The Reality Facing Asylum Seekers in Maine
By Nancy English
The political, legal, and economic world surrounding asylum seekers in Maine has transformed from welcome to danger in less than a year.
“I don’t go out with my friends to have fun anymore,” said one asylum seeker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I am keeping my head down.”
They did not personally know any detainees but were aware that others in the same situation were being picked up. “I have no idea why they get taken.” They have been in the United States for several years, like many others.
Since the start of the second Trump administration, federal agents from various agencies have detained more than fifty men in the Portland area who have applied for asylum, according to Martha Stein, Executive Director of Hope Acts, a nonprofit that helps asylum seekers. One was released on bond after a GoFundMe campaign raised $6,000.
Petra Carleton has volunteered with Hope Acts since 2016. “You don’t need a warrant to stop them in the street,” she said about asylum seekers, whose detailed asylum applications give the federal government a portrait of their lives. But, she said, “It matters that there is a visible community that cares about them.”
That “visible community” is getting ever larger.
Caring City
Portland has proven its support time and time again. The City opened the Portland Exposition Building in 2019 and again in 2023 to help immigrants seeking refuge. Helped by City workers, local nonprofits, and volunteers, many found housing and received work permits. But now, grants and federal support are drying up.
“Things are really stressful and chaotic,” Stein said. “The rules keep changing all the time. The fees asylum seekers pay have had huge increases.”
As she talked to me, she read a news alert on her phone about a change in the duration of work permits. From December 4th, newly issued work permits will expire after 18 months, instead of the previous five years.
Lives Disrupted
The Immigrant Legal Aid Program (ILAP) offers immigrants legal support and far more. Lisa Parisio, ILAP’s Policy Director, said, “People in Maine are having their immigration statuses and protections stripped away, losing access to work permits, and immigration enforcement has dramatically increased.”
Families left without bread winners, possibly without a vehicle or other resources, are trying to get on with their lives.
“Be as prepared as possible,” advised attorney Jenny Beverly, an immigration attorney working at Haven Law in Portland, Maine. “Give a trusted friend a copy of your complete asylum application, with copies of entry documents, passports, ‘Notice to Appear,’ evidence of filing (a receipt given on acceptance of an asylum application).”
Family will need all that and more simply to find someone detained by federal agents. At the very least, she said, “Share your alien number, birthplace, birthdate, and your full name.”
Too Few Judges
Beverly served in the Executive Department as a federal immigration judge from April 2024 to July 2025, when she decided to end that employment.
“I was asked to do things that are not due process and was not okay with it,” Beverley said. She knows others who have made the same decision to end work as immigration judges in 2025. This is the case despite there being a shortage of judges to oversee cases.
No public statistic confirms the number of judges fired in the last year, but NPR reports that “70 judges had received termination notices.”
Also, a November 18th, 2025 post at tracreports.com, which keeps statistics on immigration court actions, showed that decisions granting asylum had been cut in half over the previous year. In addition, the pace of denials had shot up under the second Trump administration.
Beverly practiced for ten years representing immigrants before accepting a position as a judge. Persons she represented, including during the first Trump administration, had asylum granted, habeas corpus petitions granted, and release on bonds approved.
“Immigrants are so much of the economic engine of our country,” Stein said. She hopes that large businesses start complaining. “When the wheels fall off, there should be pushback.”
State Efforts
Maine lawmakers passed LD 1971 to prohibit state law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement. The law goes into effect in the summer of 2026.
The new law, according to its summary, “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.’”
The law doesn’t stop Maine authorities from their work countering crime.
Although the Trump administration claims immigrants are a threat to public safety, by all reports Maine’s own newest residents are not endangering their neighbors. The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, among many others, offered testimony by Michael Kebede, its Policy Director, supporting LD 1971 and asserting this fact.
Nancy English ran for Portland City Council in 2024 and is a former paralegal for the City of Portland.
