Maine shaken by ICE raids as backlash threatens Republican Senate control

[BumRushDaShow]

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

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Maine, the US’s whitest state, has been shaken by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown

Note the idiocy of this - Oz alleges Maine 'looks a lot like Minnesota' regarding entitlement fraud

This is the same state where the Bush compound is (in Kennebunkport) -

[Lovie777]

1. Collins is concerned...........................

[flashman13]

2. She's concerned that she might lose her cushy job.

[Katcat]

3. I'd like

To toss her a few rotten eggs.

[Ford_Prefect]

4. AG should collect and arrest ICE agents on sight as a threat to public safety. Operating without judicial warrants

is illegal anywhere. Maine has a legitimate case to defend its citizens from such abuses as ICE commits hourly. If nothing else surround their compounds and hotels with snowplows! They are no less a demonstrated hazard to public right of way than snow on the roads is. Salt them all!!

[LisaM]

5. Boy would I love to see her kicked out of office.

The fact that she gets reelected in a relatively liberal state kind of floors me.

[Easterncedar]

7. We aren't as liberal as we should be

Gawd help us, we elected the loathsome LePage to be governor twice.

Admittedly, the Eliot Cutler candidacy split the Dem vote. He worked for favored son Ed Muskie and in Jimmy Carter's administration. Then he ran for governor as an Independent. He turned out to be a pedophile.

One of the Bush family bought Cutler's coastal mansion. The Bush is now running for governor.

[maxsolomon]

6. AMERICA looks a lot like MN in terms of "entitlement fraud".

Meaning, there's some but it's not pervasive or concentrated in any one state.

Dr. Oz is using the Admin's "ABGG" technique: Always Be Gish Galloping.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. It's "projection"

Oz has been the purveyor of fraudulent products for decades.

[TheRickles]

9. Aren't there some darker-hued members of the Bush family in that photo?

I hope their papers are in order.