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Data from a volunteer-run hotline show the range of places where Mainers have reported sightings of federal agents during the first week of the immigration enforcement surge here.
The Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition’s ICE hotline logged nearly 650 sightings in the seven days since the massive operation, dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day,” began on Jan. 20. Of those calls, 536 contained locations that were spread out over 56 towns — as far south as Kittery and as far north as Stockholm in Aroostook County.
The volunteers who run the hotline, which came online in September, attempt to verify sightings but are not able to confirm every report.
The majority of calls came from Maine’s largest metropolitan areas that are hubs of the state’s immigrant population, with Portland accounting for the most (168), followed by South Portland (94), then Westbrook (51). There were also large clusters in Lewiston (24) and Biddeford (36).
But callers also spotted Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who are often visible by their tactical vests and masks, in the state’s smaller towns. Agents were reportedly seen in coastal towns including Bath and Bar Harbor, along the Interstate 95 corridor in Gardiner and Richmond, and in towns dotting the western mountains like Bethel.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the country’s primary immigration enforcement agencies, has claimed the Maine operation has targeted criminals and netted more than 200 people. But media reports show that federal agents have swept up immigrants without criminal records, who held work permits, and were in the process of seeking a path to legal status or citizenship.
