Portland, Maine — The Trump administration is now targeting a mass deportation campaign in Maine, a state with relatively few people residing in the United States illegally but with a notable presence of African refugees in its largest cities.
The Department of Homeland Security called the operation “Catch of the Day,” which appears to play into Maine’s seafood industry, just as it has done with other law enforcement operations, such as “Metro Surge” in Minnesota and “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
Reports of an increase in immigrant arrests have stoked fear in immigrant communities in Portland and Lewiston and sparked backlash from Gov. Janet Mills and other Democrats, including a refusal to help ICE agents anonymize their cars by issuing secret license plates.
Citizens have formed networks to alert neighborhoods to the presence of ICE agents and bring food to migrants in their homes, and the superintendent in Portland said the school district is developing an online learning plan for its students — more than half of whom are not white. Many businesses posted signs saying ICE agents are not welcome.
“While we respect the law, we challenge the need for a paramilitary approach,” Portland Mayor Mark Dionne said Wednesday at a news conference in which he was joined by other local officials. “This council does not stand in isolation from our immigrant communities, we stand with them.”
Portland and Lewiston have thousands of African-American residents, including many of African descent Somalia.
Somali migration to Maine accelerated in the early 2000s, and the state now has one of the highest percentages of Somali residents in the country. Migrants and asylum seekers from other countries followed.
Now exist Immigration and customs City Councilman Pius Ali, a native of Ghana, said the agents are causing great concern in Portland.
“Our schools have seen about a quarter of immigrants not showing up,” Ali said, and many are afraid to go to work as well: “There are immigrants who live here and work in our hospitals, who work in our schools, who work in our hotels, and they are part of the economic engine of our community.”
He said ICE agents don’t need to spread shock by breaking down doors and windows: “The federal government has the ability to contact these people without unleashing fear into our communities.”
The enforcement action reaches Maine, a mostly rural state with a population of about 1.4 million Confrontations Between ICE and protesters continue in Minnesota, where ICE is under Audit After the fatal shooting of Renee Goode by an agent.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the agency’s plans in Maine, where the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that increased enforcement began Tuesday. “We have approximately 1,400 targets here in Maine,” Patricia Hyde, deputy assistant director of ICE, told Fox News.
“We launched a hunt today to target the state’s worst criminal illegal aliens. On the first day of operations, we arrested illegal aliens who were convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child,” Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Secretary of State Sheena Bellows, a longtime opponent of President Donald Trump, said state officials received a request from U.S. Customs and Border Protection for classified and concealed license plates in Maine and decided not to issue them. License plates are used on unmarked vehicles, and Bellows said she wants more assurances that they will be used appropriately.
ICE’s use of license plates in other states has raised concerns: Illinois Secretary of State Alexei Giannoulias, a Democrat, issued a warning to ICE agents last year that swapping or altering license plates is illegal.
“These orders in light of rumors of ICE deployments in Maine and abuse of power in Minnesota and elsewhere raise concerns. We have not revoked existing plates but have paused the issuance of new plates. We want to make sure Maine plates will not be used for illegal purposes,” Bellows said.
Bellows has disagreed with Trump and his administration before. In 2023, She sought to withdraw his presidential candidacy from the state’s ballot, arguing that Trump had engaged in insurrection in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Recently, it refused to hand over state property Voter lists To the federal government.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment, but a top Republican in Maine said blocking the secret plates would put public safety at risk.
“This actually puts us at odds as a country. It puts us on one end of the spectrum where we shouldn’t be,” Senate Leader Trey Stewart said.
Maine’s top federal prosecutor, US Attorney Andrew Benson, joined Democrats in calling for any demonstrations in the state to remain peaceful and civil. Benson, a Trump appointee, warned people to stay out of the agents’ way or they would be prosecuted.
Governor Mills has responded, as have mayors, school district leaders and many community organizations. Aggressive enforcement actions that undermine civil rights are “not welcome,” Mills said.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Scheelen said ICE causes “anxiety, fear or uncertainty” for many.
“There is no evidence of unchecked criminal activity in our community that would require a disproportionate presence of federal agents,” Dionne said.
Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest and most diverse school district, said in a statement Wednesday that it implemented a “lockdown” of two schools to prevent anyone from entering the building during the school day on Tuesday due to concerns about ICE activity nearby.
“It was quickly determined that there was no threat to our school communities and the lockdowns were lifted within minutes. This is an understandably tense time in our community, with increasing reports and rumors of immigration enforcement actions,” the district’s statement said.
Maine Democrats condemned ICE activity.
“The Trump administration has deployed ICE agents to Portland, Lewiston and possibly other communities in Maine,” Devon Murphy Anderson, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said in a statement on Wednesday. “This is not about public safety. This is about fear, control and political theater.”