On the wide brick sidewalks of the city’s Old Port district and the snow-lined streets of its West End, residents expressed their resistance to the crackdown, posting “No I.C.E.” signs in windows, filming traffic stops by masked agents and standing guard at school playgrounds. In the city of about 70,000, which in some ways resembles a small town, many residents said the operation felt like an assault on their peaceful neighborhoods.
“This is a close community, where everyone knows everyone, and it’s not a place anyone expected this to happen,” said Anny Fenton, a Portland resident. “It feels very surreal and intense.”
The immigration offensive began in Maine this week, the latest in a series of similar federal campaigns in Democrat-led cities across the country. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said it was targeting 1,400 “criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities” in Maine.
Press Herald - Funding for two state referendum drives is coming almost exclusively from out-of-state sources. A citizen initiative to end recreational marijuana sales and add tracking and testing requirements to medical marijuana received a $2 million infusion from Smart Approach to Marijuana Action Inc., a dark money group from Virginia.
And a citizen initiative to remove transgender protections for students is mostly funded by an $800,000 contribution from conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein, the founder of the Wisconsin-based Uline Corp., a shipping supplies company.
The disclosures contained in campaign finance reports filed this week show the outsized role that national groups may play in deciding local issues in the 2026 election cycle. The cycle also includes competitive races for a U.S. Senate seat and a seat in the U.S. House.
...Trump has so far made antitransgender policies a central part of his second term in office. He’s targeting states with transgender protections, including Maine, with investigations and lawsuits.
Press Herald - Detainees who were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were removed from the Cumberland County Jail on Thursday night, according to the sheriff. Sheriff Kevin Joyce said Friday morning that ICE officials called the sheriff’s office Thursday to inform staff that they were removing all of their detainees in custody at the Portland jail. He said the detainees were transferred out of the jail Thursday night.
The move came after Joyce criticized the federal agency’s practices at a news conference Thursday after agents apprehended a Cumberland County corrections officer Wednesday evening.
Press Herald - Subzero temperatures are on Maine’s doorstep, with wind chills expected to make conditions even more dangerous. Temperatures are forecast to drop below zero statewide, with negative single digits in southern and coastal areas and readings below minus 10 in northern Maine. Meteorologists say winds could make it feel as cold as 20 to 30 below, with more snow expected to start falling Sunday night and continue through Monday.
Press Herald - A wave of federal immigration enforcement in Maine that has been marked by widespread reports of arrests, sharp political polarization and a sense of fear in some communities entered its fourth day Friday.
In remarks Thursday from Portland City Hall, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills strongly criticized the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, describing them as “secret police” who have refused to answer questions about their operations, including how many people have been detained. Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce also questioned the agency’s tactics, blasting officers’ actions during the arrest of a county corrections officer as “bush-league policing.”
Meanwhile, Republican leaders have called on Democrats to temper their rhetoric, with the Maine GOP chair suggesting that their remarks could cause violence and that they are “playing a dangerous game for purely political purposes” when suggesting resistance to ICE. Conservative Mainers told our reporters this week that many of them welcome what the Trump administration has dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day,” though some also expressed reservations about agents’ tactics.