Advocates for immigrants’ rights say they’re hearing about more activity by immigration authorities in rural Maine in the aftermath of an enforcement surge last month, and they’re worried it could mean disruptions for families and businesses.

A reported raid near housing for farmworkers in Skowhegan on Tuesday is among a growing number of incidents in rural areas that the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition said it has been notified about. A witness said the case resulted in more than a dozen arrests.

“We worry this may indicate the start of a new phase of enhanced enforcement activity in the state that began with the surge in January,” Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the coalition, said in a written statement referring to the “Operation Catch of the Day” initiative by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement primarily in the Portland and Lewiston areas late last month.

A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that federal officials have indicated the Skowhegan case was part of a focused endeavor.

“Senator Collins’ office has been in touch with DHS and they have indicated that this Customs and Border Protection action is part of a targeted operation that has been ongoing for years and does not represent a resumption of the enhanced operations that ICE was conducting in Maine,” Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for Collins, said in a statement.

CBP has not confirmed the arrests, and a spokesperson did not respond to questions.

The reported arrests came on the same day as local police said that ICE arrested a man in Brunswick. The pair of incidents has alarmed advocates and officials who say a lack of communication from federal authorities is contributing to an atmosphere of fear.

It’s unclear if the cases are indicative of any broader changes in how the federal government is approaching immigration in Maine. Backyard Farms, where the workers in the Skowhegan case were reportedly employed, has previously been cited for violations of federal labor laws related to the hiring of foreign workers.

An official from the owner of the tomato grower said that the company was advised Tuesday that some workers did not arrive at its facilities as expected, but said the workers in question were contractors and were not Backyard Farms employees.

“We are investigating the situation to gather additional information,” Geoff Kosar, vice president of marketing for Mastrondari Produce, said in an email. “As a company, Backyard Farms takes employment compliance seriously.”

One of the workers was arrested without an administrative warrant and arrived in 2023 as an “unaccompanied child” which should offer him legal protections, an attorney for the man wrote in court records.

ICE has also not confirmed the Brunswick arrest, and spokespeople did not respond to questions Wednesday.

Both sweeps came a little more than a week after Collins said federal officials were ending an enhanced ICE operation in Maine — which also hasn’t been confirmed by the agency.

At the time, advocates reminded people that even with the reported scaling back, ICE and Border Patrol would still be in Maine, and the administration has not backed off its promise to carry out mass deportations.

Other members of Maine’s congressional delegation and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said Wednesday they are still trying to get information about the January operations.

“Why did they come in the first place?” Mills said in response to questions from reporters about the ICE surge at a ribbon cutting in Gorham on Wednesday. “Have they stopped? We still have not got answers.”

U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday again seeking details about the size and scope of “Operation Catch of the Day.”

In a written statement, Pingree said she is aware of the reports in Skowhegan and Brunswick, and said it’s frustrating that federal authorities are carrying out actions in those towns without communicating about what’s going on.

“Unfortunately, ICE and CBP have been conducting enforcement in Maine long before ‘Operation Catch of the Day’ and because they got tens of billions of dollars in the Big Ugly Bill, it’s clear that their ramped-up presence will continue to be felt in Maine,” Pingree said, referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Trump signed into law last year.

While recent data shows actual border arrests by U.S. Border Patrol, a law enforcement branch within CBP, are down nationwide, the agency has been working deeper inside the country — much like ICE.

Border Patrol agents “are being deployed essentially to areas beyond what is normally part of their authority and their mission,” Deborah Anthony, a law professor at the University of Illinois in Springfield who monitors the agency, told the Press Herald in August.

According to the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, reported ICE sightings are down significantly from late January, when the hotline the group runs received more than 500 reports in one week.

During the week of Feb. 3-9, that number was down to 75 possible sightings.

But while the number of overall calls is down, the group said it is getting more from rural areas than it was before the surge.

Ruben Torres, advocacy and policy manager for the coalition, said in an interview that it’s unclear whether the uptick in reports reflects an increase in public awareness around the hotline that occurred because of the surge.

The group said it’s worried about the impact the Skowhegan enforcement could have on families and businesses. Some people in the area are believed to be sheltering in place and afraid to leave their homes or work, the coalition said.

“Sudden, disruptive enforcement actions in communities like Skowhegan leave families, workplaces and communities in crisis,” Chitam said.

Staff Writers Daniel Kool and Emily Allen contributed to this report.