Bangor-area faith and community leaders are pushing back against plans for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to build a facility in Newport.

A letter signed by 11 reverends and several heads of area community and cultural organizations was to be delivered to Bangor attorney Charles Cox on Thursday, requesting that he not rent the Newport property to ICE.

“As community leaders, we appeal to your conscience and ask you to reconsider your decision to host an agency that threatens the neighbors we are called to love,” the letter states.

Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, wrote in a Facebook post last week that a “new facility will soon be under construction” where the Newport District Courthouse was located in a building at 12 Water St.

The court system hasn’t operated there for more than a year because of mold in the building and its lease has expired. Cox has since obtained permits to address the mold issues, according to town officials.

Cox could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

Spokespeople for ICE declined to confirm plans for a facility in Newport to the Portland Press Herald earlier this week and declined again on Thursday, citing the safety of its officers.

“We feel strongly that aiding ICE abets a clear and present danger to our most vulnerable neighbors, especially people of color, refugees, Muslims and migrant workers,” the letter states. “ICE has lost the trust of the legal system and the vast majority of US citizens because of the atrocities they commit against citizens, legal residents, and immigrants who are doing their best to comply with immigration law.”

The letter cites numerous examples, including the killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, the monthslong detention of Portland’s Olivia Andre and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. It also references reports of undertrained ICE agents, inhumane conditions at detention centers, and that the majority of those arrested by ICE in Maine this summer having no criminal convictions.

“As an attorney, we are sure you believe in due process, the rights of the accused, and the importance of trust and transparency to the functioning of law enforcement and our judicial system,” the letter states. “We are calling on you to take a stand on your beliefs and deny ICE an outpost in our community. … We do not want their chaos, wanton cruelty and craven flouting of the rule of law in our community.”