ICE began what they have called “Operation Catch of the Day” on Jan. 20. The agency said in a news release Thursday that it had made 206 arrests from Jan. 20-24 as part of its “targeted immigration enforcement operations throughout the state of Maine.”
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Responding to a request to confirm the enhanced operation was ending, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “DHS will continue to enforce the law across the country, as we do every day.”
“ICE and Customs and Border Patrol will continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years,” Collins said. “I will continue to work with the Secretary on efforts to end illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other transnational criminal activity.”
Maine Governor Janet Mills indicated she had not received official word from the Trump administration and still had questions.
“The reported end of ICE’s ‘enhanced operation’ in Maine does not end the pain and suffering that they have inflicted on communities across our state — people who have been terrorized, mothers who have been separated from their children, businesses who have been threatened, all by their own government,” Mills said in a statement.
“We still do not know critical details about the 200 individuals ICE says it has detained, many of whom appear to be here legally, who have no criminal record and who are not ‘the worst of the worst,’” Mills continued. ”The people of Maine deserve to know the identities of every person taken from here, the legal justification for doing so, where they are being held, and what the federal government’s plan for them are.”
Mills is running in the Democratic primary and, if successful, will face Collins, who is up for re-election in November.
Democratic Maine Representative Chellie Pingree said in a statement she could not confirm Collins’s announcement either, saying DHS has ignored her requests for information about the operation for weeks. She argued that it’s not accurate to call current enforcement measures as normal.
“The unfortunate reality is, ending this surge and removing additional officers does not mean a return to how immigration enforcement functioned in Maine ‘for many years,’” Pingree said. “What we have seen over the past year is radically different. The standard now appears to be broad, aggressive detentions and removals that do not distinguish between people who are here unlawfully, and people who are awaiting decisions on pending cases or have another valid status.”
Noem has faced sharp criticism, including calls by many congressional Democrats to resign or be impeached, after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday by federal immigration agents.
DHS said the Maine surge was “targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities” and in a news release last week highlighted the arrests of four undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions or charges on the operations first day.
But Maine state officials said the arrests appeared to be indiscriminate, sweeping up undocumented immigrants with no criminal histories, and the operation led to protests.
After Pretti’s killing, Maine Governor Janet Mills requested a meeting with President Trump “so that I can demand in person that his Administration withdraw these untrained and reckless ICE agents in Maine and across the country.”
Tal Kopan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera.
