Ella D. Tabasky lives in Brunswick.

On Monday, Sept. 29, I attended a work session of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners on the “rights, rules and requirements for housing ICE prisoners” at the Cumberland County Jail. 

This meeting was called in response to months of tireless organizing and public outcry, spearheaded by the No ICE for ME coalition, which has urged the county to end its contract with the federal government, allowing the jail to serve as a holding facility for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The commissioners heard from District Attorney Jackie Sartoris about the impact that ICE activities are having on her office and the community. She highlighted that many victims that her office works with are reluctant to cooperate due to fear of ICE, which puts public safety at risk. 

She called President Trump’s campaign rhetoric about violent criminals a bait-and-switch, noting that 93% of individuals arrested by ICE have no convictions for violent crimes, and emphasized that most of those targeted by ICE do not pose a threat to Cumberland County.

A lawyer and organizer from No ICE for ME presented an analysis questioning the legality of current arrangements, acknowledging the importance of adhering to the rule of law while emphasizing the critical need to take a stand against the unjust and immoral activities of ICE.

We heard powerful testimony from community members affected by ICE’s actions, including the co-director of Presente!, a representative for displaced Indigenous and Afro-Latinx people in Maine, a Deering High School social worker and soccer coach and the executive director of the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, a network of over 100 organizations advocating for immigrant inclusion in the state.

Their message was clear: collaboration with ICE is a source of trauma, fear and systemic harm to children, families and members of our community.

But before anyone spoke, the chair opened the meeting by urging everyone in the room to “respect differing opinions” on the issue at hand. I was appalled.

There are times when agreeing to disagree in civic discourse is productive, but this is not one of them. My opposition to this ICE contract, and to our cruel system of deportation, is deeply personal. I am Jewish and the daughter of a Holocaust educator. 

From a young age, I was taught not only about the murder of 6 million Jews, but about how it began: with dehumanization, laws that made cruelty look legitimate and neighbors who stayed silent or disagreed politely.

I was also taught to remember that the Holocaust did not only target Jews. Millions of others were persecuted and killed, disappeared by a regime that used deception and propaganda to justify violence and normalize cruelty. 

So when I hear officials invoke civility in the face of institutional violence and call for mutual respect while people are torn from their families, I see history repeating itself. 

Jewish tradition commands us to pursue justice. The Torah says, “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” which translates to, “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” We have an obligation to protect life (pikuach nefesh), to resist cruelty and to stand in solidarity with those who are vulnerable and under attack.

Having recently observed Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, I found myself reflecting deeply on my personal actions and the events unfolding around the world. As I remember the atrocities committed against the Jewish people and the millions of others who suffered under the Nazi regime, I recommit to resisting any system that dehumanizes others in the name of law and order.

On Oct. 20, the Cumberland County Commissioners are expected to vote on whether to continue the county’s contract with ICE. I urge members of the public to show up, speak out and demand an end to this dangerous and dehumanizing arrangement.

If our leaders choose to uphold a system aligned with authoritarian violence, they must do so in full view of a community that refuses to look away.