Maine’s Democratic governor and Republican senator offered divergent responses Friday to an immigration sweep that has detained dozens of people across the state this week. Gov. Janet Mills demanded that federal immigration officials provide judicial warrants and real-time arrest data, while Sen. Susan Collins said the protests being organized should avoid interfering with law enforcement operations.
The divergence reflects the high-stakes nature of the race between them—Mills is challenging Collins’ Senate seat—as well as fundamental disagreement over how immigration enforcement should operate. Mills, termed out as governor, must first win a Democratic primary against oyster farmer Graham Platner, whose campaign is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement action, which began Tuesday and is called “Operation Catch of the Day,” has sparked community-wide anxiety in Maine’s urban centers, particularly in Portland and Lewiston, which have sizable immigrant and refugee populations. The enforcement surge has also detained corrections officers who had passed background checks and federal employment verification.
Mills and Collins Diverge on ICE Enforcement
Governor Janet Mills directly challenged the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s enforcement operations in Maine, calling for judicial warrants and real-time arrest data. Senator Susan Collins, her rival in a consequential Senate race, took a different path, urging protesters to avoid interfering with law enforcement efforts while advocating for reforms like body cameras for ICE personnel.
The clash reflects both the high stakes of their political competition and a fundamental disagreement about federal immigration enforcement at a moment when ICE agents have been conducting what the agency calls “Operation Catch of the Day”—an enforcement action targeting approximately 1,400 people that began Tuesday in Maine.
“Let me be clear: Maine will not be intimidated, and the reckless actions that we’ve seen ICE turn to will not be tolerated here in Maine,” Mills said Friday.
Collins said that people legally in the country should not be targets of ICE investigations. “There are people in Maine and elsewhere who have entered this country illegally and who have engaged in criminal activity,” she said in a statement. “They could be subject to arrest and deportation pursuant to the laws of the United States, and people who are exercising the right to peacefully gather and protest their government should be careful not to interfere with law enforcement efforts while doing so.”
Mills, who is termed out as governor, is challenging Collins’ Senate seat. She must first win a Democratic primary against oyster farmer Graham Platner, whose campaign is endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders. Platner has strongly condemned the ICE sweep and posted a video Friday offering step-by-step advice on how to resist.
Wide-Ranging Detentions Raise Questions
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday that the operation has succeeded in removing dangerous criminals. Some of the more than 100 arrests involved people “convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child,” she said.
But York County officials disputed that characterization. “While enforcement actions are being promoted as targeting the ‘worst of the worst,’ the reality appears far more complicated,” they said in a statement.
One of their corrections officers was detained by ICE after being summoned to an immigration appointment and remained in a detention facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts as of Friday. Separately, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce said one of his corrections officer recruits was arrested by ICE despite passing background checks and federal employment verification. The person had no known criminal history and was authorized to work in the United States, Joyce added.
Community Fear and Protest Response
Maine’s immigrant and refugee communities, particularly in Portland and Lewiston, have become centers of anxiety over the enforcement surge. The state’s foreign-born population comprises about 4% of the 1.4 million residents, but Portland and Lewiston host sizable communities from African nations.
Community leaders say families are staying indoors, avoiding work, and keeping children home from school for fear of arrest—a pattern seen in other U.S. cities where ICE has surged forces.
Cristian Vaca, an immigrant from Ecuador living in Biddeford, described a direct encounter. The 28-year-old roofer said ICE agents repeatedly threatened him Wednesday outside his home. In a video he recorded, an agent speaks to him through his closed front door, saying “We’re going to come back for your whole family, OK?” A child’s voice is audible in the background.
Vaca said he is legally present, having arrived in September 2023, and possesses a U.S. Social Security number, a work permit, and pays income taxes. Speaking to the Associated Press in Spanish through a translator, he said the encounter left him shaken. “I’m here legally. I came here in September 2023,” he said, citing his family’s safety and economic opportunity as reasons for moving to Maine.
On Friday night, several hundred people gathered at Portland’s Monument Square despite frigid and windy conditions to protest ICE’s enforcement operations. The demonstration was orderly and attracted a minimal police presence. Demonstrators held signs with slogans including “ICE Out Maine.”
“ICE is terrorizing our community, and they don’t belong here,” said demonstrator Levi Alexander, 22, of Portland. “I’m just here to do my part.”
College student Ava Gleason, at a separate demonstration outside an ICE field office in Scarborough, expressed broader community concern. “Maine is one of those places where you look out for your neighbors and everyone’s there,” Gleason said. “We’re a community, and to see people come in and rip apart a community is freaking terrifying.”