- Senator Susan Collins announced that ICE ended enhanced enforcement operations in Maine after direct discussions.
- The surge, dubbed ‘Catch of the Day,’ faced criticism for targeting legally present individuals and creating community fear.
- While large-scale surges have ceased, routine federal immigration enforcement will continue as it has for years.
MAINE — U.S. Senator Susan Collins announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ended what she described as the agency’s “enhanced operations” in Maine after direct communications with Department of Homeland Kristi Noem Accuses Minnesota of Harboring Criminal Illegal Aliens”>Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Collins said the shift followed discussions with Noem, and she framed the pullback as a response to constituent concerns about how the surge unfolded and who it swept in. Earlier in the week, Collins urged Noem to pause the surge in both Maine and Minnesota, citing concerns that the operations were too sweeping and indiscriminate.
“There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here,” Collins said in her announcement.
Collins said multiple constituents contacted her office with calls expressing fear and anger about ICE tactics, including concerns about people who are in the country legally being targeted. Federal authorities publicly referred to the Maine effort as an operation dubbed “Catch of the Day,” a label that drew attention in a smaller state because of the scale implied by the enforcement posture.
Federal officials initially emphasized violent-crime allegations in describing the people arrested, including claims that some arrests involved people “convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child.” Court records, Collins said, presented a more mixed picture. Some detainees were described as violent felons, while others were detainees with unresolved immigration proceedings or individuals arrested but never convicted of a crime.
That split matters, because allegations and arrests do not equal convictions, and unresolved immigration proceedings can involve people who have not been found guilty of a criminal offense. Collins’ announcement did not describe the end of all immigration enforcement in Maine, and she drew a sharp line between a time-limited surge and longstanding federal activity that continues.
“I have been urging Secretary Noem and others in the Administration to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state,” she said.
Collins said ICE and Customs and Border Protection “will continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years,” distinguishing the enhanced surge from routine enforcement activities. Democratic Governor Janet Mills criticized the surge and argued that a reported pullback did not erase what she said communities had already experienced.
“does not end the pain and suffering that they have inflicted on communities across our state — people who have been terrorized, mothers who have been separated from their children, businesses who have been threatened,” Mills said.
Mills called for Noem‘s removal and warned that “no state — including Maine — is protected from the weaponization of Federal law enforcement agencies against its own citizens by the Trump Administration.” U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said she could not independently confirm the end of the surge because she lacked information from DHS and Noem.
Pingree also emphasized that concerns about detaining individuals legally present in the United States extend beyond the single Maine operation. Collins, a Republican, presented the change as an adjustment in posture rather than a retreat from enforcement, and she acknowledged that federal immigration enforcement would continue even as large-scale operations stop.
Her statement that there were no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations in Maine addressed the immediate question raised by residents who saw enforcement activity and feared more was coming. The broader political backdrop stretched beyond Maine, with pressure building on the Trump administration after a fatal shooting in Minneapolis that the account described as involving Border Patrol agents.
Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, triggering significant public outcry and calls for Noem‘s removal from some Republican senators. The episode became part of a wider debate about federal enforcement tactics, and it fed demands for changes in how agencies operate during heightened deployments.
White House border czar Tom Homan was dispatched to Minnesota to oversee operations, and he announced that the agency would decrease its deployed force there as long as state officials cooperate in apprehending immigrants with criminal records. Collins’ earlier request to pause surges in Maine and Minnesota came as attention focused on the consequences of stepped-up operations, and on claims that enforcement actions were overly broad.
In Maine, Collins said, constituent concerns centered on the fear that the surge treated people indiscriminately, including those who are in the country legally. Federal officials’ early descriptions of arrests focused on violent crime, but the court-record picture described by Collins included people with unresolved immigration proceedings and people arrested but never convicted.
That distinction has shaped how elected officials described the enforcement effort, with Collins pressing Noem to reconsider the approach and Democrats casting the surge as harmful to communities. Mills, who is running for Collins’ Senate seat, used unusually stark language about fear in communities, separation of families, and threats to businesses as she called for Noem’s removal.
Pingree’s comment about being unable to independently confirm the surge’s end underscored a separate point: she said she lacked information from DHS and Noem even as public announcements circulated. Collins, in announcing the end of enhanced operations, aimed to reduce uncertainty by stating there were no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations in Maine.
Even so, Collins emphasized continuity alongside change by stressing that routine federal enforcement remains in place and has operated in the state for years. Collins’s statement also sought to define what “ceased” means operationally, drawing a line between the enhanced surge and the everyday work of ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
Her distinction signaled that residents may still see day-to-day activity tied to immigration enforcement, even without the concentrated, time-limited surge that prompted widespread calls and complaints. Mills and Pingree, by contrast, framed the issue as larger than one named operation, pointing to what they described as a pattern of detentions that includes people legally present in the United States.
Those arguments broadened the stakes beyond the question of whether a specific deployment ends, and toward how DHS and its enforcement arms decide who to target and how they conduct actions. Collins’ announcement, however, focused on the immediate change she said Noem confirmed: the end of enhanced operations and the absence of any ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operation in Maine.
In closing her statement, Collins sought to prevent confusion between the two categories of enforcement by emphasizing that ICE and Customs and Border Protection “will continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years.”
