A wave of federal immigration enforcement in Maine that has been marked by sharp political polarization and a sense of fear in some communities entered its fourth day Friday.
Gov. Janet Mills, who has strongly criticized the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, issued a call for Congress to curtail funding for the agency “until they stop their aggressive tactics.”
Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce confirmed ICE officials moved all of its detainees out of the county jail after he questioned the agency’s tactics, calling officers’ actions during the arrest of a county corrections officer “bush-league policing.”
Meanwhile, Republican leaders have called on Democrats to temper their rhetoric. And conservative Mainers told our reporters this week that many of them welcome what the Trump administration has dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day,” though some also expressed reservations about agents’ tactics.
Read our updates from Thursday here.
Here’s what else you need to know:
- Masked agents detain civil engineer in Portland, leave his car running in the street with a smashed window
- Wife of detainee questions morality of ICE enforcement in Maine
- Jared Golden 1 of 7 House Democrats who voted for DHS spending bill
- Gov. Mills traveled outside of Maine as ICE operation began. Her team won’t say why.
- A new anti-ICE law isn’t in effect yet. Maine State Police are already following it.
- Maine businesses, customers react to ICE presence
- Asylum seeker arrested at ICE field office in Scarborough now in Massachusetts
Our journalists are working to verify sightings and report events as they happen. Have a tip? Fill out this form, reach us on Signal at PressHeraldTips.295 or email [email protected]. Tips are confidential.
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Noon: Portland hotel where protesters gathered didn’t respond to questions about agents’ presence
Management at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Portland didn’t respond Friday when asked if federal immigration agents have been staying at the Old Port hotel that was the site of a protest Thursday night.
Neither did the hotel’s owners at Apple Hospitality REIT in Richmond, Virginia.
— Kelley Bouchard
11:30 a.m.: ICE hotline calls are up nearly 5,000%, advocacy group says
The operators of Maine’s Immigrant Defense Hotline, which allows callers to report sightings and tips regarding federal immigration activity, say they have seen a major uptick in calls since news of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge began to circulate last week.
Between Jan. 13 and Friday morning, the hotline saw a nearly 5,000% increase in calls compared to the prior 10-day period, said Hunter Cropsey of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.
MIRC publishes daily call data on its social media accounts.
On Wednesday, the latest day for which data was available as of Friday morning, operators fielded 1,169 incoming calls — roughly 35% more than the day before. The calls have also grown longer on average, according to MIRC.
Among Wednesday’s calls were 46 from Portland, 24 from South Portland, 22 from Westbrook and 17 from Biddeford, though the group cautioned that not all calls include location details.
The group also provided a breakdown of calls by type for Tuesday. The majority referenced suspected sightings and tips about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, but there were also more than 100 calls for support and general information, according to MIRC.
MIRC, working with other advocacy groups, helped launch the hotline in October. It is designed to connect vulnerable Mainers with resources and to track the movements and actions of federal immigration agents.
— Daniel Kool
11 a.m.: Passamaquoddy chief says ICE has ‘been in contact‘ with tribal leaders
Amkuwiposohehs “Pos” Bassett, chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik, moved to assuage the concerns of tribal members in a letter to the community shared online Thursday night and said that ICE has already been in contact with the tribal government.
Bassett did not elaborate in his letter on the nature of that communication.
He encouraged tribal members to carry their tribal IDs and pledged the full support of the tribal government and its legal representation to any tribal member who is unlawfully detained or arrested by federal immigration officials.
The announcement followed a similar letter from Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis, who on Tuesday also urged members of his tribe to carry their tribal IDs. Members of federally recognized tribes in other states have been detained or arrested, Francis said, and there have been reports of federal agents refusing to accept tribal IDs as proof of citizenship.
“I’m asking you to be proud of who you are, I want you to stand out, I want you to walk down the street knowing that you have the full force of the Passamaquoddy Tribe behind you and we are willing to step up in any situation you cross paths with,” Bassett wrote.
