Federal immigration agents walk a detainee from a passenger van to a larger vehicle in the back parking lot of Cabela’s in Scarborough on Tuesday night. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
Reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in Maine spiked Tuesday, marking the apparent start of a possible increase in federal immigration activity.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline confirmed an “increased presence” of ICE agents in the city Tuesday afternoon, while social media and Maine Trust for Local News journalists were flooded with reports about potential sightings and detentions.
The surge in reported activity by federal officers came several days after state and local officials said they had been unable to verify widespread rumors about a planned uptick in ICE enforcement in Maine, particularly in Greater Portland and Lewiston.
“I know, given the national news, this may cause anxiety, fear or uncertainty for some in our community,” Sheline said in a written statement. “In moments like this, what matters most is how we show up for one another and that we remember who we are and what we stand for as Mainers: the rule of law, the right to peacefully protest and compassion for our neighbors.”
Videos and photographs of immigration enforcement agents in the Portland, Lewiston and surrounding areas took social media by storm. Some included apparent detentions taking place, but spokespeople for ICE did not respond Tuesday to inquiries about whether its agents were involved in those detentions.
ON THE WAY TO WORK
Hillary Neff, of Portland, was on her way to work at about 9:50 a.m. when she spotted law enforcement activity near the intersection of Cypress Street and Washington Avenue. In an interview Tuesday evening, Neff said she originally thought there had been a car crash, but quickly identified what appeared to be masked immigration enforcement agents searching a vehicle. She pulled over and started recording.
She observed five vehicles and six agents who wore street clothes and bulletproof vests. Some simply said “Police,” while others bore “HSI,” for Homeland Security Investigations. One agent stood with what appeared to be the driver of the vehicle while it was being searched.
Neff said she was asked to step back from the scene. In the video, one agent appears to politely request her to step back and notes that she can continue filming. Another agent appears to step toward Neff.
The agent “brought his chest up to mine,” Neff said in the interview, and in the video, the agent claims Neff is touching him and demands that she back up.
“They seemed scared to me,” Neff said. “That was unnerving because they felt unstable. … They were just so nonuniform in every sense of the word.”
Neff backed up, she said, and the video shows the agent then standing between her and the other agents as they completed the detainment. One of the agents moved the detainee’s car onto Cypress Street, while another put the detainee in the back of one of their vehicles, and then they all drove off.
One widely shared video showed agents at a Cumberland Farms gas station on Brighton Avenue. That report prompted two Portland schools — Deering High School and Lincoln Middle School — to briefly implement a “lockout” procedure shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, district spokesperson Tess Nacelewicz said.
SCHOOL LOCKOUTS AND ABSENCES
Lockouts call for external doors to be closed to people entering or exiting the building, but administrators determined there was no threat to the schools and the lockouts were lifted within minutes.
“This is an understandably tense time in our community, as reports and rumors of immigration enforcement actions grow,” Nacelewicz said. “The Portland Public Schools will continue to follow our protocols for keeping students and staff safe, while also staying focused on our core work of teaching and learning.”
There was an “unsually higher” number of absences in South Portland schools on Tuesday, Superintendent George Entwistle said.
The South Portland school district has made plans in case ICE arrives on school grounds. There were multiple unverified reports of activity in South Portland on Tuesday, though none appeared to be close to the city’s schools.
A copy of the district’s policy was obtained by the Portland Press Herald via a public records request on Tuesday. It directs staff members to keep students away from immigration officers and to direct agents toward the main office should they enter private property. Front office clerks should contact the principal while asking the officer to remain in the main office, according to the policy, and the principal should then contact the superintendent’s office to review legal documents and warrants.
Staff members are instructed to not physically interfere with officers should they try to move into nonpublic spaces. They should instead protect students by keeping them in the classroom when instructed, calling the principal and moving students away from officers.
The district, in partnership with the University Maine School of Law’s Refugee and Human Rights Clinic, will host two training sessions related to immigration issues in the coming weeks. Those have been in the works for months, Entwistle said, but they take on new urgency in the current moment.
“Things are very upsetting,” Entwistle said. “These trainings are a good way to feel like they can manage anything they have to manage to protect our students.”
PICKUP SOCCER CANCELED
A group that coordinates pickup soccer games in Portland’s Kennedy Park has paused operations indefinitely as concerns of heightened immigration enforcement have its members on edge.
Anthony Fiori, a leader from the Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer group, said organizers canceled a game planned for last week amid rumors of upcoming ICE raids.
“We’re pretty nervous about the players, of course. And the players themselves are just very scared,” Fiori said on a Friday phone call. “We just really have no clue. We kind of feel like we’re working in the dark here.”
TRIBAL ID’S
Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis on Tuesday issued a statement on Facebook urging members to carry identification cards issued by the tribe.
Francis was not aware of any ICE activity on Penobscot lands or any interactions between agents and tribal members. However, he said that members of federally recognized tribes in other states have been arrested by ICE, and tribal identification has not always proved to be sufficient proof of citizenship.
“We know that many of you have heard reports of ICE interactions involving individuals who are, by law and by birthright, citizens of Tribal Nations,” Francis wrote. “News and social media reports indicate that ICE has detained several Native Americans throughout the country and have conducted raids on facilities located on Tribal lands. The Tribal government has verified that some of these reports are true, and some are false.”
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, tribal documents can fall into the same category as a U.S. Citizen I.D card.
Francis encouraged tribal citizens to review guidelines issued by the Native American Rights Fund in the event a tribal member is approached by ICE.
PORTLAND PROTEST
A group of about 20 protesters gathered outside Portland City Hall Monday evening after a day of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the state.
“I worry that eventually we’re not going to have time to act on this,” said an organizer who asked not to be identified. “So I think doing something today, and doing something now, is going to be crucially important before it gets violent.”
One attendee, E.J. Andersen, said he had been at several recent protests against ICE, in Monument Square and elsewhere in the state. He said he turned out because of one of many videos circulating online of potential
“I feel like I need to be doing as much as I can,” Andersen said. “And this is a part of it.”
Staff Writers Daniel Kool, Dana Richie, Joe Charpentier, Riley Board and Reuben M. Schafir contributed to this report.
