U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deployed more personnel to its Scarborough field office, according to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. She said it appears to be in response to protests outside the building.
A group of people have staked out the ICE office for months in an effort to track the agency’s operations, and on Monday, they reported the arrival of several new agents and vehicles, including an armored truck.
An ICE spokesperson declined to share specifics, but Pingree said in a statement Monday that ICE cited the “growing number of protestors — and armed protestors specifically — as a reason for deploying more personnel to the facility.”
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition added in its own statement that it appears the new officers are assigned to “building security, not immigration enforcement activity.”
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.