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Eddie Nachamie is a senior at the University of Maine studying ecology and environmental sciences, who resides in Orono at the Terrell House Permaculture Living and Learning Center.
A brutal chill has descended across the United States over the past few weeks. But it’s not only ice, snow, and extreme weather that threaten our wellbeing. Across the country, communities are grappling with the traumatizing and brutal reality of the deployment of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents using unlawful and unconstitutional tactics against migrants and American citizens.
We have watched horrors unfolding in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and seen videos online of children as young as 5 being detained as part of ICE raids. The injustice that this represents is astronomical.
We live in a nation governed by a Constitution, which proclaims our rights to free speech, assembly, bearing arms, protection from unlawful search and seizures, and legal representation. The brazen use of force by the Trump administration to deploy ICE agents in an attempt to strike fear into immigrant and asylee communities as well as the broader American public is disgusting.
The murders of Renée Nicole Macklin Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti within less than two weeks of each other show that the rights, safety, and wellbeing of the American people is at stake. I believe ICE must be punished for these abuses of power and force in order to protect and uphold the values of our country’s constitution, and the rule of law.
Maine has been grappling with its own surge of ICE agents flooding the state to conduct raids. It’s clear to me that the Trump administration made this move in order to punish a state that has repeatedly defied him since he took office again. And the results in Maine are already proving to be violating the rights of Americans and endangering the safety of our communities.
Last Friday, federal agents shot paintball-like projectiles at the cars of two people observing them in a Home Depot parking lot. These agents shouldn’t be violating the rights of neutral observers by using crowd control tactics on them. It’s clear to me that the enforcement operation knows that it is acting in bad faith, against the wishes of the American people, and would prefer if we looked the other way.
But we won’t. As of Monday, ICE had reported making over 200 arrests in their first week detaining people in Maine. Detainees have reported inhumane conditions of holding: one man told his family he was sleeping in a tent next to an active tarmac. Among them, there is one blanket and very little food. Ice agents have been harassing them and coercing them to self-deport to end their suffering. Meanwhile, lawyers have not been able to communicate with detainees. This is an abomination in a country with any amount of respect for the concept of due process.
There have also been reports of Maine residents being moved to holding stations in Louisiana and reports of people with work visas, people with children in the school system, people with children in homes in Maine, and people with no criminal record being detained by ICE agents. This type of flagrant disregard for the rights of both migrants and American citizens shows that this agency and operation need serious reform. A swift end to the chaos and horror of ICE’s deployment in Maine is necessary.
On Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins announced that after conversations with Secretary of the Interior, Kristi Noem, enhanced ICE operations in Maine would be ended. Also on Thursday, state lawmakers heard testimony for LD 2106. This bill would require ICE to have a valid judicial warrant signed by a judge to conduct enforcement at schools, hospitals and healthcare facilities, daycares, and libraries as well as protect people’s information that might be held at these places. Importantly, the bill also provides guidance and support to teachers, healthcare workers, and other employees at these locations, ensuring they are not put in crisis situations and forced to make individual decisions. There’s still time to submit written testimony for LD 2106.
The time is now to make our voices heard to protect our neighbors, co-workers, and friends during a time of persecution. Please call your state representatives to urge them to support LD 2106 and protect the safety of American citizens and migrants.