{"id":197738,"date":"2026-01-22T15:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ice-launches-immigration-enforcement-action-in-maine-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T15:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:25:16","slug":"ice-launches-immigration-enforcement-action-in-maine-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ice-launches-immigration-enforcement-action-in-maine-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE launches immigration enforcement action in Maine – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
A new immigration enforcement operation is underway in Maine, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday<\/a>.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin did not say how many arrests were made during the first day of the Maine operation, dubbed \u201cCatch of the Day.\u201d In a statement<\/a> Wednesday, she only said DHS \u201carrested illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child.\u201d
On Tuesday, as residents in the cities of Portland and Lewiston noticed a heightened presence of immigration officers in their communities, they began posting videos on social media and calling a community hotline to report the sightings and some arrests.
The hotline, managed by the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, received significantly more calls than usual on Tuesday, Ruben Torres, the organization\u2019s advocacy and policy manager, told NBC News.
On Tuesday evening, the advocacy group said they were only able to verify two of the reports because they didn\u2019t have enough volunteers who could quickly verify all the reports from the hotline.
The two verified incidents \u201cseemed to be very targeted,\u201d Torres said. In one, officers appeared to be serving a warrant to someone at a house, and in the other officers arrested one individual outside a Home Depot.
Reports of immigration enforcement activity around Portland on Tuesday morning led to a brief lockout at two high schools in the area, with the school not allowing anyone to come into the buildings. The lockouts were lifted after it was determined that the activity did not affect the schools, according to NBC affiliate WCSH of Portland<\/a>.
\u201cIt really is a very stressful moment in time,\u201d Torres said. \u201cWe have people who are unsure if it\u2019s safe to go out in public because they may get picked up.\u201d
This has resulted in a rise in residents volunteering to do grocery runs and drive children with immigrant parents to school, according to Torres. He added that many families who have relatives with different types of immigration status are also having difficult conversations about who would care for their children if their parents get picked up by ICE.
\u201cThose aren\u2019t fun conversations to be having, especially with one\u2019s children,\u201d Torres said. \u201cThey\u2019re laying down the emergency planning at home.\u201d
Immigrants make up about 4% of Maine\u2019s population (compared to 14% nationally) and nearly half of them have been in the U.S. for over 20 years, according to a report from the Migration Policy Institute<\/a>. Almost half of Maine\u2019s immigrants are from Asia and Europe, 20% from Africa, 19% from Northern America \u2014 mainly Canada \u2014 and about 10% from Latin America and the Caribbean.
DHS did not say how long the ongoing operation across the state of Maine would last. They stated they\u2019re \u201ctargeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities.\u201d
Patricia Hyde, deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Fox News in an exclusive interview<\/a> that they planned on targeting about 1,400 individuals in Maine.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills made statements last week<\/a> anticipating the incoming ICE activity.
Mills said she directed the Maine State Police \u201cto work closely with local law enforcement, as necessary, to provide whatever support is needed in advance of and during any potential federal operations.\u201d
\u201cI want any federal agents \u2014 and the president of the United States \u2014 to know what this state stands for. We stand for the rule of law. We oppose violence. We stand for peaceful protest,\u201d the governor said. \u201cWe stand for compassion, for integrity and justice.\u201d
Nicole Acevedo is a news reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA new immigration enforcement operation is underway in Maine, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin did not say how many arrests were made during the first day of the Maine operation, dubbed \u201cCatch of the Day.\u201d In a statement Wednesday, she only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":197739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-197738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}