Federal immigration enforcement has turned its focus to Maine, a state with a relatively small undocumented population but a large and visible community of African refugees concentrated in its biggest cities. The shift has unsettled local officials, schools, businesses and immigrant families, even as federal authorities insist the operation is aimed at serious criminal offenders.
The Department of Homeland Security has branded the effort “Operation Catch of the Day,” a name that echoes Maine’s fishing industry and follows similar titles used for recent enforcement surges elsewhere, including “Metro Surge” in Minnesota and “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
Reports of increased arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have rippled through Portland and Lewiston, triggering fear among immigrants and sharp resistance from Democratic leaders. Gov. Janet Mills and other officials have pushed back publicly, including rejecting a request to assist ICE with undercover license plates used on unmarked vehicles.
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As anxiety has spread, residents have organized informal support systems. Neighbors are warning one another when ICE agents are spotted, while volunteers are delivering food and basic supplies to families reluctant to leave their homes. In Portland, the school superintendent said the district is preparing an online learning option for students, more than half of whom are not white. Some businesses have gone further, posting notices that ICE agents are not welcome on their premises.
“While we respect the law, we challenge the need for a paramilitary approach,” Portland Mayor Mark Dion said at a news conference Wednesday alongside other local leaders. “This council doesn’t stand apart from our immigrant communities, we stand with them.”
Portland and Lewiston are home to thousands of residents of African descent, including one of the largest Somali populations in the country. Somali immigration to Maine accelerated in the early 2000s, reshaping the demographics of several cities.
City council member Pious Ali, who is originally from Ghana, said the visible presence of ICE agents has deeply disrupted daily life in Portland.
“Our schools have seen about a quarter of immigrants not showing up,” Ali said. He added that fear is also keeping people from their jobs. “There are immigrants who live here who work in our hospitals, they work in our schools, they work in our hotels, they are part of the economic engine of our community.”
Ali said enforcement does not need to be carried out in a way that terrifies entire neighborhoods.
“The federal government has the ability to contact these people without unleashing fear into our communities,” he said, adding that agents do not need to smash doors or windows to do their work.
Another Portland city councilor said residents are avoiding even routine errands as word of arrests spreads. Councilor Wes Pelletier described a growing, grassroots effort to track ICE activity and support those affected.
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Business owners, teachers and college students, Pelletier said, have been sharing information to warn neighborhoods when agents are nearby, while volunteers have stepped in to deliver groceries and diapers.
“Every arrest feels like a wound to Portland,” he said.
The operation in Maine, a mostly rural state of about 1.4 million people, comes as tensions remain high in Minnesota, where confrontations between ICE agents and demonstrators have continued and the agency faces scrutiny following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an agent.
ICE did not respond to questions Wednesday about its plans in Maine. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said stepped-up enforcement began Tuesday. Patricia Hyde, ICE’s deputy assistant director, told Fox News that agents had identified about 1,400 targets in the state and had made 50 arrests by Tuesday.
“We have launched Operation Catch of the Day to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in the state. On the first day of operations, we arrested illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said state officials recently received a request from U.S. Customs and Border Protection for confidential Maine license plates used on undercover vehicles. Bellows, a longtime critic of President Donald Trump, said her office declined to issue new plates without stronger assurances about how they would be used.
“These requests in light of rumors of ICE deployment to Maine and abuses of power in Minnesota and elsewhere raise concerns. We have not revoked existing plates but have paused issuance of new plates. We want to be assured that Maine plates will not be used for lawless purposes,” Bellows said.
She pointed to past controversies in other states. In Illinois, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias warned ICE agents last year that altering or swapping license plates is illegal.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment, AP indicated in a report. A leading Maine Republican, however, criticized the decision to withhold the plates, arguing it could put public safety at risk.
“That really, one, puts us at odds as a state. Puts us at one end of an extreme that we really shouldn’t be on,” said Senate Leader Trey Stewart.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Benson, Maine’s top federal prosecutor and a Trump appointee, joined Democrats in urging any protests to remain peaceful. Benson warned that anyone interfering with ICE agents could face prosecution.
Gov. Mills has continued to voice opposition, saying aggressive federal actions that undermine civil rights are “not welcome” in Maine. Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline reiterated those concerns, saying enforcement activity has fueled “anxiety, fear or uncertainty” across his city.
“There is no evidence of unchecked criminal activity in our community requiring a disproportionate presence of federal agents,” Dion said.
The unease has reached schools as well. Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest and most diverse district, said it temporarily locked down two schools on Tuesday to prevent anyone from entering during the day after concerns about nearby ICE activity.
“It was quickly determined that there was no threat to our school communities and the lockouts were lifted within minutes. This is an understandably tense time in our community, as reports and rumors of immigration enforcement actions grow,” the district said in a statement.
Maine Democrats have broadly condemned the federal operation.
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“The Trump administration has deployed ICE agents to Portland, Lewiston, and possibly other Maine communities. This is not about public safety. It is about fear, control, and political theater,” said Devon Murphy-Anderson, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party.
