The Trump administration’s controversial immigration enforcement campaign in Maine appears to be widening a rift over homeland security funding among members of Maine’s congressional delegation.
Maine’s two U.S House members — Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden — had already used starkly different language to describe immigration operations taking place around Lewiston and in the Greater Portland area. But a vote on the House floor on Thursday — the third day of stepped-up ICE operations in Maine — underscored those differences.
Pingree, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee that crafts federal spending bills, joined the vast majority of Democrats in opposing a bill to provide $64 billion to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement. The measure contained roughly $10 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which Pingree on Thursday accused of “terrorizing” Maine residents.
Pingree, who represents the 1st District, has also called for the removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
But Golden was one of just seven Democrats to vote for the bill. Golden, who represents the more rural and conservative 2nd District, noted in a statement that blocking the measure would have affected funding for the Coast Guard, FEMA, the Transportation Security Administration and other public safety agencies.
“Failure to fund DHS would undermine public safety and emergency response services,” Golden said in a statement. “To me, that was never an option. By engaging in the process, rather than blocking it, we secured funding for body cameras and de-escalation training — two proven tactics embraced by law enforcement agencies across the country — that I believe will support responsible law enforcement and begin to restore trust.”
Golden said earlier this week that targeted ICE operations to remove individuals who have engaged in criminal activities “serve the public interest” but that immigrants with legal status “should not be targeted, court authorities should be obeyed and due process must be followed.”
Earlier Thursday, Pingree demanded in a letter to Noem that DHS and ICE share more data about who has been detained and why, whether judicial warrants had been issued beforehand and the immigration status of those who had been detained.
“You state that you are no longer allowing American citizens to be terrorized, yet that is exactly what your agents are doing: terrorizing everyday Americans for practicing their legal rights,” Pingree wrote to Noem. “This, yet again, suggests your operation was never intended to be a targeted enforcement activity, but rather an attempt to sow confusion, disrupt daily life, and create a pervasive atmosphere of cruelty.”
The Senate is expected to take up the DHS spending measure and several other spending bills next week as lawmakers race to avoid another partial shutdown of the federal government after Jan. 30.
Collins, who has led negotiations on the various spending bills as chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, signaled her support for the DHS bill this week. Collins has said she supports the arrest and deportation of individuals who have entered the country illegally and engaged in criminal activity but that “people who are in this country legally should not be targets of ICE investigations.”
“I have advocated for providing body cameras and de-escalation training for ICE personnel,” Collins said in a statement. “At this time of heightened tensions, these steps could help improve trust, accountability, and safety. Our proposed funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security includes $20 million for body cameras and $2 million for de-escalation training, which could help protect both ICE agents and the general public. I hope that Congress will adopt these measures quickly.”
Some of Collins’ would-be opponents in the fall election, including Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, have called on the Republican to use her position as appropriations chairwoman to curtail funding to ICE.
Independent Sen. Angus King has also called for cutting ICE’s budget as the immigration enforcement campaign expands in Maine. Asked on Friday whether he would support or oppose the DHS budget, King’s office said the senator is “exploring options on next steps.”
Earlier this week, King said that “there is terrorizing of American citizens going on — but it’s by ICE, not by the people that they are arresting.”
“Stopping this will require meaningful engagement across the board—in the courts, the Congress (particularly the Republican majority), and, of course, the public,” King said in a statement. “For my part, I intend to fight back by moving to curtail the budget of ICE until such time that they respect our Constitutionally-guaranteed rights (and take off the masks), stop his dangerous and illegal international adventurism, and rein in a government which seems to be based upon whim and vengeance rather than law and common sense.”
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
