Federal Law Enforcement and Civil Liberties

ICE launched "Operation Catch of the Day" in Maine as part of a broader Trump-era crackdown, deploying roughly 200 federal agents to pursue about 1,400 targets — including many Somali, other African and Central American immigrants — and has arrested over 200 people amid growing fear, school absences and protests in Portland and Lewiston. Governor Janet Mills has demanded answers and urged President Trump to withdraw the agents, calling the tactics reckless, while DHS defends the sweep as targeting the "worst of the worst" and warns of prosecutions for obstruction even as court records and local officials show many arrestees had minor or no convictions.