ICE must dig deeper to respond to Maine lawsuit
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must release additional records of the agency’s detention practices in Maine and at a proposed detention center in Scarborough, a federal judge has ruled.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine and immigrant rights advocates sued the agency after a request for disclosure of records was denied.
ICE eventually produced thousands of pages of heavily redacted documents that noted color schemes and office chairs and other details at detention facilities — but not the material the ACLU was seeking about actual detention conditions, Anahita Sotoohi, a legal fellow at the Maine ACLU, said Monday.
Judge John A. Woodcock last week ordered ICE to conduct a more thorough search of policies, policy statements and written guidelines applicable to inmates and detention activities at the Scarborough facility. It also directed the regional field office in Boston to disclose policies governing the detention of individuals in Scarborough.
It is unclear if the Scarborough center has opened. An ICE spokesman did not immediately respond to a message asking for comment.
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“The district court’s final decision is a victory for transparency that will shed more light on ICE, an agency that operates in the shadows and evades public accountability,” said Carol Garvan, legal director of the ACLU in Maine, in a statement.
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