One of Maine’s major agricultural organizations warned farmers Thursday of an expected surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity into next week, then later downgraded its statement without fully explaining where its information came from.
The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association sent an online newsletter stating it had “received word” of increased enforcement activity starting Friday focused on farms, farmworkers and construction sites. Another email that night issued a correction, saying possible activity or targeted sites hadn’t been confirmed.
Though MOFGA backtracked on this particular warning, it was shared widely. Recent ICE surges in the state have heightened anxiety even for those in the country legally through federal visa programs.
“Ultimately, I think this really highlights the fear that people are experiencing,” said Ruben Torres, advocacy and policy manager for the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.
MOFGA’s correction maintained that new staff activity and drone usage have increased at ICE’s Scarborough facility, though it did not cite a source. ICE referred a request for comment to the Department of Homeland Security, which responded to an initial inquiry but did not immediately comment.
MOFGA’s initial email advised farms with workers here on temporary H-2A visas to “stay particularly informed” and included information about preparing for ICE presence and knowing one’s rights.
MOFGA staff referred a reporter to the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition when asked about its source for the alert and correction. The association said the coalition requested both emails be sent, while Torres said his organization had requested only the correction.
Learning of the initial email after the fact sparked a “fact-finding mission” Thursday, as the coalition called partner organizations but could not corroborate details, he said. The coalition is treating the information as a rumor but is prepared for the worst case scenario, according to Torres. There weren’t more calls to its ICE hotline Friday.
“It’s never a false alarm to remind folks of their rights, especially in the environment we’re in,” he said.
People hiring migrant labor already worry that their employees will be detained just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, even though they followed the legal process to enter the country, Torres said.
Frank Thomas of Thomas Farms in Corinth, which sells produce to Hannaford supermarkets, said his farm’s 17 H-2A employees from Mexico — almost the entire field crew — have been on edge about ICE for years now. His family spends about $15,000 a year to bring them here legally.
“But that being said, guys that work here now are always very nervous,” he said Thursday, before the correction was sent.
Whenever his workers go off the farm, they’re advised to carry their work visas, passports, a letter confirming their employment, and a federal form that states they entered the country legally and how long they can stay.
This is the family farm’s eighth year hiring workers with H-2A visas, which allow temporary entry for farm work such as seasonal harvests when local labor isn’t available. Employers need approval from the federal government to participate.
Hiring workers through the H-2A visa program is the only way for the Corinth farm to keep growing mixed vegetables, according to Thomas.
“It’s either that, or go to some other crop that’s totally mechanized, or get out of it,” he said.
Use of the visa program more than quadrupled nationwide between 2010 and 2025 to almost 400,000 certified positions, according to federal data. Not all certified positions are filled. Maine had 1,490 certified positions last year, 74 more than in 2024, according to the American Farm Bureau.
The latest agricultural census found that 1,300 H-2A visa holders worked in the state in 2022, compared with 11,100 full-time Maine residents who worked in agriculture. Local hard workers are still around in Corinth, Thomas said, but they’re employed in other fields like construction making almost twice the roughly $18 hourly wage he can pay.
Because his family invests so much to bring in legal workers, Thomas would support an employee being deported if it turned out they were here illegally. But he doesn’t condone recent ICE tactics and said his employees put their wages to impressive use back home, including one who bought land and recently built a house in Mexico.
“I can’t say enough good about these guys,” Thomas said.
