A man who was detained by immigration enforcement agents in Portland after dropping his child off at school last week had been arrested the day before on domestic violence charges.
Portland police arrested Denis Omar Rivera Martinez, 42, of Portland, on Sept. 10, on charges of domestic violence assault, department spokesperson Brad Nadeau said.
Nadeau said Rivera Martinez was brought to Cumberland County Jail where his bail was set at $100.
The next day, unidentified law enforcement agents detained Rivera Martinez near Gerald Talbot Community School. The agents were wearing vests marked “police,” driving unmarked vehicles, and refused to tell school officials which agency they represented.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, later confirmed in a statement that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents had detained Rivera Martinez. McLaughlin blamed the city of Portland’s “sanctuary policies” for the public nature of the arrest.
“This abuser should have been turned over to ICE when he was initially arrested, but Portland’s Sanctuary policies put that child in danger,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin described Rivera Martinez as “a criminal illegal alien from Honduras” but suggested that he was detained in relation to the domestic violence charge.
“ICE observed this abuser drop off his child at school. ICE made the arrest as soon as possible to rescue this child from an abusive situation,” McLaughlin said.
Rivera Martinez has not yet been tried for last week’s domestic violence charge. Nadeau, of the Portland Police Department, said that case “is currently awaiting court proceedings.”
It’s unclear whether Rivera Martinez’s detention one day after his arrest in Portland was a coincidence or if the arrest alerted ICE to his presence. Nadeau declined to comment on the timing or whether the department notified ICE.
Portland has previously resisted working with ICE. The city was one of three areas of Maine, along with Cumberland and Hancock counties, that appeared on a U.S. Department of Justice list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” that the administration deemed as impeding federal immigration enforcement.
The city’s position came under scrutiny last month over an $18 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant for infrastructure improvements at the International Jetport that included language requiring the city to work with ICE.
Mayor Mark Dion said the city “did not consent, capitulate or embrace any condition for this money that would allow ice to be entangled with city affairs.” He cited a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit by Maine and 19 other states, who challenged the Trump administration’s attempt to withhold federal grant funding to jurisdictions that refuse to go along with the federal immigration agenda.
The DOJ’s list of sanctuary jurisdictions disappeared briefly in June and now no longer contains any jurisdictions in Maine.