Independent, UK - Maine's Democratic governor challenged federal immigration officials Thursday to provide arrest warrants, real-time arrest numbers and basic information about who is being detained in a sweeping enforcement operation in her state, saying residents have been left largely in the dark as fear spreads through immigrant communities.
“If they have warrants, show the warrants. In America, we don’t believe in secret arrests or secret police," Gov. Janet Mills said at a news conference, adding state officials do not know where detainees are being held
Maine Democrats - Know Your Rights from ACLU Maine:
- You have the right to refuse to open the door to your home unless the agent has a signed judicial warrant. An administrative warrant does not grant ICE permission to enter or search your house.
- You have the right to ask an ICE officer, "Am I free to leave?"
- You have the right not to answer immigration officers' questions and to tell an immigration officer, "I choose not to say anything."
- Even if you exercise your rights, ICE may still detain you.
- If ICE tries to detain you, do your best to stay calm. Do not run away and do not resist.
- ACLU Maine: Preparing for ICE
- Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition: ICE Hub and Hotline
Press Herald - Gov. Janet Mills denounced the ongoing federal immigration operations in Maine on Thursday, likening federal law enforcement officers to a “secret police.” At a news conference at Portland City Hall, Mills said the Trump administration has not given her team any data about the number of arrests agents have made. But she said she doubted the administration’s claim that officers were only arresting those who had criminal records. She also criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who wear masks. “In America, we don’t believe in secret arrests or secret police,” Mills, a Democrat, said.
Press Herald - The Portland City Council unanimously approved an amended contract with the organizers of the Back Cove Music & Arts Festival on Wednesday night that will bring the Payson Park festival back for at least another three years starting in 2027. Leading up to this week’s council meeting, organizers had told city staff that delays in finalizing a new contract this past fall ultimately led them to cancel a 2026 edition.
Press Herald - A former Bar Harbor restaurant owner says he’s running as an independent for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Susan Collins. Tim Rich, a former vice chair of Hospitality Maine, an advocacy group for restaurants and hotels, said he’s running as a political outsider who believes “corporations and the two political parties have lied to us while taking away our basic freedoms.”
"I.C.E. is targeting Maine now and already kidnapping teenagers walking down the street,” Rich, 48, of Bridgton, said in a written statement, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is ramping up activity in Maine.
“We are all sitting back while big companies poison our food and steal our water. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars on wars while our people go broke. We are tracked constantly. We can’t allow this to happen anymore. We need to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about what kind of world we are passing on to our children.”
Rich faces long odds in the U.S. Senate race, which is expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive in the country this cycle.
Press Herald - Maine law requires drivers to turn on headlights when using windshield wipers. State law says headlights must be illuminated when windshield wipers are in continuous use due to rain, snow or other precipitation. That requirement applies regardless of the time of day.
Headlights are also required to be on from sunset to sunrise and whenever visibility is reduced such that people or vehicles are not clearly visible at a distance of 1,000 feet.
Daytime running lights alone do not meet the state requirement. Drivers are responsible for making sure their headlights and taillights are turned on and working when required.
State law also requires headlights to be properly adjusted and powerful enough to allow safe driving under ordinary conditions. Most headlight violations are treated as traffic infractions, punishable by fines of $25 to $500.
Press Herald - In Cumberland Foreside, 45 new luxury housing units sit empty. The Mark on Route 1 includes 24 two-bedroom and 21 one-bedroom units. Its development was fraught with challenges, but the building is finished and the new owner is in better financial shape, but still, no one is living there. Cumberland residents and town staff wonder why, and the owner of the units isn’t talking.
Press Herald - Reports of widespread immigration arrests across Greater Portland and Lewiston continued to spread Thursday, the third day of what federal officials have dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day.”
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security officially announced that the operation was underway — the first confirmation from federal officials of an escalation of immigration enforcement that state and local leaders spoke about last week. The DHS spokesperson said the effort is targeting the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old University of Southern Maine student was detained in Westbrook, according to his mother, who says her son has no criminal record. And U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was ordered by a federal judge to explain why a Portland resident from Angola who is seeking asylum was detained during a routine check-in at the agency’s Scarborough field office.
The head of the Maine Republican Party on Thursday sharply criticized state Democrats for “telling Mainers to resist, protest, and interfere with” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — rhetoric that he says is “causing anger, panic, and could lead to violence.”
Former Fork Food Lab site in Portland reimagined as Bayside community center
United Airlines will add direct flights from Portland International Jetport to California this summer.