📰BIDDEFORD | ICE & Mayoral Candidates Don’t See Eye to Eye

📰BIDDEFORD | ICE & Mayoral Candidates Don’t See Eye to Eye

“What action will you take to protect the safety, dignity, and the rights of the residents of Biddeford if the federal government conducts raids and or actions against community members such as the actions we've seen take place in other cities?”

Left to right: Martin Grohman, Liam Lafountain, and Norman Belanger

October 10, 2025, This evening a debate was held in the City of Biddeford between the 3 individuals running to serve as the City’s next Mayor. The debate took place at the Biddeford High School and was attended by members of the community, city staff, current and past city councilors, the Biddeford Chief of Police, and others.

The evening covered an array of topics and questions submitted both by the community as well as the panelists (Biddeford Gazette, Saco Bay News, and Portland Press Herald). The debate was moderated by Craig Pendleton, the former executive director of the Biddeford+Saco Chamber of Commerce+Industry.

About 30 minutes into the debate, Sydney Richelieu, a staff writer for the Portland Press Herald, asked a community submitted question to the candidates pertaining to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and ICE raids.

The first of the 3 mayoral candidates asked to respond was Ward 6 Councilor Norman Belanger, followed by Ward 7 Council President Liam Lafountain, and then finally current Mayor Martin Grohman.

“What action will you take to protect the safety, dignity, and the rights of the residents of Biddeford if the federal government conducts raids and or actions against community members such as the actions we've seen take place in other cities?”

-PLEASE WATCH THE FULL VIDEO TO HEAR EACH OF THE CANDIDATES FULL RESPONSE. BELOW ARE QUOTES FROM THEIR REPLIES.-

VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1E5Lw3tsnn/

With that being said, all three of the candidates expressed a desire to not cooperate with ICE.

Norman Belanger stated “I would not be supportive of ICE coming in and hijacking our police officers and requiring them to assist them... I don't believe we should be assisting what looks like gestapo type tactics.”

Liam Lafountain expressed a desire to “...make sure that our police department doesn't sign any agreements with ice like they did in the town of Wells... Our police department should be focused on public safety within our city. “

Lastly, Martin Grohman, like his fellow candidates, stated “...I too would not support an agreement with ICE. I've actually been personally involved and written a letter of endorsement for a local detainee…”

The takeaway - We don’t know who the next Mayor of Biddeford is going to be, but we do know that whoever it is out of the three candidates, none of them support or have a desire to cooperate with ICE and their current actions.