He advised any Sipayik residents who aren’t citizens and lack legal documentation to contact an immigration attorney.
Federal agents would have a police escort if they come onto tribal territory, Bassett said.
— Reuben M. Schafir
10:55 a.m.: One summonsed during protest outside hotel where ICE believed to be staying, police say
One person was issued a summons during a Portland protest Thursday night outside a downtown hotel where protesters believed federal immigration agents were staying, police confirmed Friday.
Videos circulating on social media showed dozens of people banging drums, blowing whistles and chanting outside the Residence Inn at 154 Fore St.
Portland police spokesperson Brad Nadeau said more than 50 people gathered Thursday night, making noise and “causing disturbances inside the lobby.”
Police arrived shortly after 10 p.m. and told the group to disperse or risk being charged with disorderly conduct. One person, a 28-year-old from Brunswick, was issued a criminal summons “in lieu of arrest,” Nadeau said.
— Dylan Tusinski
10:50 a.m.: Immigration lawyer filed late-night emergency petition to prevent client’s transfer from Portland jail
A federal judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to move at least one immigrant detainee from the Cumberland County Jail late Thursday night, when the federal agency transferred its detainees out of the facility.
Tong Qi Lu, 56, has been held at the jail in Portland for 10 months after a Maine State Trooper called ICE on him, according to a petition Lu’s attorney filed Thursday night in Maine’s U.S. District Court. Lu was living in Bangor and owned a restaurant there, according to court records.
Federal attorneys representing ICE had not yet responded in court Friday morning, but ICE’s online locator indicated that Lu is now being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Center in Massachusetts.
Sheriff Kevin Joyce, who oversees the Portland jail, confirmed Friday morning that ICE detainees had been moved out of the facility. The mass transfer came hours after Joyce criticized ICE on Thursday for its tactics when arresting a county corrections officer this week.
Lu’s attorney Oriana Farnham said in the petition that Lu left China when he was about 20 years old, and that he has called the U.S. home for more than 30 years.
ICE determined in 2020 that his removal to China “was not likely in the foreseeable future” and that he posed no risk to the community, Farnham wrote in court records. She said Lu has been complying with ICE’s conditions of release for the last five years, and that a petition for lawful permanent status is still pending.
Lu was taken into custody again in April, Farnham said, after a state trooper stopped Lu while he was searching for supplies at a scrapyard with the property owner’s permission.
“After checking Mr. Lu’s driver’s license, the Trooper informed him, ‘You’ve got trouble — ICE wants you,’” Farnham wrote.
The trooper reportedly took Lu to a restaurant he owns in Bangor to hug his family members, before Lu was transferred to ICE custody and brought to Portland.
— Emily Allen
10:40 a.m.: Avesta Housing says ICE has been active at its properties
Avesta Housing said Friday that it was aware of “ICE activity at a limited number of our properties.”
The affordable housing nonprofit manages over 3,000 units across the state, including a 52-unit South Portland property designed to serve asylum seekers experiencing homelessness. That building opened in 2023.
Avesta declined to comment on any specifics of the activity.
“Avesta employees handle any requests for resident information or property access in accordance with applicable law. To protect the privacy and safety of residents and employees, we do not disclose property locations or comment on the status of individual residents,” the agency said in an emailed statement.
“Our mission is unwavering, and we support those who have chosen to make their home in an Avesta community. We recognize that this is a time of great stress and uncertainty for many, and the safety and wellbeing of all our employees and residents is paramount.”
— Hannah LaClaire
10:30 a.m.: Gov. Janet Mills urges Sen. Susan Collins, Congress to curtail ICE funding ‘until they stop their aggressive tactics’
Gov. Janet Mills on Friday called on Congress to curtail funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “until they stop their aggressive tactics.”
Mills, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, specifically called out Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whom she hopes to unseat this fall, in a written statement released by her campaign.
