agents looking over a daily public schedule of court cases that includes names, criminal charges and attorney information. 

That appears to be how ICE agents were alerted to the wife’s hearing at the courthouse the afternoon of Aug. 11 on a Class C theft charge for stealing from a store, according to a document authored by a deportation officer obtained by the Portland Press Herald. The agent noted in the document that they had confirmed the woman was going to be in court that day. The same week, agents arrested a man who was parked outside of the district courthouse in Lewiston. 

Across the country, ICE has been making arrests inside and outside of state and county-run courthouses, after President Donald Trump, in 2025, rescinded a list of several “protected areas” that agents were encouraged to avoid. That included courts. While there have been few reports of arrests near courthouses in Maine to date, some attorneys say immigration enforcement under the Trump administration has had a negative impact on their work. 

Some cases have been dismissed or are languishing, prosecutors say, after victims and witnesses have cut off communication out of fear that it will draw attention from ICE. Now, immigrants’ rights advocates in Maine are concerned that arrests at the state’s courthouses will continue to keep people from showing up for hearings and discourage victims and witnesses from coming forward.

“ICE arrests at courthouses are yet another way the administration shows complete disregard for the rule of law and access to due process,” Lisa Parisio, policy director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said in a statement. “These tactics, and the other tactics of mass deportation, are unjustifiable and undermine bedrock American principles. Congress should defund and dismantle this agency immediately.” 

Advocates have urged lawyers who represent immigrants facing criminal charges to request Zoom hearings and for judges to approve them. They have advised people to pay fines online instead of at courthouses and encouraged immigrants afraid they might be arrested and detained to have an emergency plan.

Parisio said state and local officials should “continue to look at ways to ensure everyone can access the places we all rely on.”

In June, a federal judge in California declared it was unlawful for ICE to conduct arrests in immigration courts, which are run by the Department of Justice and were also previously protected areas. In several states and municipalities, officials have tried enacting policies to limit ICE’s access to courthouses, leading the Department of Justice to sue officials in Franklin County, Ohio, for a new rule there blocking federal officials from making arrests in and near courthouses.  

At courthouses nationwide, ICE agents have continued making arrests, including in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and in Connecticut, where state officials had also recently passed laws blocking these kinds of arrests.

Barbara Cardone, a spokesperson for Maine’s courts, said she had no policies to share regarding ICE and its activity in state courthouses. Cardone said ICE officers are generally treated the same as all law enforcement officers — they have access to public records and full access to public areas, but not to the secure areas where jail transport staff and court marshals are allowed. 

Generally speaking, Cardone said, any law enforcement officer “with jurisdiction,” or the power to make an arrest in Maine, can apprehend someone in a courthouse. 

Cardone said the arrests have so far have occurred off courthouse property.

“We usually don’t see this happening, unless there is a violent crime unfolding, and then it would probably be a judicial marshal who made the arrest,” Cardone said. “I do not believe that ICE has made any arrests inside a courthouse to date.”

So far, advocates have recorded two arrests outside the Cumberland County courthouse and  more than one in Lewiston, where a man was apprehended by ICE on Aug. 13. 

In a statement, ICE said the man whom agents arrested in Lewiston had been parked outside. The Press Herald could not find any criminal cases pending in Androscoggin County under the man’s name, according to a review of online court records. 

ICE alleged the man entered the country illegally in the fall of 2024. 

In a statement on Aug. 12, an ICE spokesperson said the two people arrested in Cumberland County had both entered the country legally but overstayed their authorized periods of stay. An immigration judge agreed on Aug. 25 that the man could be released on bond. During the hearing, the man’s immigration attorney said he had applied for asylum and had no criminal history. The judge agreed the man posed no risk to the community.

The ICE spokesperson said in the statement that the ability to make arrests in courthouses “is common sense” because people go through security and are screened for weapons.

“It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be. It is also safer for our officers and the community,” a spokesperson wrote from a media email address, which doesn’t provide staff names.

Experts in immigration and criminal law say consequences have always been more severe for certain immigrants charged with crimes, compared to citizens. There’s a U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognizing this, and requiring that all defense attorneys have an obligation to inform their immigrant clients of potential consequences to their status. 

Carlos Diaz, an assistant district attorney in Cumberland County, said earlier in the summer that he was noticing more immigrant defendants were being advised against taking any plea deals.

Diaz said prosecutors are in a hard place. They can’t ignore charges, and typically aren’t aware of someone’s immigration status when those are issued, but don’t want consequences to be disproportionate.

“There’s this sort of expectation from the defense that, because of the potential collateral consequences, which no one can really predict, that people who are not citizens or green card holders have some sort of prosecutorial immunity. And that’s offensive,” Diaz said. “At the same time, there’s a reality behind that, which is, I don’t want someone to be sent back to a place where they’re going to be tortured or murdered because they shoplifted something from Walmart, or because they had a low-level drunk driving offense.” 

Cases are also being affected because victims and witnesses, crucial to criminal prosecutions, are wary of participating out of fear it will attract ICE’s attention. 

Jacqueline Sartoris, the district attorney for Cumberland County, said earlier in the summer that her office was pursuing charges against a defendant accused of strangling a woman who is an immigrant. The defendant was charged before current immigration enforcement ramped up. Sartoris, who declined to identify the case out of concern for the victim’s privacy, said in June that the woman had moved and cut off contact with the district attorney’s office.

“We had a very cooperative victim become a completely nonresponsive victim,” Sartoris said.  “And in that kind of case, where you have an alleged DV perpetrator, that danger continues. It goes unresolved. There’s no accountability for this person.” 

Francine Garland Stark, who directs the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, said most people who have experienced domestic violence choose not to involve law enforcement. 

That is especially true with people who have experienced domestic violence and are more vulnerable and are concerned about what involving law enforcement might mean for them and their families, Stark said. The coalition oversees a statewide network of domestic violence resource centers, which run 24/7 helplines, and connect people to legal and housing resources. 

“These are folks who already are facing substantial barriers to seeking help,” Stark said during an interview in June. “There’s language barriers, there’s frequent financial dependence, social isolation, and worries about their immigration status.”