The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to drop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from its contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to hold federal detainees at Cumberland County Jail.

The board voted 3-1 to drop ICE from the agreement roughly eight months after dozens of constituents began showing up to commission meetings to advocate for such a move.

The decision also comes about three months after the Department of Homeland Security pulled its prisoners out of the jail. That was in the wake of Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce referring to ICE’s arrest of a corrections officer during the January surge in Maine as “bush-league policing.” DHS officials also cited the county’s decision to hire an “illegal alien” in the first place, though Joyce had said the correction officer’s record was “squeaky clean.”

Dozens of people have lined up during public comment periods at meetings since August, calling for the board to end its arrangement with ICE. There were pre-meeting protests on some occasions, and multiple commissioners noted Tuesday that, prior to the issue arising, it was rare for even a handful of constituents to attend the board’s meetings.

“I’m sorry it took so long,” Commissioner Jean-Marie Caterina said, crediting members of the public for showing up to voice their concerns “time after time.”

Commission Chair Patricia Smith also praised the public for their relentlessness and said she hopes their decision Tuesday could begin mending any distrust between the public and the county.

“I’m glad tonight is here, and I feel like we have just one small piece of democracy that we can pull back tonight for ourselves,” Smith said ahead of the vote.

The jail’s federal contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, which pays the jail $150 per day for each federal inmate held at the facility, includes those held for ICE.

The commission appeared poised to take action last fall, but ultimately punted. At that time, ICE was holding over 60 of its detainees at Cumberland County Jail.

Commissioner James Cloutier said he believes taking the time they did to come to a decision wound up being for the best, as more people have become aware “of what the evil is that is being perpetrated on the American citizens” as ICE activity ramped up in Maine and across the country.

He noted that many of those being held by immigration officials at Cumberland County Jail did not reside in Maine, while “Maine people were being shipped out of state.”

“Originally we thought, ‘Well, maybe we should try to keep people in southern Maine … they could have access to legal aid operations,'” Cloutier said. “But investigation ultimately showed that’s not what’s going to happen.”

Commissioner Stephen Gorden, the sole member of the commission to vote against the measure, said the action does not prevent ICE from holding detainees at the jail because of a state mandate.

“I wish to express my total respect for my fellow commissioners and the public who have deep feelings about this issue, and I’m in agreement that the actions of ICE are morally wrong and must cease,” Gorden said Tuesday. “However, as I understand it, this action being considered now will only prevent the county from being reimbursed for any ICE detainees housed in our jail, not prevent the detention of all ICE prisoners.”

“Our county not only won’t be reimbursed but will also be required to fund those housing costs,” Gorden later said. “Regardless, due to state mandate, ICE may continue to detain prisoners in our jail.”

Some other county officials have raised that point at prior meetings, noting state law and the Maine Department of Corrections do not allow county jails to turn away a law enforcement agency that needs to detain someone it has arrested.

However, the Legislature recently passed a measure that would give county and municipal jails an out. LD 2058, signed by Gov. Janet Mills earlier this month, amends the law to say that jails must be available to state and federal law enforcement “unless the persons are detained solely for a civil violation of federal immigration laws.”

Some say that even if ICE technically were allowed to keep holding detainees at the jail, they wouldn’t want their money anyway.

Presente! Maine, one of many organizations to speak out on the issue, said in a Wednesday news release that the vote “should have happened months ago.”

“We must ensure that our policies, laws, and budgets align with our values and what we will allow — not the other way around,” the organization stated. “Detaining immigrants should never be a revenue source for our communities. Profiting from family separation and community destruction is unacceptable.”