U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 50 people in Maine by Tuesday evening during the start of its operation focused in the Portland and Lewiston areas, according to a report from Fox News.
The Bangor Daily News was not able to independently confirm the arrest totals reported by Fox News, which had a reporter embedded with the agency in Maine at the start of what the federal government is calling “Operation Catch of the Day” on Tuesday.
Patricia Hyde, deputy assistant director at ICE, told Fox News that the agency is targeting approximately 1,400 people in Maine as part of its operation and that it won’t stop until it arrests everyone on the list, which includes people with serious criminal records.
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The latest on ICE’s operation in Maine
Maine has seen increased activity this week from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents.
The surge has been expected since last week. Reports of activity in Portland and Lewiston, which have notable immigrant populations, began rolling in Tuesday morning.
A spokesperson for the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, a nonprofit running a federal immigration enforcement hotline here, confirmed two reports of arrests Tuesday afternoon, while at least two dozen other cases were reported on an online, crowdsourced database.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said in a statement that there was an increased presence of ICE agents in Lewiston on Tuesday. Sheline, who had warned of the surge last week, along with Portland Mayor Mark Dion, urged people to “remain calm and peaceful, act lawfully and rely on verified information.”
A spokesperson for ICE said Tuesday that the agency would not answer questions about the operation and did not answer a Wednesday email seeking further information.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday that the department had launched the operation in Maine to “target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in the state.”
McLaughlin said federal agents arrested people convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.
However, a federal court judge has ordered ICE to explain why it detained an Angolan man at a routine Tuesday check at an office in Scarborough.
Yanick Joao Carneiro of Portland has no criminal record to justify his detention, his attorney said in court Tuesday. He works at a home improvement store and has two young children who are both U.S. citizens, according to his attorney’s filing.
Carneiro was undocumented when he first entered the country in 2023. DHS initiated removal proceedings, but he was released and given a notice to appear in immigration court in 2027. Within his first year here, he filed for asylum status.
BDN writers Callie Ferguson and Sawyer Loftus contributed to this report.