Mainers are grappling with the increased presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their cities as the state becomes the latest target for President Donald Trump’s mass deportations agenda.
Details, though, about who is being targeted and in which communities are thin, state and local officials say.
“Why Maine? Why now?” Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said Thursday. “We’ve reached out, we’ve asked questions. We have no answers.”
The Department of Homeland Security announced the launch of its Maine operation, “Catch of the Day,” earlier this week, saying agents were focused on “the worst of the worst” in its arrests.
But Mills said in a news conference that the increased ICE presence in the state has been disruptive to schools and businesses, adding that it’s been difficult to know the operation’s full scope and justification because federal agencies aren’t providing those details.
Mills also noted that Trump has targeted urban areas in blue states with Democratic governors for large-scale immigration actions, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and most recently Minneapolis. Tensions remain high in the Twin Cities after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis, with more violent encounters with federal agents captured on camera.
A demonstrator holds an “ICE Out Maine” sign in a protest in Portland on Friday against increased federal immigration enforcement in the state. Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters
Immigrants make up a small portion — 4% — of Maine’s population, according to the latest census data.
A volunteer-run hotline overseen by the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition saw a major spike in calls as the ICE operation got underway, said Ruben Torres, the group’s advocacy and policy manager.
“We’re hearing a little bit of everything,” Torres said of the volume of calls. “It’s confusion, it’s fear, it’s panic. It’s a lot of genuine wanting and needing to help their community members.”
What DHS has said about its Maine operation
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to PBS News that more than 100 arrests were made in the first three days of the operation.
“Some of the arrests of the worst of the worst from the first day of operations include criminal illegal aliens charged and convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child,” she added in the statement.
The agency did not respond to questions about where those arrests have largely taken place, where detainees are being held or how long this latest operation is expected to last.
ICE is targeting some 1,400 people in Maine, Patricia Hyde, the agency’s deputy assistant director, told Fox News on Tuesday, the first day of the operation. That includes people with charges involving the rape of a child, sexual assaults and other offenses.
What Maine officials have said about the operation
Maine Gov. Janet Mills speaks during a June meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, to discuss the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Photo by Sophie Park/Reuters
Ahead of the operation, mayors of Maine’s two largest cities, Portland and Lewiston, warned residents to prepare for possible increased ICE presence in their neighborhoods.
In a news conference Wednesday, Portland Mayor Mark Dion said the city’s officials stood with its immigrant communities, while also questioning the tactics used in this operation.
“While we respect the law, we challenge the need for a paramilitary approach,” the mayor said.
City spokesperson Jessica Grondin told PBS News in an email that Portland hasn’t received any official information about the ongoing operation, “only what DHS has sent out as press releases.”
“Let’s see the documents,” said Gov. Mills in reference to claims by ICE about the crimes their targets have committed. She added that her office is hearing that people with no criminal background are being detained and torn from families.
“If they have warrants, show the warrants. In America, we don’t believe in secret arrests or secret police,” Mills said.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said in an email to PBS News that verifying the number of arrests and detainments so far in the city has been “a bit of a moving target right now.” The mayor confirmed that at least one person was detained in Lewiston and has since been released.
Who are Maine’s immigrants?
Maine is overwhelmingly white, making it among the least racially diverse states in the nation. It’s also one of the most rural.
Those two attributes, Torres said, means “any population of immigrants is both standing out and also creating an impact in their communities.”
While most of Maine’s immigrants live in metropolitan areas — Portland, Lewiston and Bangor — they’re also spread across the state’s rural parts, according to the Migration Policy Institute. And nearly half have lived in the U.S. for 20 years or more.
Though immigrants make up a small percentage of the state’s population overall, there is diversity within the immigrant community. Asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa make up some of the largest groups, Torres said.
According to MPI, about half of the state’s immigrant population are from Asia and Europe. Another 20% percent come from Africa and 19% percent from Northern America, primarily Canada.
While immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean represent larger shares of the population in other states, only 10% of Maine’s immigrants were from that region.
“I feel like most people, when we talk about the immigrant population, think of the Latino community,” Torres said, “But in this case, in this state, we have a little bit of a different population.”
‘People are afraid.’ What Mainers are seeing in their communities
A crowd of demonstrators gather for a protest in Portland, Maine, on Friday against increased federal immigration enforcement in the state. Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters
Crystal Cron woke up early Tuesday morning to a text message from a school watch group. A parent had flagged that ICE agents were on a street in downtown Portland.
The parent, who was witnessing a targeted operation in their neighborhood, noted three vehicles with five armed agents in tactical gear. As word spread, Cron and more people arrived at the scene. Eventually, with that growing community presence, the officers were deterred and drove away, she said.
“We’ve been practicing and building each system so that we can keep kids and families safe in our neighborhoods,” said Cron, founding director of Presente! Maine. “And that was the first real test. It was terrifying.”
After that first sighting, more ICE patrols were spotted, “indiscriminately snatching people from the street,” she added.
Sheline, Lewiston’s mayor, said in a statement to PBS News that the increased ICE activity “on our sidewalks, in our stores, and at traffic stops has created fear – and that fear reaches far beyond any one person.”
“Today, our streets are unusually quiet. In conversations with residents, I am hearing the same thing again and again: People are afraid. And that fear is affecting daily life and Lewiston businesses,” he added.
Portland Public Schools told PBS News in an email that the district’s absence rate was 11 percentage points higher on Thursday than the average for the first half of January. For some schools, the absence rate was more than 20 percentage points higher.
Torres from the volunteer hotline said the message MIRC has been sharing with community leaders is that “this is a scary time and it’s OK to feel what you’re feeling,” while also reassuring people that it’s important to know their rights and be educated should the worst-case scenario happen.
“We’re being terrorized,” Cron said. “People are afraid, staying home, but we also have a lot of people showing up to meet the needs so that our neighbors can shelter in place,” such as delivering food, diapers and baby formula.
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