Last week, in responding to a fire, the Ellsworth Fire and Police Departments apparently inquired about the immigration status of the Latinos at the scene and learned that they were undocumented. Immigration officials were called, and the 15 immigrants are now in deportation proceedings.

While this fire fortunately did not result in injury, nonetheless, it will have a lasting impact on the immigrants that Maine counts on to rake our blueberries, process our seafood products, plant our pine tree seedlings, and make our Christmas wreaths.

The primary function of local fire and police officials is to protect the public safety of the communities they serve. To do their jobs, they must have the trust of those living in their communities, whom they depend on to report fires or crimes, and to come forward as witnesses.

As a result of last week’s actions by the Ellsworth Fire and Police Departments, an important segment of Maine’s Down East population, immigrant workers, now have reason to fear the very officials whose mission it is to keep them safe. The word is now out – if you call the fire department or if you need the help of police, and if you are Latino, you may find yourself in the hands of Immigration officials.

The flip side of that message is: If you’re a Latino, don’t report crimes; try to put out fires yourself. This message was compounded last week when the Latino occupants of a vehicle hit by an allegedly drunken driver in Harrington were also turned over to Immigration officials by the state police officer who arrived at the scene.

Maine, like every state in the country, has undocumented immigrants living and working in its midst. At the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP), we are acutely aware of the reasons that they are here. Outdated and punitive immigration laws don’t provide enough temporary visas in a timely fashion for people to come and work legally, even when there are employers who desperately need their labor. Immigrants who are immediate family members of U.S. citizens or permanent residents find themselves unable to obtain immigrant visas for five to 10 years or more as a result of long waiting lists and harsh legal requirements that do not prioritize keeping families together.

Many ILAP clients are unable to apply for their legal residency because their U.S. citizen relatives earn less than 125 percent of the annual poverty guidelines and immigration laws prevent noncitizen family members of poor U.S. citizens from immigrating – even when the noncitizen is capable of working full-time and could help lift the family out of poverty. ILAP also deals each year with dozens of immigrant victims of domestic violence who are undocumented because, as a means of controlling them, their abusive U.S. citizen spouses refuse to file the paperwork through which their victims would have legal status. Abusers routinely tell their victims that if they call the police, they’ll end up being deported (even if they have U.S. citizen children), and when local law enforcement officials contact Immigration, those threats certainly gain credibility.

Police departments across the country from localities with high immigrant populations understand that local enforcement of federal immigration laws compromises their ability to fight crime and to ensure public safety in their communities.

In June, 2006 the Major Cities Chiefs Association stated that if an “immigrant’s primary concern is that they will be deported or subject to an immigration status investigation, then they will not come forward and provide needed assistance and cooperation. Distrust and fear of contacting or assisting the police would develop among legal immigrants as well. Undoubtedly, legal immigrants would avoid contact with the police for fear that they themselves or undocumented family members or friends may become subject to immigration enforcement. Without assurances that contact with the police would not result in purely civil immigration enforcement action, the hard-won trust, communication and cooperation from the immigrant community would disappear. Such a divide between the local police and immigrant groups would result in increased crime against immigrants and in the broader community, create a class of silent victims, and eliminate the potential for assistance from immigrants in solving crimes or preventing future terroristic acts.”

The immigrants caught up in the Ellsworth and Harrington incidents came to the United States for the same reason that immigrants have been coming to the United States for centuries. They believed in America as a land of opportunity, where those who are willing to work hard can make a better life for themselves and their families. But until we have fair and humane immigration laws that make it possible for workers and family members to more easily gain legal status, there will be undocumented people in this state.

And unless and until local public safety officials in Down East Maine and throughout the state make it clear that they have no interest in a person’s immigration status unless that person is accused of committing a crime, immigrants will be afraid of those whose mission it is to protect our public safety and welfare, and all of us will be less safe.

Beth Stickney is an immigration lawyer and executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Portland. Her e-mail address is bstickney@ilapmaine.org.