Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued the following statement regarding the Attorney General’s response to the US Justice Department’s demand that Maine reverse its confidential plate policy.

“When ICE asked for confidential license plates, I said no.  We don’t have secret police in a democracy and covert civil immigration enforcement is not something Maine will facilitate.  If the DOJ wants to sue us over that, we’ll see them in court.  And we will win just like we did yesterday.”

AG Aaron M. Frey wrote a letter today in response to the DOJ’s Civil Division demand dated May 12, described above by Secretary Bellows.  In the l l/2 page letter to Attorney Brett A. Shumate, among other facts, AG Frey said that the state’s policy is “neither disriminatory nor unlawful.’

Secretary Bellows is a candidate for Governor of Maine to replace Governor Janet T. Mills.