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In normal times, I would be pleased to read that Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King helped appropriate funding for Maine from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program. The $369,364 will be used by the Maine State Police to support the Special Victims Unit’s (SVU) efforts to protect children from child exploitation, child pornography cases and online enticement by sexual predators.
The number of cases of child pornography, enticement and exploitation have exploded in the past few years. According to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), there was a 77% increase of child enticement between January and June of 2025. The statistics involving AI-generated content are even more terrifying. Over the same 6-month period, reports involving AI-generated exploitation increased over 6,000%, from approximately 6,800 to 440,000.
Despite this massive increase in exploitation and danger toward children, the Big Beautiful Bill, which Collins could have killed in committee but chose not to, has decreased the funding for ICAC while ballooning the budget for ICE to nearly $30 billion annually.
ICE gets nearly $30 billion to terrorize our communities, assault civilians, kidnap parents and murder citizens while our police departments get a handful of dollars to protect our kids.
We need breakthrough leadership that will move funding away from ICE, essentially a lawless force that terrorizes, to our Maine State Police — a trusted force that protects.
Collins and King are leaving Mainers and their kids vulnerable and afraid. They need to do better.
Sarah Russell
Cumberland