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 increased ICE activity 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.
BDN writers Callie Ferguson and Sawyer Loftus contributed to this report.