This story will be updated.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy assistant director Patricia Hyde told Fox News Tuesday that the agency has arrested nearly 50 people in Maine as part of an immigration enforcement surge.
Her remarks offered the first confirmation from the agency that it is intensifying operations in the state.
In a written statement Wednesday, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that an immigration enforcement effort dubbed "Operation Catch of the Day" was underway in Maine, but did not provide specific numbers on how many people had been arrested and how many agents are involved.
The numbers cited by Fox would represent a major escalation. For comparison, last year ICE arrested an average of 24 people per month, according to the Deportation Data Project.
Hyde told Fox News her agency has a target list of 1,400 people in Maine. That would represent about 10% of all immigrants without permanent legal status in the state, according to figures from the Migration Policy Institute.
A growing number of videos purporting to show arrests have cropped up in the last two days, mostly in Lewiston and Greater Portland.
Local officials in both cities say they are not receiving communication from ICE or other federal agencies.
At a press conference Wednesday, Portland officials pushed back ICE's tactics.
Mayor Mark Dion said ICE's use of force in other cities around the country has put Portland on edge.
"While we respect the law, we challenge the need for a paramilitary approach to the enforcement of federal statutes," he said.
City councilor Wes Pelletier rejected the need for an operation at all.
"No one asked the federal government to come here. This is one of the safest cities in the country," he said.
Other councilors say residents are forming support networks to deliver food and other basic needs to immigrant families too afraid to leave home.
Amid widespread fear of immigration enforcement, Portland Public Schools superintendent Ryan Scallon says attendance is down 15-20% at certain schools.
"ICE's terror and intimidation tactics reflect a complete lack of humanity and concern for basic human welfare," Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said in a statement. "These masked men with no regard for the rule of law are causing long term damage to our state and to our country. Lewiston stands for the dignity of all the people who call Maine home. We will never stop caring for our neighbors."
On Wednesday afternoon, ICE issued a press release saying it was targeting "the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities."
It identified four detainees:
- Dominic Ali, a Sudanese man convicted of false imprisonment, aggravated assault, assault, obstructing justice, and violation of a protective order.
- Ambessa Berhe, an Ethiopian man convicted of aggravated assault and cocaine possession.
- Elmara Correia, an Angolan woman who had previously been arrested for endangering the welfare of a child.
- Dany Lopez-Cortez, a Guatemalan man convicted of operating under the influence of alcohol.
"Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than protect law-abiding American citizens,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the release. “We have launched Operation Catch of the Day to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in the state. On the first day of operations, we arrested illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
But Portland mayor Mark Dion says the information lacks key contextual details, such as whether an arrest resulted in a conviction.
