Immigration and Customs Enforcement is retreating from its enforcement surge in Maine as fury over the tactics used in President Trump’s immigration crackdown escalates.
Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins posted on X early Thursday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed to her that ICE will be ending its “enhanced activities” in the state.
“There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here. I have been urging Secretary Noem and others in the Administration to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state,” Collins posted.
“I appreciate the Secretary’s willingness to listen to and consider my recommendations and her personal attention to the situation in Maine. ICE and Customs and Border Patrol will continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years. I will continue to work with the Secretary on efforts to end illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other transnational criminal activity.”
Collins, a moderate Republican who has voted against Donald Trump’s agenda, had called for ICE operations to be paused in both Maine and Minnesota in the wake of the shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti.
Pretti, 37, was shot and killed by federal immigration agents on Jan. 24, just weeks after mother-of-three Renee Good was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in the city.
“At this time of heightened tensions, these steps are necessary to help improve trust, accountability, and safety,” Collins posted on X on Tuesday.
The Department of Homeland Security launched the ICE initiative “Operation Catch of the Day” in Maine on Jan. 21, claiming it would target the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in the Pine Tree State.
The Trump administration also launched Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota last December, sending thousands of masked ICE agents into the state to carry out its hardline immigration enforcement effort.
Noem is under fire for her responses to the killings of both Good and Pretti in Minneapolis. She attempted to portray Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” who wanted to attack federal agents before he was shot and killed and falsely claimed that he had brandished a firearm—despite video evidence contradicting both assertions.
Footage filmed by bystanders shows that Pretti never attempted to attack law enforcement and had been disarmed of a concealed handgun he was legally allowed to carry before he was shot multiple times.
Noem and other senior Trump administration officials also pushed a false narrative that Good was a “terrorist” attempting to “run over” ICE agents before Ross shot her at point-blank range on Jan. 7. Video evidence suggests Good was trying to drive away from agents who had surrounded her vehicle before Ross opened fire.
Multiple polls show Trump is losing support for his hardline immigration and mass deportation policies in the aftermath of the Minneapolis shootings.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that just 39 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing on immigration—a record low for the president.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
