BRIDGEWATER, Maine — Maine Border Patrol agents have arrested 16 people since last week for allegedly being in the country illegally, including two Indian citizens, 13 Romanians and a Colombian.
The Colombian man, arrested in Union on Tuesday, was a member of the South American Theft Group, border agents said. On Friday, agents arrested the Indian citizens crossing the border on foot in Bridgewater, four days after arresting 13 Romanian citizens during a traffic stop near Skowhegan.
The agency did not provide the names or ages of the people arrested or details about how they were apprehended, but did say the Colombian had an active warrant from New Jersey for burglary and was previously apprehended for illegal entry by border patrol agents in El Paso in 2022.
Arrests by Houlton Sector agents, who patrol all of Maine, hit a 24-year high in April, according to the federal agency. Maine’s border patrol continues to experience significant numbers of apprehensions across the state, according to officials.
Additionally, immigration detainees were flown out of the Presque Isle International Airport at least twice in June. Because the agency detained so many people in Maine, it had to transfer some of them to other states, CBP spokesman Ryan Brissette said in a previous interview.
There is no more so-called “catch and release,” according to CBP. Those arrested will face prosecution and possible removal.
“Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime,” said Houlton Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Craig Shepley in a statement. “Public safety, border security, and national security threats are the number one focus of the border patrol, and we will apply all resources available to us to apprehend these individuals and impose consequences.”
In the past two years, state border agents have seen an uptick in the number of Romanians in the country illegally, but the arrest of the Indian citizens is rare, with agents having only encountered 15 people from India in three years, the agency said.
Of the 344 encounters that agents had with people illegally crossing the border into Maine last fiscal year, 12 percent involved Romanians, according to CBP data. That portion was up from the year before, and it has grown again to 13 percent in the first few months of this fiscal year, which started in October.
“If you cross our borders illegally you will be apprehended, prosecuted and deported back to your country of origin,” Shepley said.
