In a controversial move, on November 20, 2025, Maine lawmakers reportedly refused to consider a bill that would prevent on-duty law enforcement officers, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), from wearing face coverings while on the job.
The bill, presented by Democratic Representative Grayson Lookner, was titled LR2591. According to The Maine Campus, the official Maine State Legislature report defined it as “An act to increase accountability of law enforcement by prohibiting the use of masks that conceal the identities of law enforcement officers.”
According to Bangor Daily News, a 6-3 vote by the panel resulted in the rejection of the proposal. Those who voted in favor of the bill included House Majority Leader Matt Moonen, D-Portland, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Jill Duson, D-Portland, and Assistant House Majority Leader Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford, Senate President Mattie Daughtry of Brunswick, and Senate Majority Leader Teresa Pierce of Falmouth (Democrats), as well as Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart of Presque Isle, Assistant Senate Minority Leader Matt Harrington of Sanford, and Assistant House Minority Leader Katrina Smith of Palermo (Republicans) stood against it.
According to U.S. News, agents are barred from showing up at private spaces such as dormitories without a judicial warrant. However, they are allowed to enter college campuses. Following the lawmakers’ decision to reject the bill, the University of Maine’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) protested ICE activity on November 21, 2025. Several other students also criticized officials for the decision.
Speaking about the controversial decision, Mo Drammeh, a third-year student, and member of SDS, told The Maine Campus, “I see the decision to reject LR 2591 as a failure which, unfortunately, like many decisions made by our leadership on both the university and state level, are unnecessary and irresponsible capitulations which leave our immigrant communities uniquely vulnerable to extrajudicial persecution and violence.”
The student added, “Once again, ICE is permitted to act without even the veneer of accountability to a degree no similar agency does, and we’ve seen the consequences locally and nationwide.” Highlighting instances where the agency acted without accountability, Drammeh pointed to local and national situations where several college students were deported from Maine.
“The deportation of children like Estefania and Joel Andre in Portland, the targeting of political protestors such as Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia and Rümeysa Öztürk at Tufts, and ICE’s deadliest year since the early 2000’s for those in their custody,” Drammeh cited, adding, “To understand that ICE shouldn’t be allowed to govern itself, one only needs to observe the outcome when it is.”
While the SDS member acknowledged that officers sometimes need to protect their identity for valid reasons, Drammeh added that the agency’s face-covering masks are often unconventional. “It is true that federal agencies sometimes utilize identity protection for what might be considered legitimate reasons. However, we have seen the way ICE uses identity protection; that being as a baseline element of nearly all their operations as it pertains to these raids. Local police don’t wear masks; campus police don’t wear masks. Regular law enforcement activity does not necessitate the obscuration of one’s identity. One only hides their identity in the way ICE does if, of course, they have something to hide,” said Drammeh.
✔️ My motion with @LindseyPHorvath to ban ICE and other law enforcement agencies from wearing masks and concealing their identities has been APPROVED.
We cannot have secret police terrorizing our communities. If this law means a fight in court—I think it’s a fight worth having. pic.twitter.com/wk81IWAg15
— Janice Hahn (@SupJaniceHahn) December 2, 2025
Revealing why the agents often obscure their identities behind face-masks, Drammeh alleged, “ICE agents hide their identity during these raids because their activities are, indeed, quite irregular, in addition to being morally reprehensible and deleterious to the health of any community, and they, knowing this, deliberately avoid being held accountable by the law or by society for the damage they do. They hide their identities not to pursue justice, but to obstruct it at every turn.”
