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Maine leads republican Democratic officials currently engaged in one of the nation’s most high-profile Senate races offered contrasting comments on Friday as turnout surged. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents tallied up the arrest totals.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills asked immigration officials to provide judicial warrants, real-time arrest counts and basic information about Maine detainees.
Mills also called out her Republican rivals, Sen. Susan CollinsThe action comes after the House Republican majority defeated Democratic efforts to cut ICE funding.
“Let me be clear: Maine will not be intimidated and we will not tolerate reckless actions by ICE,” Mills said Friday.
Collins avoided criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s tactics, saying only that people who are in the country legally should not be targeted by ICE investigations. She also said policies she advocates, including providing body cameras and de-escalation training for ICE agents, could help improve accountability and trust.
As protest organizers announced anti-ICE demonstrations in Maine’s largest city on Friday, she urged them to avoid interfering with ICE arrests.
“There are people in Maine and elsewhere who enter this country illegally and engage in criminal activity,” Collins said in a statement. “They may be arrested and deported under U.S. law, and those who exercise their rights to peacefully assemble and protest the government should be careful not to interfere with law enforcement efforts when doing so.”
Mills’ run for Collins’ seat could ultimately help determine the balance of the Senate. Mills, who was appointed governor, must first defeat oyster farmer Graham Plattner, whose outsider campaign was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the Democratic primary. Plattner has strongly condemned the surge of ICE in Maine and posted a video on social media on Friday offering step-by-step advice on how to resist.
“ICE operations over the past few days have clearly been rounding up people who are legally living in Maine,” Plattner said in a Facebook video. “I’m tired of hearing that law enforcement in Maine is legally unable to do anything to protect citizens from these thugs.”
ICE says daily capture operations include approximately 1,400 targets
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the media Thursday that the enforcement operation began on Tuesday and was successful in removing dangerous criminals from the community.
McLaughlin said some of the more than 100 people arrested were “convicted of horrific crimes, including aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of children.”
The detentions have stoked anxiety in Maine, a largely rural state where about 4% of its 1.4 million residents are foreign-born. portland and Lewiston, which has a large population of immigrants and refugees, particularly from African countries.
Like other U.S. cities where the agency has deployed additional troops, some families are staying indoors, avoiding work and keeping children from school for fear of arrest, community leaders said.
Roofer says ICE agents threatened his family
Cristian Vaca, an Ecuadorian immigrant who lives in Biddeford, said ICE agents threatened him multiple times Wednesday outside his home, where the 28-year-old roofer lives with his wife and young son.
“I came here legally. I came here in September 2023,” Vaca said, citing his family’s safety and economic opportunity as reasons for the move.
Vaca told The Associated Press in Spanish through a translator that he was sitting on a couch when he noticed agents taking photos outside.
Vaca said he has a U.S. Social Security number, a work permit and pays income taxes. A video captured by Vaca shows an ICE agent talking to him through his closed front door.
Before turning to leave, the agent said: “We’re going to come back and save your whole family, okay?” A child’s voice could be heard in the background.
Protest organizers plan to gather at Portland’s Monument Square
Organizers announced more demonstrations, including one planned for Friday night in downtown Portland. A small group of demonstrators also gathered outside the ICE office in Scarborough on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
“Maine is a place that takes care of its neighbors and everyone is there,” said Ava Gleason, a college student and one of the Scarborough demonstrators. “We are a community and it’s just horrible to see people come in and tear a community apart.”
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Willingham reported from Boston.