Bar Harbor Petition Would Define Town’s Relationship With ICE.
Jun 17, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.
BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor has received a new citizens’ petition. This time it’s not about cruise ships or marijuana retail, but about prohibiting any potential town officials’ relationship with federal immigration enforcement, ICE.
The petition proposes an ordinance to define boundaries to any possible, future interactions.
The Town Council officially received the town clerk’s certificate of sufficiency, June 16, and set a public hearing for July 7.
The petition was brought forward by John O’Brien, Tammy Richards, Gail Leiser, Phil Cole Worden, and Dr. Bethany Dumont. They’d collected more than 310 signatures.
For a citizens’ initiative to move forward, the petitioners must collect 10 percent of the Bar Harbor votes cast in the last gubernatorial election.
“The purpose of the initiative-ordinance effort is to ensure the durability of the provisions of the state law as well as those additional provisions of your order. Also, we want to build on those restrictions and clarifications, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, to address what we and ACLU of Maine consider to be shortcomings,” O’Brien told councilors, June 16.
The three-page document states that it is “an amendment to the Town’s Code to protect the role of town officials, to expressly enforce the obligation of non-participation in federal immigration enforcement actions and thereby maintain the trust and support of the local community.”
It specifies that no town employee can assist, cooperate with, use town funds or resources to help “any federal agency in any immigration enforcement operation, except where legally required to do so by state or federal law or court order.”
It also specifies that employees or departments can’t allow any town facilities be used for immigration enforcement.
The proposed ordinance states that no town employees or departments can provide information for immigration operations, investigate or interrogate anyone for an immigration enforcement operation, or establish traffic perimeters during an operation.
It also says that Bar Harbor employees or departments can’t enter any contracts that would grant ICE enforcement authority to a town department/employees, or authorize the transfer or detention of someone for immigration enforcement.
It has some exceptions for investigations of human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, or firearms trafficking.
In a June 12 letter, Town Manager James Smith explained that the town received legal opinion about the proposed change’s legal sufficiency and if it conflicted with the town charter or applicable state and federal law.
“The town attorney concluded that the proposed ordinance is legally sufficient to proceed through the initiative process and does not present an obvious conflict with the charter that would render it invalid on its face. This opinion addresses legal sufficiency only and should not be interpreted as a recommendation regarding the policy merits of the proposal,” Smith wrote.
According to Smith, the June 16 meeting wasn’t about the merits of the initiative, nor could the Council change the contents of it.
“Following the public hearing, the Council may either adopt the ordinance as submitted or refer it to the voters for consideration. If adopted by the Council, the ordinance would become municipal law and remain subject to the Council’s future authority to amend or repeal it through the normal legislative process. If referred to the voters, the Council would have the opportunity to discuss the proposal and make a recommendation prior to the town meeting vote. Town staff would also prepare the explanatory materials required for the ballot question and administer the election process,” he explained in his letter.
Bar Harbor and Mount Desert have both previously declared sanctuary status.
In 2017, after a citizens’ petition, Mount Desert voters declared 101-59 that the town would be a “sanctuary community.” The non-binding resolution hoped to “protect the independence of our local law enforcement by refusing to require police or town employees to serve as enforcers of federal immigration law.”
It was the first town in Maine to do so.
That same year, Bar Harbor residents voted 351-62 to support declaring that town a sanctuary community.
In April 2026, the Bar Harbor Town Council affirmed the town’s policy regarding immigration.
“I know what a difficult and challenging decision this has been for all of you folks,” John O’Brien said at the April 2026 meeting. “I want to thank you very much for your willingness to meet with us, talk with us, work with us, and we’re so pleased by the action you’ve taken tonight. Thank you.”
The affirmation came after multiple meetings with citizens concerned about potential interactions between the town’s police department, staff, and federal immigration enforcement, commonly known as ICE.
The order also came before the enactment of State law, LD 1971, which is meant to clarify the relationship between local law authorities and federal immigration officials and will be enacted in 90 days after April 15.
Maine Legislature passed LD 1971 in June 2025.
“We have been informed that these are restrictions already observed in the administrative policy of the town. But, why not go a step further? Why not enshrine that policy in law, now? Why not follow Bangor’s lead and approve an early implementation of 1971 by way of an order?” John O’Brien had asked at a March Town Council meeting.
The state law is meant to clarify how local and state law enforcement agencies interact with federal civil immigration engagements and prohibits state and local law enforcement from performing the investigation, interrogation, detention, detection, stopping, searching or arresting “a person for [civil] immigration enforcement purposes.”
“During Council meeting of April 21 of this year, Council had the foresight to approve an order calling for the immediate implementation of the new state law clarifying and restricting the relationship between federal immigration enforcement and local law enforcement,” O’Brien said, June 16.
“This was an important event in the political life of our town as it confirmed the humanitarian sentiment of our citizen’s resolution of 10 years ago, giving it the force of law. The order went further than the state law, though, by stipulating inclusion of town resources and personnel in the state restrictions. Further, the order stipulates that work be started toward the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure town resources and personnel are used in a manner consistent with the law,” O’Brien continued.
He said the group has been working on its initiative ordinance petition since April.
“In the next few weeks, some of us will request the opportunity to meet with you individually and explain clearly what we consider to be the law’s limitations and how we think they ought to be addressed,” O’Brien told the councilors.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To read the ordinance and review the Council packet.
Some Residents Continue To Push Bar Harbor to Codify Restrictions on ICE Cooperation
Bar Harbor Residents Push to Block Potential Local Cooperation With ICE
What Does Sanctuary Status Really Mean for Local Towns?
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