Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested more than 200 illegal immigrants in Maine since launching a major operation in the state nearly a week ago, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
That number has not been independently verified as the agency has operated largely in secrecy, and communications from DHS have been spare and confusing.
In response to a request for updated arrest numbers, the department on Monday emailed the BDN a nearly identical response as it sent on Thursday, with only the number of arrests updated to “more than 200,” from “more than 100” on Thursday.
Additionally, the email contained photos and names of the same four people as the previous email, preceded by the message: “Thanks to ICE, these criminals are now off Americans’ streets.”
All four were previously identified by ICE as having been arrested during the first day of its Maine surge, dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day,” which has so far centered on Greater Portland and Lewiston.
DHS described the operation at the outset as “targeting the worst of worst criminal illegal aliens across Maine.”
The department did not immediately respond on Monday to a request for information about why those four individuals, including one whose prior conviction was for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, were highlighted.
Patricia Hyde, deputy assistant director at ICE, previously said the agency is targeting approximately 1,400 people in Maine as part of the operation and that it won’t stop until it arrests everyone on the list, which includes people with serious criminal records.
Reporting by the BDN and other news organizations in Maine suggests that ICE has detained people without criminal records or immigration infractions, including a Cumberland County corrections recruit, who Sheriff Kevin Joyce said on Thursday had passed background checks with a “squeaky clean” record.
ICE also arrested a civil engineer from Colombia employed in Portland who earned a master’s degree from the University of Maine and was in the country on a work visa, according to his colleagues, and a Portland mom with a pending asylum claim.