{"id":437822,"date":"2026-01-30T00:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/437822\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T00:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:21:11","slug":"maine-immigration-surge-ends-as-sen-collins-confirms-ice-stand-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/437822\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine immigration surge ends as Sen. Collins confirms ICE stand-down"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) \u2014 Federal immigration officials have ceased their \u201cenhanced operations\u201d in Maine, the site of an enforcement surge and hundreds of arrests<\/a> since last week, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Collins, a Republican, announced the development after saying she had spoken directly with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here,\u201d Collins said in a statement, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. \u201cI have been urging Secretary Noem and others in the administration to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement came after President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in Minneapolis<\/a> after a second deadly shooting there by federal immigration agents.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Sen. Susan Collins announces end to ICE large-scale operations in Maine after talks with Noem\n <\/p>\n

A U.S. lawmaker says ICE is ending large-scale operations in her state. AP correspondent Donna Warder reports.<\/p>\n

Collins said ICE and Border Patrol officials \u201cwill continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that it would \u201ccontinue to enforce the law across the country, as we do every day.\u201d ICE, which is part of DHS, said in a statement that it performed its duties despite meeting resistance from demonstrators. Neither statement addressed whether ICE was drawing down in Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe early success of this operation displays how effectively ICE officers can operate anywhere and in any environment,\u201d said ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde.<\/p>\n

Collins\u2019 announcement comes more than a week after ICE began an operation it dubbed \u201cCatch of the Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal officials said about 50 arrests were made the first day and that roughly 1,400 people were operational targets in the mostly rural state of 1.4 million residents, 4% of whom are foreign-born.<\/p>\n

In Lewiston, one of the cities targeted by ICE, Mayor Carl Sheline called the scale-down welcome news, describing the agency\u2019s operations as \u201cdisastrous\u201d for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE operations in Maine have failed to improve public safety and have caused lasting damage to our communities. We will continue working to ensure that those who were wrongfully detained by ICE are returned to us,\u201d said Sheline, who leads a city where the mayoral position is required to be nonpartisan. <\/p>\n

ICE has also launched immigration operations in Minnesota, Chicago and other cities. While Trump has pushed to deploy National Guard troops to crack down on both immigration and crime, as of early January, the White House said it was backing down after facing several legal roadblocks.<\/p>\n

Court records show a complex story<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin last week said some Maine arrests were of people \u201cconvicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child.\u201d <\/p>\n

Court records painted a slightly different story<\/a>: While some had felony convictions, others were detainees with unresolved immigration proceedings or who were arrested but never convicted of a crime.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities highlighted the case of Elmara Correia, saying she was \u201carrested previously for endangering the welfare of a child.\u201d However, Manuel Vemba, who has a four-year-old son with Correia, said Thursday that a neighbor called police about the boy playing outside with friends, and that he doesn\u2019t believe any charges were brought.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe does not have any criminal record, and she\u2019s not the type of person they\u2019re labeling her,\u201d he said. \u201cElmara is a mother, just like many other mothers out there, who loves her child and has sacrificed for her child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vemba described his former partner as trustworthy, hardworking and devoted to their son, who is on the autism spectrum and loves to play soccer and run.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did everything she could to guarantee that my son was safe and happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The boy is now staying with Vemba, who has told him, \u201cMommy\u2019s traveling. Mommy will be back.\u201d On Wednesday, a Massachusetts judge granted her request for a bail hearing.<\/p>\n

A critical election year<\/p>\n

Collins is up for reelection this year. Unlike a handful of Republican senators facing potentially tough campaigns, Collins has not called for Noem to step down or be fired. She\u2019s also avoided criticizing ICE tactics, beyond saying ICE should not target people who are in the U.S. legally.<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who announced her Senate candidacy in October and could face Collins in the general election, has challenged immigration officials to provide judicial warrants, real-time arrest numbers and basic information about who is being detained in Maine<\/a>. She also accused Collins of governing \u201cwithout any courage\u201d shortly after the Republican voted in favor of funding<\/a> the DHS and several other agencies<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n

ICE must account for its actions in Maine even if it is scaling back, Mills said Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still do not know critical details about the 200 individuals ICE says it has detained, many of whom appear to be here legally, who have no criminal record and who are not \u2018the worst of the worst.\u2019 The people of Maine deserve to know the identities of every person taken from here, the legal justification for doing so, where they are being held, and what the federal government\u2019s plan for them is,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n

First-time Democratic candidate Graham Platner \u2014 who is challenging Mills in the primary \u2014 has criticized both Mills\u2019 and Collins\u2019 handling of ICE and has demanded the agency be dismantled. Platner organized a protest Thursday outside Collins\u2019 office in Portland, Maine.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show Mills accused Collins of governing \u201cwithout any courage,\u201d not \u201cwithout any coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island, and Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack contributed from Concord, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Maine (AP) \u2014 Federal immigration officials have ceased their \u201cenhanced operations\u201d in Maine, the site of an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,206793,12,1070,793,790,93692,4801,10482,206794,2001,10481,196794,3,206792,111,880,200479,12800,3767,6148,795,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-437822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-carl-sheline","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-immigration","tag-janet-mills","tag-kristi-noem","tag-maine","tag-manuel-vemba","tag-massachusetts","tag-me-state-wire","tag-minnesota-ice-crackdown","tag-news","tag-patricia-hyde","tag-politics","tag-rhode-island","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-susan-collins","tag-tricia-mclaughlin","tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}