The administration of United States President Donald Trump has introduced its newest immigration enforcement operation, this time within the northeastern state of Maine.
On Wednesday, the Division of Homeland Safety confirmed that immigration raids had begun a day earlier, beneath the identify “Operation Catch of the Day”.
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In a statement, a Trump administration spokesperson appeared to sign that concentrating on Maine was a political response to the continuing feud between the president and the state’s governor, Democrat Janet Mills.
“Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they’d slightly stand with prison unlawful aliens than defend law-abiding Americans,” stated spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
However rumours have swirled that Maine was singled out for its important Somali American inhabitants within the cities of Portland and Lewiston. Estimates put the whole variety of Somali Individuals within the state at about 3,000.
Trump has repeatedly denounced the Somali group over the previous a number of months, evaluating its members to “rubbish” at a December cupboard assembly. As not too long ago as Tuesday, he used his White Home podium to name Somalis and Somali Individuals “ loads of very low IQ folks”.
Racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric has been a trademark of Trump’s campaigns for public workplace, and he has repeatedly singled out particular teams – together with Haitians and Mexicans – to falsely tie their immigrant identification to pervasive prison exercise.
Parallels with Minnesota
Trump’s concentrate on the Somali group comes after a handful of members had been implicated in a fraud scandal in Minnesota, a midwestern state the place immigration enforcement operations had been launched in December.
These efforts have been marked by violent clashes between federal brokers and protesters, and one lady, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was shot useless in her automotive after an interplay with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Fears that these tensions might spill into Maine dominated a Wednesday information convention with metropolis officers in Portland.
Mayor Mark Dion informed reporters that immigrant communities within the area felt “anxious and fearful” as ICE brokers started their crackdown.
“They see this motion as unpredictable and a risk to their households,” he defined.
He additionally questioned whether or not a heavy-handed operation was vital to deal with immigration infractions within the space, and he referred to as on ICE to undertake completely different techniques than it had in Minnesota.
“I wish to underscore one essential level: Whereas we respect the regulation, we problem the necessity for a paramilitary method to the enforcement of federal statutes,” Dion stated.
“Federal immigration regulation is lawful. Its administration and enforcement is lawful,” he added. “What we’ve been involved with, as a council, is the enforcement techniques that ICE has undertaken in different communities, which to our thoughts seem to threaten and intimidate populations.”
Nonetheless, Dion expressed optimism that ICE would undertake a extra tailor-made method to apprehending native suspects.
Whereas the town of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has seen practically 2,000 immigration officers flood its streets, the mayor predicted that Maine wouldn’t see the identical “massing of federal brokers”.
“We’re seeing very individualised exercise by ICE. An individual right here, a neighbourhood there,” he stated. “Their conduct, no less than as it’s present in Maine, appears to be centered, which might point out to me – and that is the hypothesis – that they’re performing on the idea of an precise courtroom warrant.”
That, he stated, marked a departure from the “random, show-me-your-papers form of expertise” that residents had skilled in Minnesota.
Outrage at ICE operations
Nonetheless, whereas Dion advocated for a wait-and-see method to the ICE operation, different metropolis officers took a more durable stance.
One Portland metropolis councillor, Wesley Pelletier, described the unfolding raids as a part of “an agenda of white nationalism and would possibly makes proper”.
“This can be a conflict of terror that’s being waged on our metropolis by the federal authorities,” Pelletier stated. “We’ve seen folks of all ages getting thrown on the bottom and getting thrown into vans.”
To this point, Fox Information quoted ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde as saying the company had made 50 arrests as far as a part of operation “Catch of the Day”. Hyde added that ICE had recognized practically 1,400 people to detain in Maine.
Wednesday’s assertion from the Division of Homeland Safety highlighted 4 arrests as examples, displaying folks from Sudan, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Angola.
It described the 4 people as “the worst of the worst” and accused them of crimes starting from aggravated assault to endangering the welfare of a kid, although it was unclear in a single case if the accusation had resulted in a conviction.
“We’re now not permitting prison unlawful aliens to terrorize Americans,” McLaughlin stated within the assertion.
However Democratic officers within the state steered that the Trump administration had refused to coordinate within the lead-up to “Catch of the Day”, heightening nervousness on the native stage.
On January 14, practically every week earlier than the operation was launched, Governor Mills posted on social media that she had “tried, unsuccessfully up to now, to substantiate” the upcoming surge in federal immigration enforcement.
In a video assertion, she stated the state had reached out to native governments in Portland and Lewiston to organize. She added that she too felt “indignant” concerning the anticipated surge.
“Our objective, as at all times, will likely be to guard the protection and the rights of the folks of Maine,” Mills stated.
“To the federal authorities, I say this: In case your plan is to come back right here to be provocative and to undermine the civil rights of Maine residents, don’t be confused. These techniques are usually not welcome right here to the folks of Maine.”
She additionally took a jab on the pattern of federal brokers utilizing masks and different facial coverings to hide their identities.
“Look, Maine is aware of what good regulation enforcement appears like as a result of our regulation enforcement are held to excessive skilled requirements,” Mills stated. “They’re accountable to the regulation. And I’ll let you know this: They don’t put on a masks to protect their identities, and so they don’t arrest folks to be able to fill a quota.”
A political rivalry
Mills and Trump have lengthy been political adversaries, with their feud erupting in a public discussion board. In February final yr, shortly after Trump returned to workplace for a second time period, he hosted a White Home gathering for governors, the place he referred to as out Mills personally.
“Is Maine right here? The governor of Maine?” Trump stated whereas outlining insurance policies barring transgender athletes from sporting occasions. “Are you not going to adjust to it?”
“I’m complying with state and federal regulation,” Mills responded. The stress escalated from there.
“You’d higher comply as a result of in any other case you’re not getting any, any federal funding,” Trump shot again.
“See you in courtroom,” Mills replied.
“Good. I’ll see you in courtroom. I stay up for that. That must be a very easy one. And revel in your life after, governor, as a result of I don’t assume you’ll be in elected politics,” he stated.
The interplay made nationwide information and cemented the frosty relationship between the 2 leaders, with Trump demanding an apology and slamming the Democratic governor for months afterwards.
His administration additionally took a sequence of escalating actions designed to focus on Mills, together with launching an schooling probe in her state, suspending a marine analysis grant and freezing different federal funds to Maine.
In response to this week’s ICE deployment, Mills issued a brief assertion acknowledging the Trump administration’s newest efforts.
“Collectively, we are going to proceed to put the protection and civil rights of Maine folks above all else, and stay vigilant in our protection of due course of and the rule of regulation,” she wrote.
Maine is about to carry its subsequent gubernatorial race in 2026, as a part of the yr’s midterm election cycle.
Having served two phrases as governor, Mills will not be eligible for re-election and can as an alternative be making a run for the US Senate, difficult Republican incumbent Susan Collins.
