Thursday’s big news, delivered early in the morning by Maine’s senior U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, was that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be suspending its targeted operation, dubbed “Catch of the Day.”
The announcement ended more than a week of anxiety and uncertainty for many immigrant families throughout the state. But many advocates treated the announcement with caution rather than elation.
ICE agents will still be active in Maine, even if in smaller numbers. According to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, the operation resulted in 206 arrests last week alone. Totals for this week for not released, but the department previously said it had 1,400 targets.
On Friday, many area businesses will participate in a nationwide strike to protest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts. Some schools have also planned walkouts or skip days in protest as well.
Read our updates from Thursday here.
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8:20 a.m.: Angolan mother says children traumatized after father arrested by ICE
Staring at her living room floor, the mother recalled how several “big, tall” immigration officers had been standing in the same spot a week earlier, counting her children.
Gladise was driving to work with her husband, Manuel, early one morning last week, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped the couple from Angola just outside of their southern Maine neighborhood.
As agents cuffed her hands behind her back, Gladise told them she was pregnant and worried about her unattended children at home. The agents, she said, asked to follow her home for proof.
After seeing the four children, she said they agreed to release her — but detained Manuel.
“I cry all day, every day,” Gladise said in an interview on Thursday, a friend helping translate.
An attorney for Manuel asked that the couple’s full names not be published, out of fear for their safety while they apply for asylum.
The couple, married for almost 18 years, has lived in Maine since 2019 after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico, Gladise said.
Kira Gagarin, Manuel’s attorney, said the family was allowed into the country for humanitarian reasons and that he has been waiting for an immigration court hearing scheduled in 2028. She asked that the couple’s full names not be published, out of fear for their safety while they apply for asylum.
“They’ve attended all of their hearings,” Gagarin said, “and they’ve gone to all of their required check-ins.”
Gladise said the couple has moved cities three times and everywhere they’ve lived, Manuel has been vital to their community, helping other immigrants with English, offering them rides to church and picking up their groceries. Gladise said her husband was also working two jobs to support their household when he was detained.
The family has received some support from their church, where a friend has helped Gladise cover the costs of calls from Manuel, who as of Thursday was being held at the Strafford County Correctional Facility in New Hampshire, according to an online locator run by ICE.
The family has launched a GoFundMe to help with Manuel’s legal case.
A U.S. District Court judge in New Hampshire ordered the Department of Justice to either give Manuel a bond hearing or justify why he is ineligible by Feb. 3.
Read the full story here.
— Emily Allen
8:00 a.m.: Portland school board delays implementation of emergency remote learning plan
The Portland Board of Education opted not to implement an emergency remote learning program at a meeting Thursday night.
The plan, which would have allowed families to apply for their students to temporarily attend school remotely, came in the wake of a skyrocketing number of absences during the surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Maine. A disproportionate amount have been among black, Hispanic or multilingual students, according to school data shared at the meeting.
However, attendance rebounded as the week went on. While more than 21% of Portland students were absent at the height of the trend on Tuesday, that number dropped to 12.5% on Thursday.
That lower absence rate also came the same day U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced the operation had ended, though federal officials have not confirmed that is the case.
The district averaged about 7.7% of students absent per school day this school year prior to Jan. 16.
Board members voted unanimously Thursday to direct staff to continue developing an emergency remote learning program, and said if district-wide absences reached 20% again an emergency meeting would be triggered to revisit the plan. That threshold would not apply to Friday, when a number of students plan to participate in the national general strike.
Board members also directed the district to work to implement strategies to help transition students who missed class time back into school. That could include reshuffling funding to make way for comprehensive tutoring to bring students up to speed, Superintendent Ryan Scallon suggested.
— Drew Johnson