Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Republican Sen. Susan Collins offered starkly different reactions on Friday to a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the state, as the crackdown drew attention in a high-profile Senate race.
Mills challenged immigration officials to provide judicial warrants, real-time arrest numbers and basic information about who is being detained in Maine. She also called on Collins to act after the House’s GOP majority defeated efforts by Democrats to curtail ICE funding, and said in a statement that, “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 avoided directly criticizing ICE tactics, except to say that people who are in the country legally should not be the target of ICE investigations. She said policies she has advocated for—including providing body cameras and de-escalation training for ICE personnel—could help improve accountability and trust, and she urged protesters to avoid interfering with ICE arrests.
In a statement, Collins said, “There are people in Maine and elsewhere who have entered this country illegally and who have engaged in criminal activity,” adding that they “could be subject to arrest and deportation pursuant to the laws of the United States.” She also said people exercising the right to peacefully gather and protest their government should be careful “not to interfere with law enforcement efforts while doing so.”
As protests organized against the agency, several hundred people gathered at night in Portland’s Monument Square, organizers said, despite frigid and windy conditions. The demonstration was orderly and attracted a minimal police presence, speakers said, with protesters holding signs including “ICE Out Maine” and other slogans.
Demonstrator Levi Alexander, 22, of Portland, said, “ICE is terrorizing our community, and they don’t belong here,” and added, “I’m just here to do my part.” Meanwhile, organizations also announced further demonstrations, including one planned for Friday evening in downtown Portland and small gatherings Thursday afternoon and again Friday morning outside an ICE field office in Scarborough.
The surge has also become part of the political calculus in Maine, where Mills is running for Collins’ Senate seat. The article said Mills’ campaign could help determine the balance of the Senate, and noted that Mills, who is termed out as governor, must first beat oyster farmer Graham Platner—an outsider candidate endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders—in the Democratic primary. The article said Platner has condemned the ICE surge in Maine and posted a video on social media Friday offering step-by-step advice on how to resist.
In the video, Platner said ICE’s operations were “clearly rounding up people who are legally in the state of Maine,” and he said he was “sick and tired of hearing that legally there is nothing that law enforcement in Maine can do to protect citizens from these thugs.” Mills and Collins’ comments came as protest organizers said the actions were prompting fear among immigrant and refugee communities in Maine’s larger cities.
ICE’s enforcement action began Tuesday, according to the reporting, and Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said it had removed “dangerous criminals from the community.” The reporting said McLaughlin described the arrests as including people “convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child,” and said ICE’s “Operation Catch of the Day” had about 1,400 targets.
Detentions have sparked anxiety in Portland and Lewiston, the reporting said, where immigrant and refugee populations—including refugees from African nations—are concentrated. Community leaders told AP that some families were staying indoors, avoiding work and keeping children home from school for fear of arrest.
The crackdown has also drawn local scrutiny regarding who has been detained. York County officials said one of their jail corrections officers was detained by ICE after being summoned to an immigration appointment and, as of Friday, remained in a detention facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 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, saying the person had no known criminal history and was authorized to work in the United States.
York County officials said that while enforcement actions are being promoted as targeting the “worst of the worst,” “the reality appears far more complicated.” The enforcement surge has also included reports from detained or threatened individuals; the article included an account from Cristian Vaca, an immigrant from Ecuador who lives in Biddeford, who said ICE agents repeatedly threatened him Wednesday outside his home.
Vaca told AP in Spanish through a translator that he was “here legally” and said he came to the United States in September 2023. He said he has a U.S. Social Security number, a work permit and pays income taxes, and he described a video he took showing an ICE agent speaking to him through a closed front door. In his account, the agent said, “We’re going to come back for your whole family, OK?” with a child’s voice heard in the background.
In Scarborough, demonstrator Ava Gleason said, “Maine is one of those places where you look out for your neighbors and everyone’s there,” and added, “We’re a community, and to see people come in and rip apart a community is freaking terrifying.”