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The ICE surge in Maine, offensively called “Catch of the Day,” is reportedly over. For more than a week, masked and heavily armed federal immigration officials terrorized Maine communities, grabbing immigrants — many of them legally in the U.S. — at workplaces, out of their homes and their cars, sometimes smashing windows and leaving the vehicles — and even a baby and mother — abandoned on city streets. It has disrupted schools, workplaces and countless lives.
Although ICE says the people it arrested had criminal records, they provided little evidence that this was true. The agency said it had arrested more than 200 people in Maine, but provided details about only 10 of them. It said it had 1,400 “targets” in Maine. It is unclear whether ICE will still pursue these people.
Sen. Susan Collins, who had urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to end the operation in Maine, announced a cessation early Thursday morning.
“While the Department of Homeland Security does not confirm law enforcement operations, I can report that Secretary Noem has informed me that ICE has ended its enhanced activities in the State of Maine,” Collins said in an early morning press release. “There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here.”
“I have been urging Secretary Noem and others in the Administration to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state. I appreciate the secretary’s willingness to listen to and consider my recommendations and her personal attention to the situation in Maine,” Collins added. “ICE and Customs and Border Patrol will continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years. I will continue to work with the secretary on efforts to end illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other transnational criminal activity.”
While the cessation is good news, many questions remain, and continued vigilance is essential.
What are “normal” ICE operations? Will the federal government continue to harass, detain and even deport people who are legally in the United States? Will the Department of Homeland Security be made to follow U.S. laws and court orders?
Who are the 200 Mainers ICE said it has arrested? What crimes, if any, did they commit? Where are they? When will they be returned to Maine?
When will the terror Maine witnessed end in Minnesota, where two Americans were killed by immigration agents this month?
Without answers to these questions, Thursday’s announcement offers little comfort to immigrants in Maine and around the country and to those who support them and their legal rights.
“The reported end of ICE’s ‘enhanced operation’ in Maine does not end the pain and suffering that they have inflicted on communities across our state — people who have been terrorized, mothers who have been separated from their children, businesses who have been threatened, all by their own government,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement Thursday, in which she called for the removal of Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security.
“Until there are substantive measures and changes in place, no state — including Maine — is protected from the weaponization of federal law enforcement agencies against its own citizens by the Trump Administration,” the governor said.
Thursday’s announcement shows that humanity can win out over fear and intimidation.
In addition to the pressure from Collins and other elected officials, ICE changed course because thousands of Maine people stood up for their neighbors. People delivered food to immigrants afraid to leave their homes. Teachers rode school buses to ensure students got to and from school safely. Employers drove workers to and from home. Thousands of Mainers donated their time and money to quickly evolving efforts to help immigrants and their families and to protect their legal rights.
People observed ICE activities, often being intimidated and harassed by these officials. Mainers marched and protested the abuses of their community members. Faith leaders were arrested urging morality and humanity. People wrote and called their members of Congress to pressure for an end to the ICE chaos and intimidation.
It is also because of the lawyers who worked, sometimes without pay, to demand justice for new Mainers. The judges who ruled quickly to uphold our Constitution and the rule of law. The Maine law enforcement officials who urged ICE to follow basic policing practices. The members of Congress, including Sen. Angus King and Rep. Chellie Pingree, who are demanding restrictions on and accountability from ICE before allocating more money to the Department of Homeland Security.
It is because of the journalists who bravely chronicled ICE activity in Maine, and its impact on communities. And, the many Mainers who wrote letters to the editor and columns, for this and other newspapers, sharing their outrage at the terror and inhumanity spreading in our state.
We echo governor Mills’ sentiment: “I am incredibly proud of the people of Maine who defended our values and who supported those who were afraid to leave their homes, as well as the small businesses who supported and fought to protect the rights of their employees and their families.”