Federal immigration agents have apprehended more people in Maine in the first seven months of 2026 than in the two previous years combined. Only one of them has ever been convicted of a violent crime, according to government records. Newly-released Immigration and Customs Enforcement administrative data — obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation by…
In the two days since an ICE officer shot and killed 26-year-old Colombian national Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford Monday morning, the federal government has offered a series of shifting and contradictory explanations, fueling demands that Maine authorities, not federal agencies, lead the investigation into his death. The first account came from Homeland Security…
As ICE reportedly ends its “enhanced” operations in Maine, advocates are coming together to press for more protection against the agency’s tactics. Mainers who are immigrants, or who belong to communities with large immigrant populations, won’t be safe until ICE is out of the state entirely, they say, and that the state needs to take…
Within its first two weeks theTrump administration has widespread fear throughout immigrant communities in Maine and across the U.S.. Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration include major deportations, ending the Biden-era “sensitive areas” protections, ending birthright citizenship, and militarization of the US-Mexico Border. In Maine, there have been reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings…
Immigrant rights advocates in Maine are condemning a bill by Rep. Jared Golden that would enact widely-criticized border policies similar to Trump-era rules and add more obstacles for people seeking asylum in the U.S. They say the Second District Democrat is adopting Republican anti-immigrant rhetoric and his policy proposals will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis on…
Maine Rep. Jared Golden was one of 14 House Democrats who voted with Republicans to denounce Pres. Joe Biden’s supposed “open-border policies” Wednesday, aping the GOP’s fear-mongering about a crisis on the southwestern U.S. border. In his defense of the vote for a House Republican resolution urging Biden to “end his administration’s open-border policies,” the…
Immigrant advocates say that the state needs to do more to help cities like Portland, where asylum seekers staying in the city’s Exposition Building held a protest on Wednesday over the conditions as well as lack of permanent options in a state grappling with a seemingly intractable housing crunch. “The City of Portland cannot tackle…
Housing advocates and developers are speaking out in favor of legislation proposing a $200 million investment to increase the affordable housing stock in the state. They say that’s just the beginning of what’s needed to address Maine’s housing emergency. “We have reached a crisis point. We can’t water that down,” said Laura Mitchell, the director…
The Biden administration is rolling out a proposed rule that for two years would bar migrants from applying for asylum at the Southern border if they have not first asked for protection in a country they traveled through. The administration is seeking to limit asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border as a pandemic-era immigration measure…
States Newsroom reporter Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced dual immigration strategies that would increase expulsions of migrants who attempt to cross the Southern border while also expanding opportunities for migrants from several countries to legally enter the United States. But the sweeping new immigration plan brought condemnation from…