Among the busload of people who federal immigration authorities detained Tuesday in Skowhegan appears to have been a Venezuelan national listed as an unaccompanied child, although federal officials say he is now an adult, court records show.

The detained person, identified in court records only by the initials “B.A.R.,” is challenging his detention through a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

The petition, filed Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Bangor, asks a judge to order authorities to keep B.A.R. in Maine, declare his detention unlawful and require authorities to release him or grant a bond hearing before an immigration judge, among other relief. 

It names as respondents several senior ranking federal officials from agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as well the department’s secretary, Kristi Noem, and Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

The filing follows a slew of similar petitions filed in Maine’s federal courts amid the recent, publicized increase in Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement operations in Maine, dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day” that resulted in the arrests of more than 200 people.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, announced the enhanced operation had ended about a week after Homeland Security said it started and that agencies would resume normal operations.

The petition argues B.A.R.’s detention is unlawful because immigration authorities are unlikely to grant a required bond hearing, despite provisions in the Fifth Amendment and a ruling from Massachusetts that says those detained are entitled to such hearings.

It also argues the detention was unlawful because authorities detained B.A.R. without an administrative warrant from DHS and because B.A.R. is an “unaccompanied minor child.” The law requires the government to “promptly” place such children “in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child.”

B.A.R. entered the United States in September 2023, and Homeland Security detained him shortly after, according to the petition. Because he was a minor, Homeland Security transferred him to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the petition says. 

The Office of Refugee Resettlement released B.A.R. in December 2023, according to a document attached to the petition.

The law defines an unaccompanied alien child as someone younger than 18 with no lawful immigration status in the United States and no parent or legal guardian in the country able to provide care and physical custody.

It is unclear how old B.A.R. is now. 

In a brief response on behalf of the government officials opposing the petition filed Wednesday afternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Lizotte wrote that B.A.R. is at least 18 years old.

B.A.R.’s attorney, Jenny Beverly of Haven Immigration Law in Portland, declined to answer any questions Wednesday, including whether her client is still a minor.

A document showing the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s release of B.A.R. in 2023 is heavily redacted, blocking out all identifying information for B.A.R. and a sponsor, listed as “other distant relative.” 

“B.A.R.’s need for privacy outweighs the public’s interest in knowing his identity,” Beverly wrote in a motion requesting to use her client’s initials in the public filings, noting she had provided identifying information directly to the federal government.

B.A.R. was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday after agents stopped a bus, the filing says. He was being held in a CBP facility in Jackman and was expected to be transferred to another agency facility in Fort Fairfield, according to Lizotte’s response on behalf of the government officials.

The brief description of the detention in the petition appears to match a reported U.S. Border Patrol operation in Skowhegan on Tuesday. Authorities have released little information about the enforcement activity.

Agents detained all 17 workers who were on a bus heading from a former motel in Skowhegan to Backyard Farms greenhouses in Madison, according to the bus driver, Roland Joyce of Poland’s Bus Service in Skowhegan.

Joyce said agents stopped his bus at 5:20 a.m., just after he pulled out of the former motel on West Front Street. It appeared to be a well-organized operation lasting about 40 minutes, and agents initially took one man into custody off the bus before speaking with the others, Joyce said.

Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam confirmed the early morning operation was led by the Border Patrol, an agency within CBP. Bucknam told the town’s select board Tuesday he was on site while it happened to ensure public safety, but otherwise had no information he was authorized to share.

Ryan Brissette, a regional spokesperson for CBP, said in a phone call Wednesday morning he was awaiting approval to release information about what happened and could not say when more senior officials would give that approval.

The agency did not release any information by Wednesday evening. Emailed inquiries to CBP’s main public affairs office and Homeland Security’s press office were not answered.

The location of the detained individuals could not be confirmed Wednesday. None were taken to the Somerset County Jail in Madison, according to Chief Deputy Mike Mitchell of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.

Donn Poland, who owns the bus company transporting the workers Tuesday morning, said the workers detained work at Backyard Farms in Madison. His company has provided transportation for both Backyard Farms workers, in the country on H-2A visas for temporary agricultural work, and employees of a Michigan-based contractor, Martinez and Sons, who work at Backyard Farms. He was not sure what kind of visa, if any, those workers have.

Poland’s company was transporting those detained Tuesday on behalf of Martinez and Sons, not Backyard Farms, he said.

A spokesperson for Backyard Farms’ Canadian parent company, Mastronardi Produce Ltd. of Kingsville, Ontario, provided only limited information Tuesday.

“We have been advised that some contract workers did not arrive to our facility earlier today,” the company’s vice president of marketing, Geoff Kosar, wrote in an email. “They are not Backyard Farms employees. We are investigating the situation to gather additional information. As a company, Backyard Farms takes employment compliance seriously.”

Kosar did not respond to further inquiries Wednesday.

A phone number listed online for Martinez and Sons rang unanswered Tuesday and Wednesday.

Backyard Farms, which grows and sells tomatoes and lettuce, bought the greenhouses at 131 River Road in Madison in 2017.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor found the company violated federal labor laws by dismissing domestic employees to make room for incoming foreign workers with H-2A visas, according to previous reports.

As a result of the violations, Backyard Farms was ordered to pay $245,351 in back wages and $92,114 in civil penalties.

Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, said in an interview Wednesday that the organization is working to connect those detained with legal resources, if needed, and gather information. Chitam had no specific information to share Wednesday about those detained in Skowhegan. 

Chitam said the organization is concerned that Tuesday’s enforcement activity could be a shift in strategy for federal agencies. In Maine, immigrant advocacy groups have not seen recently specific targeting of agricultural workers, detentions of so many people at once or major operations conducted at unusual hours, Chitam said.

“Is this going to be the trend?” Chitam said.