Maine shaken by ICE raids as backlash threatens Republican Senate control [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Mon 9 Feb 2026 06.00 EST
Last modified on Mon 9 Feb 2026 10.13 EST


Maine, the US’s whitest state, has been shaken by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, a crackdown that could threaten Republican control of the Senate in November’s crucial midterm elections. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents launched “Operation Catch of the Day” in the state on 21 January, targeting “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities”, according to the administration.

As critics said the operation had caused “pain and suffering”, Senator Susan Collins, a Republican facing a re-election battle this year in a state that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, claimed she spoke with Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who told her the operation had ended at her request.

But residents doubt Collins has defanged ICE and say the agency is still making its presence known and causing chaos in the bucolic state nicknamed Vacationland. “I don’t think anyone here has any trust that will be lasting,” Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO, a state federation of more than 200 local labor unions in Maine. “You can’t turn a tiger into a vegetarian.”

Workers and labor unions in Maine claimed ICE is racially profiling people and has created an environment where people of color are under “an occupation” impeding their freedom of movement.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/09/maine-ice-raids