In Testimony to U.S. Congressional Panel, Governor Mills Again Calls on Congress to Overhaul ICE

Governor testifies to U.S. House Democratic Field Hearing on tragic killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford 

Biddeford, MAINE – In testimony delivered this morning to a U.S. Congressional field hearing in Biddeford, Governor Mills reiterated her call for Congress to fundamentally reform – or abolish – U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE).

The Democratic shadow hearing – convened by U.S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-MS), U.S. House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), and U.S. Congressman Troy Carter (D-LA) – focused on the tragic killing of Biddeford resident Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero last month by ICE.  

The Governor criticized new reports that ICE will soon begin using gloves that deliver an electric shock as part of their tactics, calling them “another way to inflict fear and pain.” 

“Congress must send the clear and unmistakable message that these tactics are not just morally wrong, they also imperil the safety and the security of every person who calls this country home,” said the Governor. 

In the wake of the July 13 shooting, Governor Mills wrote to Maine’s Congressional Delegation, urging Congress to assert its authority to “require ICE to respect the rule of law and honor our collective security.” 

Thank you, Mr. Plata, muchas gracias, for your courage and for sharing your testimony in this congressional field hearing, and my deepestcondolences to you and your family during this difficult time. Mi más sentido pésame.

Ranking Member Thompson, Congresswoman Clark, and Congresswoman Pingree, I appreciate your coming to Biddeford to hear directly from this community in the aftermath of a horrific tragedy — the violent death of a young father leaving his home on a quiet street to go to work just a short ways from here.

Like people across Maine, I am heartbroken. I am furious. I am outraged. The outrage of the people of this community, most of Maine, andmuch of this country. Not simply at Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero’s death and the suffering his family endures today, but at the callous and unregulated show of force by federal agents in cities across the country that is all too often creating situations that put people in danger in all neighborhoods, in every state.

I am not here to comment on the facts surrounding this tragedy. I have full confidence that the Office of the Maine Attorney General, led by Attorney General Aaron Frey, will complete a thorough investigation into the facts of this tragedy and report them to the public.

I have met with Mayor LaFountain, Speaker of the House Fecteau, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero’s family represented by the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, Biddeford Representatives Traci Gere and Marc Malon, and Biddeford Senator Henry Ingwersen. 

I believe that the City of Biddeford is doing everything it can to support its community – a community where a hundred fifty years agoimmigrants from Ireland and Canada, and, later, Greece, Italy and France, came to work and raise their families, and where new Mainers now work and look to find peace and opportunity here in our state.

I have also directed Maine’s Office of New Americans to conduct meetings in communities, including this one, to hear from those who may feel less safe because of federal immigration operations based on questionable numerical goals and political gamesmanship that are unrelated to public safety.

The people of Maine — like people across the country — do not want to live in fear in their own communities. They do not want to see their loved ones and peace-abiding neighbors struck down by federal agents. 

They do want to see qualified law enforcement agents cracking down on human trafficking, labor violations and illegal drug dealing. 

But they do not want federal agents roaming peaceful neighborhoods and stopping people for noncriminal behavior, stopping them based on the color of their skin, their accent, their ethnic origin or their status as a foreign born individual. 

Here in Maine, we know what good law enforcement looks like. We are not against law enforcement. 

Here, members of law enforcement are held to high professional standards, they undergo substantial professional training – 18 weeks minimumat the Criminal Justice Academy – they are accountable to the law and — I can tell you this — they don't arrest people in order to fill quotas or to respond to a political agenda.  And, by the way, our state boasts of one of the lowest crime rates in the country. 

But, earlier this year, while conducting an "enhanced" enforcement operation in Maine, ICE actually arrested two Maine corrections officers, people who themselves are enforcing the law and keeping us safe, and they targeted a nurse and a civil engineer, among other people who were productive members of our community with no criminal history. 

The unfairness of that operation, and its disruptive influence not only on the peace of our communities but on the stability of our workforce – in the construction, transportation, healthcare, food processing, retail and hospitality sectors – are a major reason why the Maine State Chamber of Commerce complained to Congress that ICE’s aggressive actions were hurting our economy. They called on Congress to require reform,restraint and greater professionalism in the agency.

At that time I suggested the following specific reforms with respect to ICE: 1) prohibit agents from wearing masks; 2) require agents to identify themselves by voice and appearance; 3) mandate the wearing of body cameras; 4) provide much greater professional training; 5) pursue civil and criminal liability for abuses of power; and 6) require valid judicial warrants for arrests, among other measures.

That did not happen.

Congress rejected many meaningful oversight measures. 

Emboldened by Congress’ failure to act and a Supreme Court ruling that allows the deportation of noncriminals who are escaping violence and disaster in war-torn countries, the Trump Administration merely escalated ICE’s tactics.

There are reports that the Trump Administration is now trying to equip agents with electric shock gloves, yet another way to inflict fear and pain; and it appears that the Administration is deploying ICE agents to airports, with at least five people having been arrested at the Portland Jetport just recently, including a highly valued nurse at Maine Medical Center.

Congress must send the clear and unmistakable message that these tactics are not just morally wrong, they also imperil the safety and thesecurity of every person who calls this country home.

Following the death of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, I wrote to our delegation to urge Congress not simply to share our grief, or expressconcern or condolences, but to hold ICE accountable, to require all federal law enforcement agencies to respect the rule of law and honor our collective security.

Today again I call on Congress to reign in ICE, an objective that many of you share. 

Because: 

• Before more families are robbed of a loved one, this violence has to end.
• Before one more community is robbed of its peace and security, this has to end.
• Before more gunshots shatter another windshield, steal another person's life and fracture the freedom of all who seek peace, this has to end.
• Before the fragile American dream that was memorialized on hopeful parchment two and a half centuries ago is altogether abandoned, this has to end. 

And if ICE cannot be reined in and fundamentally reformed, then it is time to abolish it.

Thank you.

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