A federal court judge has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to explain why it detained an Angolan man at a routine Tuesday check at an office in Scarborough.
The man, Yanick Joao Carneiro of Portland, is the first immigrant to challenge their detention by ICE since an enforcement surge began in Maine. In a statement Wednesday, the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security said that its action here, called “Operation Catch of the Day,” had resulted in nearly 50 arrests as of Tuesday, highlighting some with serious criminal records.
But a lawyer for Carneiro said in court that he has no criminal record to justify his detention. The description of his arrest in Tuesday court filings lines up with a massive bump in detentions of immigrants with no criminal record during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office.
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The latest on ICE’s operation in Maine
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has began arresting immigrants in Maine this week as part of what the federal government is calling “Operation Catch of the Day.”
Carneiro was undocumented when he first entered the country in April 2023. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings, but he was released and given a notice to appear in immigration court in 2027. Within Carneiro’s first year here, he filed for asylum status. He works at a retail home improvement store and lives in Maine with two young children who are both U.S. citizens, according to his lawyer’s filing.
Carneiro must be given a bond hearing because he has no criminal record, according to his lawyer’s filing. So far, that has not happened.
Carneiro was granted a temporary order from U.S. District Court Judge Stacey Neumann that prevented the government from removing him from Maine and the U.S. for 72 hours, but that came just hours after he was taken to an ICE facility in Burlington, Massachusetts, a federal prosecutor said in a court filing.
Neumann also ordered the government to show the court by noon Thursday why it’s detaining him.
Spokespeople for ICE did not respond to a Wednesday request for comment on Carneiro’s case. The filing did not provide more detail on his arrest but said he is being held at a jail in Plymouth, Massachusetts.