Maine leaders are divided on the appropriateness of text messages that were sent among local police officials and an immigration agent during a surge of enforcement in January.

Some say the communications revealed Thursday are normal and a necessary part of public safety, and that they indicate the police departments upheld their pledges to not cooperate on immigration enforcement.

Others say they’re concerned by the existence of the messages — and the tone of some that convey supportiveness and congratulations for immigration enforcement.

The messages, obtained by the Portland Press Herald via a public records request, show police leaders in Portland and South Portland talked in a group chat with a Department of Homeland Security special agent from Jan. 21-26 and collaborated to keep immigration agents safe when DHS brought additional personnel to the state.

The texts also indicate that police officials knew several days before many local leaders and the public when at least some federal agents planned to leave Maine.

NO COOPERATION ON ENFORCEMENT

Several officials in Portland and South Portland said Friday that the messages show no local collaboration to detain immigrants.

A written statement from South Portland Mayor Elyse Tipton said in part, “A critical overall aspect of the recent (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) surge is that South Portland police complied with our City’s directive not to cooperate on immigration enforcement.”

Daniel Ahern, the city’s police chief, who was part of the text chat, has said his agency would continue to not collaborate on immigration enforcement, and that he values his department’s positive working relationship with federal agents.

Much of the content of the texts focused on managing protests and security at a Portland hotel where immigration agents were staying. Portland police Chief Mark Dubois said in a statement Friday that his department would’ve provided the same support to anyone and will continue to comply with city rules banning police from participating in immigration enforcement.

Portland Mayor Mark Dion said he was satisfied with Dubois’ response and that the city attorney’s review of the texts found no violation of the city’s ordinance on assisting ICE operations.

‘NORMAL’ COMMUNICATION

It’s typical for federal agencies to be in touch with local police but to not share details of their operations, as seems to be the case here, said Jonathan Chapman, who teaches criminal law at the University of Maine School of Law.

“The feds tend to share just general time and place information,” he said, “in order that the locals can make appropriate plans and avoid unwittingly getting in the middle of the federal operation. That is basic law enforcement deconfliction.”

Blake Kernen, a spokeswoman for Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said “law enforcement must communicate and coordinate confidentially” to keep their operations safe and effective.

State Rep. Donald Ardell, R-Monticello, a former federal agent and investigator for Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration, described the messages as “unremarkable” and “a window into normal federal and municipal law enforcement professional coordination.”

Ardell said the increased immigration enforcement in Maine was necessary, and that municipal police cooperation around protests “was also necessary, and that coordination was effective.”

He’s concerned about a new law that will limit local law enforcement’s ability to collaborate with federal immigration authorities, saying it will “fracture those professional relationships and disrupt normal enforcement coordination, creating a less safe Maine.”

But some local officials who were satisfied there was no collaboration on immigration enforcement were still concerned about some aspects of the messages involving Ahern and Portland police Maj. Jason King.

“The need to collaborate with neighboring municipal police forces is understandable,” Portland City Councilor Anna Bullett said in a statement. “That said, I am dismayed by Major King’s decision to communicate with federal employees in a casual manner.”

She plans to ask Dubois, the chief, to answer questions about the messages at a meeting in April.

“Police officers hold extraordinary authority in our society,” Portland City Councilor Kate Sykes said, “and with that authority comes a heightened responsibility to model professionalism, especially when other agencies do not.”

Sykes called on local institutions to have “respect for the full diversity of the community they are sworn to protect.”

Tipton said she understands why South Portland residents might be disappointed that Ahern participated in the text thread. She criticized the tone of messages sent to the police officials by Homeland Security Special Agent Jeffrey Larocque, who echoed President Donald Trump’s past remarks in saying that detainees should be sent back to “shithole countries.”

“While I don’t stand in judgment of how a busy law enforcement officer quickly texts a colleague for information, I do regret the missed opportunity to push back on the ICE officer’s unequivocally racist remarks and reinforce that those remarks are not in keeping with the law enforcement culture of South Portland,” Tipton said.

CONCERNS PERSIST

Some politicians went further. Portland City Councilor Wes Pelletier, who has called for abolishing ICE, said in a statement that he believes the text messages show that he and other members of City Council were “lied to” about a lack of police communication with ICE.

“It’s unacceptable that city employees are thanking federal agents for abducting people they’re tasked with protecting,” Pelletier said.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, said the messages strengthen her opposition to funding the Department of Homeland Security. DHS has been partially shut down for a month due to a funding dispute in Congress, though work deemed essential, including enforcement operations, has continued.

In a written statement, Pingree said the texts “paint a disturbing picture of the toxic culture and moral rot at the core of the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security.

“They confirm what many people already feared: that federal immigration enforcement agents view the communities they operate in with contempt and have little regard for the dignity and humanity of the people they are supposed to treat fairly under the law.”

Asked for comment Friday, staff for Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, pointed to past statements where King sought more information about the scope of ICE’s enforcement operation in Maine — which he still has not received — and called for more guardrails on ICE, including requiring judicial warrants for searches and using body cameras and identification on the streets.

A spokesperson for Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

MIXED REACTION IN THE COMMUNITY

South Portland resident Alex Redfield said in an interview that while police officials were texting with the federal agent in January, he and his neighbors were setting up an aid network for people who were sheltering in place out of fear of ICE activity.

He understands that it was a difficult time to verify and share information, but he feels disappointed in South Portland officials who knew about the conversations and when some agents planned to leave Maine.

“That’s what sort of stung about this particular channel of communication with the police department,” Redfield said.

He said if the police department knew about any of ICE’s plans, including when agents were in town or planned to leave, “maybe somebody would’ve gone to work that next day … or maybe they would’ve sent their kids to school.”

Other community members who contacted the Press Herald on Friday but did not want to be quoted directly expressed gratitude that immigrants were taken into custody, and that local law enforcement provided certain assistance to try to ensure no U.S. citizens were seriously hurt in Maine — like the two protesters killed in Minnesota during a concurrent, much larger immigration enforcement operation.

END OF THE SURGE

Tipton, the South Portland mayor, also responded to the disappointment expressed by Redfield and some other residents about the lack of communication with the community about the end of DHS’s surge operation.

Tipton confirmed that Ahern alerted the city manager when he found out via text that the Homeland Security special agent planned to leave Maine.

“Some of us then passed that message along informally to community members who were supporting residents who were frightened and hiding in their homes,” Tipton said Friday. “But we did not issue an official statement because we did not have confirmation from federal authorities, and it would have been irresponsible — and potentially harmful to those residents most impacted by the surge — to present incomplete information as official.”

Staff Writer Andrew Rice contributed to this report.