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Thursday August 21, 2025
When Portland’s Values Are on the Line, So Am I
Portland, Maine – August 2025
Last night, the Portland City Council met in executive session to confront yet another assault on local government from a federal administration that has already moved to defund food assistance, education, and healthcare, and now seeks to tie federal transportation infrastructure grant funds to political obedience. This wasn’t just about money to maintain our airport infrastructure. It was about whether cities like Portland will be forced into complicity with federal immigration enforcement.
The Department of Transportation has told us: if you want this grant for the Jetport, you must “cooperate” with and “not interfere with” ICE. The documents arrived electronically, with no opportunity to clarify the meaning or negotiate the terms. There was no discussion. Just a choice: sign, or lose the money.
Some of my colleagues believe signing this agreement keeps us in the legal fight. It’s true that Maine has joined a multi-state lawsuit challenging this coercive provision, and for now, a federal injunction blocks its enforcement. I respect that view.
But I believe that if staying in the fight means compromising our values, we’ve already lost. These are impossible decisions we are faced with, but I believe it is a mistake to accept terms that directly challenge our city’s autonomy without so much as a public conversation about it.
I also want to be very clear about something that is often missed in news reports: Portland follows the law. We will continue to follow the law. We comply with judicial warrants, and we do not obstruct lawful enforcement. But we also know that ICE agents do not need warrants to access public spaces, and that many people are unaware of their rights. We must ensure that the limits of federal power are understood and upheld, and that there is no further erosion of our right to self governance. Silence, confusion, and passive cooperation only makes their reach stronger.
The Tenth Amendment exists to ensure that cities and states have the right to govern themselves. That right is now under attack all over this country. Right here in Portland, masked agents are removing people from our streets without explanation. ICE vans arrive and depart without notice. Our community is left to wonder: who’s next? And now we are being told to step aside.
The courts, once imagined as guardians of constitutional balance, have too often sided against local self-determination when it matters most. We cannot count on them to save us. We must act ourselves.
Here’s how:
- Expand local protections: Strengthen Portland’s existing limits on city resources being used for federal civil immigration enforcement unless supported by a judicial warrant.
- Advance a Visibility Ordinance: Require federal agents operating in Portland to clearly identify themselves and prohibit masked or anonymous immigration enforcement unless an imminent public safety threat exists.
- Create safeguards in contracts: Ensure transparency in federal grant agreements, so no future provision can quietly deputize the city without the public’s knowledge.
- Stand together: Join Boston and other cities in a public, united resolution to affirm our right to local self-governance and demand an end to federal overreach.
I didn’t choose this fight. But I will not walk away from it.
I stand with Boston. I stand with sanctuary cities across the country. And I stand with my neighbors in Portland.
ksykes@portlandmaine.gov 207-558-5764
Notice: Under Maine law, documents – including e-mails and text messages – in the possession of public officials or city employees about government business may be classified as public records. There are very few exceptions. As a result, please be advised that what is written in a text message or e-mail could be released to the public and/or the media if requested.
Kate Sykes for District Five 