“We’ve seen ICE agents separating mothers from young children without any empathy or any respect for the rule of law,” Mills said. “Congress, including Susan Collins, should curtail funding for ICE until they stop their aggressive tactics that are just instilling fear and anxiety in people across the state.”
A surge of federal agents came to Maine this week as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort. Agents have been seen wearing masks and moving around Portland, Lewiston and surrounding communities in unmarked vehicles.
The administration says it is targeting “the worst of the worst,” but state officials and families say that people with misdemeanors or no criminal records are being detained and disappeared.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote next week on a minibus package of spending bills that includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The package is the final annual appropriations bill needed to prevent a partial government shutdown at the end of the month.
Collins has said she plans to support the bill, which includes $20 million in funding for body cameras and $2 million for deescalation training — measures that she said can help protect ICE agents and the public.
“At this time of heightened tensions, these steps could help improve trust, accountability, and safety,” Collins said in a written statement this week. “I hope that Congress will adopt these measures quickly.”
The funding bill was approved Thursday by the House of Representatives, with Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, one of just seven Democrats voting in support.
Mills is running in the Democratic primary against Graham Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer from Sullivan who has forcefully condemned ICE tactics throughout his campaign. Platner said he supports “dismantling” ICE and holding congressional hearings.
— Randy Billings
10 a.m.: ICE detainees removed from Portland jail after sheriff’s criticism
Detainees who were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were removed from the Cumberland County Jail on Thursday night, according to the sheriff.
Sheriff Kevin Joyce said Friday morning that ICE officials called the sheriff’s office Thursday to inform staff that they were removing all of their detainees in custody at the Portland jail. He said the detainees were transferred out of the jail Thursday night.
The move came after Joyce criticized the federal agency’s practices at a news conference Thursday after agents apprehended a Cumberland County corrections officer Wednesday evening.
Read the full story here.
— Dylan Tusinski and Morgan Womack
9 a.m.: Masked agents detain man in Portland, leave his car running in the street with a smashed window
Masked agents in police vests detained Juan Sebastian Carvajal-Munoz, a civil engineer from Colombia employed by an engineering consulting company, in Portland on Thursday morning. Carvajal-Munoz earned a master’s degree from the University of Maine, and colleagues said he was in the country on a work visa.
An unmarked dark Subaru with tinted windows cut off Carvajal-Munoz as he was driving his grey Hyundai Tucson on Pearl Street in downtown Portland at 8:46 a.m., according to Jesse Smith, who witnessed the encounter.
Agents got out and quickly began using a crowbar to try and pry open his window, Smith said. They then smashed it to pieces. Three agents pulled Carvajal-Munoz out of his car, placed him in their Subaru and drove off, he said.
Smith couldn’t hear what, if anything, the agents said to Carvajal-Munoz but said the whole encounter was very quick.
“In less than two minutes, they smashed his window and dragged him out of the car,” Smith said. “He was compliant. He wasn’t resisting or anything.”
Agents left the car running — with its smashed window — on the street, according to interviews with Smith and a nearby parking attendant. A passerby then drove the vehicle into the parking lot, the attendant said. Smith said Carvajal-Munoz’s bag and keys were left in the passenger seat, and his phone was discarded on the road behind the car.
Read the full story here.
— Rose Lundy and Josh Keefe, The Maine Monitor
7:50 a.m.: Homeland Security launches new website to highlight what it calls ‘worst of the worst’ arrests in Maine
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that the agency has revamped its new website to highlight some arrests carried out this week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The site, which the administration is calling the “Worst of the Worst,” now features 13 people who have been apprehended by ICE agents in Maine. They are accused of committing crimes ranging from drug offenses, to failure to report a crime, to aggravated assault.
ICE officials confirmed Thursday that agents have arrested at least 100 people in Maine since its enhanced enforcement operation began. Some local and state leaders have cast doubts on ICE’s claims that agents are only arresting people with criminal records.
— Morgan Womack