U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested another Cumberland County Jail corrections officer. It’s at least the fourth jail officer arrested since the beginning of the second Trump administration.
In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said agents arrested Nilton Ribeiro, originally from Angola, on Saturday.
The spokesperson said Ribeiro entered the country in 2022 with permission to stay until the following year, but “overstayed his welcome.”
It’s an increasingly common tactic as the Trump administration targets asylum-seekers and others who have filed for immigration relief after entering the country on temporary visas, and comes during a spike in immigration arrests in Maine that began in May.
Sheriff Kevin Joyce confirmed that Ribeiro has worked at the jail for the last several years, and that he is “a very good employee” and passed a polygraph test to get hired.
Joyce questioned whether ICE is targeting the “worst of the worst,” as the agency often claims.
ICE’s online detainee tracker does not specify where Ribeiro is being held.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.