Portland, Maine — Immigration and Customs Enforcement highlighted the detention of people it described as some of the most dangerous criminals in Maine during Operations during the past weekBut court records paint a more complex picture.
Federal officials say more than 100 people were arrested statewide In what Immigration and Customs Enforcement called “Operation Catch of the Day,” a reference to the fishing industry. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that it had arrested “the worst of the worst,” including “child abusers and hostage takers.”
Court records show that some of the criminals were violent. But they also show other detainees whose immigration proceedings have not been resolved or who have been arrested but never convicted of a crime.
Immigration lawyers and local officials say similar concerns have arisen in other cities where ICE has ramped up enforcement operations and many of those targeted lack criminal records.
One case highlighted by ICE that involves serious criminal offenses and criminal convictions is that of Sudanese national Dominic Ali. Ali was convicted of false imprisonment, aggravated assault, assault, obstruction of justice, and violating a protective order, ICE said.
Ali was convicted in 2004 of violating a protective order and in 2008 of second-degree assault, false imprisonment and obstructing the reporting of a crime, court records show. In the latest case, prosecutors said he threw his girlfriend to the floor of her New Hampshire apartment, kicked her and broke her collarbone.
“His behavior amounts to nothing short of torture,” Judge James Barry said in 2009 before sentencing Ali to five to 10 years in prison.
Ali was later released into ICE custody, and in 2013 an immigration judge ordered him deported. No further information was available from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and it remains unclear what happened next.
Other cases were more nuanced, such as that of Elmara Correa, an Angolan national whom ICE highlighted in its public promotion of the operation, saying she had been “previously arrested for endangering the welfare of a child.”
Maine court records show a person with that name was charged in 2023 with violating a law related to learner permits for new drivers, a case that was later dismissed.
Correa filed a petition on Wednesday challenging her detention, and a judge issued a temporary emergency order preventing authorities from transferring her from Massachusetts, where she is being held. Her lawyer said she entered the United States legally on a student visa about eight years ago and was never subject to expedited removal proceedings.
“Has she been found not guilty or will we be persuaded to arrest her?” Portland Mayor Mark Dionne said during a news conference in which he raised concerns that ICE failed to distinguish between arrests and convictions or clarify whether convictions were carried out.
Dionne also pointed to another person named in the statement: Danny Lopez-Cortez, who ICE said was a “criminal illegal alien” from Guatemala who was convicted of operating under the influence.
ICE highlighted Lopez-Cortez’s case among a small group of examples that it said reflect the types of arrests made during the operation. Dionne questioned whether a conviction for operating under the influence, a serious but common crime in Maine, should live up to the general “worst of the worst” narrative spread by ICE.
Boston immigration attorney Caitlin Burgess said her office filed habeas corpus petitions Thursday on behalf of four clients who were detained in Maine and transferred to Massachusetts.
The most serious charge any of them faced was driving without a license, and they all had pending cases or applications in immigration court, Burgess said.
“Habeas corpus petitions are often the only tool available to stop expedited transfers that prevent access to an attorney and disrupt pending immigration proceedings,” she said.
Attorney Samantha McHugh said she filed five habeas corpus petitions on behalf of Maine detainees Thursday and expects to file three more soon.
“None of these individuals have any criminal record,” said McHugh, who represents eight detainees. “They were simply at work, eating lunch, when unmarked cars arrived and immigration agents drove past private property to detain them.”
Federal court records show that immigration cases involving criminal convictions can remain unresolved or be retried years later.
Another whose photo was included in materials related to the “worst of the worst” detainees in Maine is Ambesa Berhe.
Berhe was convicted of cocaine possession and assaulting a police officer in 1996 and cocaine possession in 2003.
In 2006, the federal appeals court in Boston vacated his deportation order and remanded the case to the Board of Immigration Appeals for further consideration.
According to the ruling, Berhe was born in Ethiopia and then transferred by his adoptive parents to Sudan. The family was accepted into the United States as refugees in 1987, when he was about 9 years old.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the operation targets about 1,400 immigrants in a state with a population of about 1.4 million, about 4% of whom are foreign-born.
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Associated Press journalist Roderick Njoy contributed.