The organizers of a hotline to track activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Maine say calls have slowed down after a huge spike last week, when ICE began a large-scale operation, though people are still reporting unmarked police vehicles and agents patrolling their neighborhoods.
Mufalo Chitam, the executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, said Tuesday that calls to the ICE activity hotline weren’t as frequent Monday and Tuesday as they were last week, though reports continue to come in. She didn’t have exact data available Tuesday afternoon.
Since ICE began its enhanced enforcement operation in Maine last week, the Immigrant Defense Hotline has received thousands of calls and hundreds of first-hand reports of suspected federal immigration activity, the coalition said.
Most of the possible ICE sightings have occurred in Portland, South Portland and Westbrook, the coalition said Tuesday.
From Jan. 13-23, the hotline saw a nearly 5,000% increase in calls compared to the prior 10-day period, said Hunter Cropsey, MIRC’s senior program and community engagement manager.
The apparent slowdown this week comes after Department of Homeland Security officials said more than 200 people had been apprehended by ICE agents since Jan. 20, when “Operation Catch of the Day” began. The department said it had a target list of roughly 1,400 Maine residents for the operation.
Though DHS has said its efforts are focused on violent criminals that it has described as “the worst of the worst,” state and local officials and community members have said some of the people detained are U.S. citizens, in the country legally or have no significant criminal records.
Chitam said her organization has been directing people to stay inside and not open doors for immigration agents if they knock. She said she and other volunteers are still trying to make sense of ICE’s tactics and patterns of increased enforcement.