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Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce became the first Maine police official to condemn U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents following the detention of one of his office’s corrections officer recruits.
The recruit, whom Joyce did not name at a Thursday news conference, was detained in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood on Wednesday evening. The sheriff said he was allowed to work in Maine and passed background checks with a “squeaky clean” record with no disqualifying conduct or convictions.
Joyce called the arrest, during which a handful of agents left the recruit’s car running on a street, a “bush league” move at a Thursday press conference.
“As my staff brought it to my attention, it’s like, ‘Are we really worried about the fact that this individual is trying to get his immigration papers in line so he can become a legal citizen?” Joyce said.
