As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the start of an enforcement operation in Maine that resulted in about 50 arrests on its first day, Manchester officials are dealing with unfounded rumors of a similar ICE action in the Queen City.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the Maine operation is focused on taking “criminal illegal aliens” into custody.
“We have launched Operation ‘Catch of the Day’ to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in the state,” McLaughlin said. “On the first day of operations, we arrested illegal aliens charged with or convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.”
Some of the individuals ICE has targeted in Maine include alleged child rapists, drug traffickers and individuals accused of violent assaults, according to ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde.
Those arrested are reportedly from Senegal, Somalia, Honduras, Guatemala and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among other countries.
Democrats in Maine, like many of their counterparts nationwide, have opposed the stepped-up immigration enforcement effort.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills accused ICE of conducting warrantless, secret arrests, telling reporters she has heard claims that ICE is arresting illegal immigrants with no criminal records.
“Mostly we’re hearing reports of people who have not been engaged in criminal activity,” Mills said.
Next door in New Hampshire, unfounded rumors began circulating that ICE was conducting enforcement actions in Manchester. Those reports prompted Manchester Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Chmiel to send a letter to faculty and staff outlining procedures for responding to any potential ICE visits.
“Our administrators are prepared to respond as needed,” Chmiel wrote, according to WMUR.
The prospect that ICE could increase enforcement activity in New Hampshire has already sparked concern. Anti-ICE protesters have gathered in Merrimack for weeks based on unverified claims that ICE plans to use an unoccupied warehouse as a detention facility.
In Concord, Reps. David Meuse (D-Portsmouth) and Nicholas Germana (D-Keene) recently introduced legislation that would ban state funds from being used for ICE or its affiliated contractors.
“New Hampshire taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize a federal agency that’s basically bathing in blood money right now,” Meuse testified last week before a House committee. “The bottom line is immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. It is not a state responsibility. So let’s make sure that paying for it remains a federal responsibility.”
On Thursday, Rep. Tim Horrigan (D-Durham) said ICE is worse than criminal gangs from Venezuela and El Salvador.
Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. Reps. Chris Pappas (D-Manchester) and Maggie Goodlander (D-Nashua) both voted Thursday against funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“Democrats like Chris Pappas have gone so far off the rails that they are threatening the safety and security of Americans, all to appease their radical leftist base,” said Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci in response. “Pappas would rather side with criminals and sexual predators than put public safety first.”
Instead, Pappas is backing legislation that would strip billions of dollars from ICE and redirect the money to local law enforcement.
“We’ve seen how ICE has been operating across the country, including in an overtly political fashion, dividing Americans,” Pappas told WMUR. “It’s my interest to see how we can truly make this country safer.”
But Pappas’ position may not go far enough for some Democrats. In his race for U.S. Senate to replace retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Pappas faces long-shot progressive challenger Karishma Manzur, who favors abolishing ICE altogether.
“ICE is not law enforcement,” Manzur said last week. “ICE is acting like a paramilitary force. Many of the ICE agents are not adequately trained. They’re going into communities in fatigues and terrorizing them.”
In the 1st Congressional District Democratic primary, Portsmouth Democrat Stefany Shaheen accused ICE of “unleashing terror” in a Bluesky post.
“In Minnesota and right now next door in Maine, ICE is targeting off-duty police officers and snatching American citizens with no criminal record off the street,” Shaheen wrote. “What happened to going after the ‘worst of the worst’? This is not making our communities safer. This is unleashing terror, and it must stop.”