Triumph

WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) said she saw no need for ICE agents to invade her state, which has one of the smallest immigrant populations in the country.

“I don’t see the reason for a large number of ICE agents to come,” he told News themezone at the time.

President Donald Trump’s administration disagreed, and the looming crackdown in Maine is making life difficult for Collins, who faces new attacks for not doing enough to confront Trump as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

“Congress, including Susan Collins, should cut funding to ICE until it stops its aggressive tactics that are only instilling fear and anxiety in people across the state,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat vying to challenge Collins in the November election, said in a statement Friday.

“We will not turn a blind eye as this president threatens the rights of our people here in Maine, and we will continue to defend the rights and values ​​that the people of Maine have always stood for,” said Mills, a former state attorney general who is running with the backing of Democratic leadership.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day,” began earlier this week in Pine Tree State, targeting migrants from Somalia and other parts of Africa. The state, and especially the small town of Lewiston, has welcomed large numbers of Somali refugees and immigrants fleeing civil war in recent decades, helping to offset an otherwise aging and sometimes shrinking population.

Trump has hurled racist and derogatory rhetoric at the Somali community following a fraud scandal in Minnesota involving some Somali immigrants. ICE agents have often used violent tactics to pursue immigrants in Minnesota. as well as in Maine.

Graham Platner, Mills’ progressive rival for the Democratic Senate nomination, suggested that both Mills and Collins should do more to counter the administration’s crackdown. The military veteran and oyster fisherman urged his followers to confront ICE agents with resistance and said he planned to join anti-ICE protests in Maine this weekend.

“They just go after people because of their race, because of their accent, just because of the suspicion that they might not be here legally,” Platner said in a video published online. “Many of them are here legally and ICE agents don’t care.”

“This is not the time for our leaders to delay or simply express concern,” Platner added. “It’s not enough to say we’re going to fight back. We need to really fight back. That means organizing. It means taking to the streets.”

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

But it’s not just Collins’ political rivals who criticize her. ICE’s tactics have drawn criticism from other law enforcement agencies in Maine.

Kevin Joyce, sheriff of Cumberland County in Maine, criticized ICE on Thursday for detaining one of his recruits, who has no criminal record, and for leaving his vehicle running on a city street, a move he called “Bush League policing.”

Natasha Irving, a top prosecutor in Maine, called ongoing ICE raids “unnecessary and unwanted” and said ICE agents are “terrorizing the people of my district,” according to the Midcoast Villager.

Both officials come from predominantly Democratic areas of Maine, a left-leaning state, but center show that such criticism of Trump’s immigration crackdown is increasingly a shared sentiment after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minnesota earlier this month.

Collins has avoided directly criticizing ICE tactics, other than to say that people who are in this country legally should not be the subject of ICE investigations. The senator issued a statement Thursday reminding protesters to “be careful not to interfere with law enforcement efforts” as they demonstrate against ICE and noted that people who are “wrongfully detained” can seek assistance through the legal system.

The senator also expressed support for a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security that the Senate is expected to take up next week, which includes $20 million for body cameras and $2 million for de-escalation training for federal immigration agents.

“At this time of intense tensions, these measures could help improve trust, accountability and security,” Collins said in his statement. “I hope Congress takes these steps quickly.”

However, many Democrats have criticized the bill as it includes no real restrictions on ICE tactics. The legislation also provides $10 billion for ICE, on top of the massive $75 billion the agency received from Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which Collins helped push but ultimately voted against last year. It also provides $18 billion for Customs and Border Protection, which is assisting ICE detention operations across the country.

ICE agents don’t just detain immigrants with criminal records. They are going after immigrants without criminal records who have lived in the United States for decades. they are also picking up US citizens and detaining some of them for days. ICE has said its officers are Entering homes is allowed without a court order.undermining Americans’ civil liberties enshrined in the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Collins has not yet formally announced his bid for re-election, but is expected to run for a sixth term in the Senate. The Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.), announced this week that it would spend $42 million in support of his campaign. A GOP victory in the state would essentially eliminate Democratic chances of winning the Senate.

Collins recently drew Trump’s ire after she voted along with four other Senate Republicans to promote a war powers resolution that rejects the president’s military actions in Venezuela. Trump reportedly lashed out at Collins in “a blasphemy“phone call and even threatened to support his opponent, giving Republicans trying to defend their Senate majority another headache.