Enough! Let the Jan. 7 murder of Renee Good by ICE in Minneapolis be a turning point in this campaign of mass terror. 

Thirty-two people died in ICE custody in 2025 and nine people have been shot by ICE since President Donald Trump took office.

ICE’s cruelties at its detention centers comprise a catalog of barbarism: spoiled food and chronic food shortages, tents and bathrooms flooded with water fouled by urine and feces, lack of showers, soap and clean clothing, medical neglect, lack of legal representation and physical abuse. ICE is splitting families. ICE is kidnapping people at schools, workplaces, hospitals and courthouse corridors. To the millions who came to this country aspiring to contribute to its economy and participate in its liberties, ICE offers only derision and brutality.

Maine is better off without ICE. Think about it: Whereas last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act gave federal agencies $170 billion over four years for anti-immigrant enforcement, detention and deportation, Maine, with just 1 or 2% of that sum, could arguably (1) give free child care to every 2-, 3- and 4-year-old youngster in the state, (2) eradicate food shortages among Maine’s hungry, and (3) provide the housing and social services needed by the approximately 2,500 people who are homeless in our state.

Sens. Collins and King, Reps. Pingree and Golden, the time has come to freeze ICE funding in Congress. Gov. Mills, Maine lawmakers, please join the call: ICE out of Maine.

Lee Chisholm
Freeport