ILAP Statement on Announcement from Senator Collins on ICE Operation in Maine

Maine – The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project is seeing a drop in new requests for emergency legal help for people arrested by ICE in Maine. We have responded to over 60 requests for help made on behalf of people detained by ICE and are actively fighting to secure the freedom of many of these detained individuals. We hope that ICE’s enhanced operation in our state has ended, but we caution people that an end to the operation does not mean the end of all ICE or Border Patrol enforcement in our state now or going forward.

Advocacy in Action, ILAP News, Press ReleaseVonnie TullJanuary 29, 2026ICE Detention

ICE ends surge in Maine as border czar pledges to keep operation in Minnesota

“The fear is reverberating across Maine, and so many people have completely withdrawn from public life,” Sue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said in a statement. “There is no guarantee an ICE surge or operation will not happen again, and the increased enforcement in Maine since the beginning of the Trump administration has been devastating in and of itself.”

Press MentionsJolene McGowanJanuary 29, 2026Support, Call to Action, New York Times, Wells Maine, Tourism, State of Maine

Collins Took Credit for ICE Leaving Maine. Her Democratic Opponents Pounced.

Advocates said they were still trying to locate and free people who had been taken out of Maine. “We have a lot of work and rebuilding ahead,” Sue Roche, director of the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said in a statement. “So many people have completely withdrawn from public life.”

Press MentionsGuest UserJanuary 29, 2026Support, Call to Action, New York Times, Wells Maine, Tourism, State of Maine

Families in Maine scramble to halt ICE’s transfer of detainees out of state

“There are not adequate words to describe how difficult the past week has been,” Sue Roche, ILAP’s executive director, said in a statement. “In ILAP’s legal triage, we are seeing mostly people in lawful immigration processes with no criminal records being arrested. Many have been racially profiled and abducted from their cars off the street, and some have been targeted at home. ICE is stalking grocery stores and schools. The lack of due process or humanity in this enforcement operation is appalling.”

Press MentionsJolene McGowanJanuary 28, 2026Support, Call to Action, New York Times, Wells Maine, Tourism, State of Maine

Maine’s Immigrant Students Stay Home as ICE Operation Ramps Up

When a class in Portland went out for recess on Thursday, their teacher recalled, some of the 6-year-old students anxiously asked, “What about the ICE people?”

Press MentionsJolene McGowanJanuary 27, 2026Support, Call to Action, New York Times, Wells Maine, Tourism, State of Maine

‘I want my mom’: Kindergartener left without her mother as ICE detains parents in Maine

Press MentionsJolene McGowanJanuary 27, 2026Immigration Policy, ICE Detention

Lawyers say it is harder for Mainers arrested by ICE to get bond hearings

Lawyers say that it’s been harder for their clients who have been detained by immigration officials in Maine to get a bond hearing from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Press MentionsJolene McGowanJanuary 26, 2026Immigration Policy, ICE Detention

Maine’s Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project Decries the Killing of Alex Pretti as the Second Week of ICE’s Operation in Maine Begins

ILAP is devastated at the news of the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Our hearts go out to Alex’s loved ones and the city of Minneapolis. We condemn the federal government’s brutal occupation of Minneapolis and send unwavering solidarity to the city’s immigrant communities and allies…

Advocacy in Action, Press Release, ILAP NewsGuest UserJanuary 26, 2026

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