TESTIMONY FOR LD 2016
LD 2106: An Act to Prohibit the Disclosure of Nonpublic Records Without Proper Judicial Review
Assigned Committee: Joint Committee on the Judiciary
Public hearing date: January 29th, 2026
Maine Green Independent Party urges the Judiciary Committee to vote Ought to Pass (OTP) on LD 2106
Good afternoon Chairs Sen. Anne Carney, Rep. Kuhn, and honored members of the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary.
My name is Kelly Merrill and am testifying in my capacity as the Co-Chair to the Maine Green Independent Party, which represents 37K members statewide. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of emergency measure LD 2106, the Sensitive Spaces bill.
We recognize ICE as a rogue agency that has engaged in an illegal campaign of terror and racial profiling against communities across the country. Black, Brown, and Indigenous citizens, tribal members, and citizens alike are being abducted from jobsites, daycares, hospitals, restaurants, vehicles, and courthouses. And those who voice opposition to these crimes are being labeled domestic terrorists and shot dead in the street for documenting. The whole country is experiencing collective trauma because of the terror.
This is an emboldened, brutal paramilitary force without training or discipline that has wreaked havoc and is bent on ripping families apart.
The Sensitive Spaces bill would be one measure to ensure that ICE has engaged in a modicum of due process, punctuating and clarifying the unequivocable need for a signed judicial warrant. Families and children are supposed must feel safe to receive medical care and education without terror. This is essential for the protection of all those who reside in the US, including US citizens.
LD 2106 would prevent ICE from accessing the most sensitive spaces of our society without cause, ensuring that public libraries, healthcare facilities, pre-schools and other educational facilities cannot be targeted by the rogue actions of the Administration’s occupying force that has proven itself indiscriminate, violent, and lethal. This is a matter of safety in the public’s interest.
During the past year, we have sustained assaults on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 10th amendments. Our Republic is in danger of collapsing.
Protect the people.
We urge this committee vote ought to pass on LD 2106.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly F. Merrill
Co-Chair, Maine Green Independent Party
Comments are closed