Immigration and Customs Enforcement has launched another operation targeting the “worst of the worst” illegal criminal migrants – this time, in Maine, according to federal authorities.
ICE agents descended upon the Pine Tree State Tuesday for “Operation Catch of the Day,” going after undocumented scofflaws who have “terrorized communities,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a press release Wednesday.
On the first day, officers arrested around 50 migrants, ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde told Fox News.
“We have approximately 1,400 targets here in Maine,” Hyde told the outlet.
Some of the migrants ICE is trying to catch in the state are accused of raping children, drug trafficking and assaults, according to Hyde. They are from Senegal, Somalia, Honduras, Guatemala, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other stories, she said.
Fox’s Tuesday night segment featured video of ICE agents arresting two Ecuadorian nationals — a man and a woman — who were reportedly facing drunken driving charges, as well as a repeat criminal from Sudan.
Other arrests from the operation’s first day included Ambessa Berhe, an Ethiopian national convicted of aggravated assault and cocaine possession; Angola national Elmara Correria, who was previously arrested for endangering the welfare of a child, and Dany Lopez-Cortez, an illegal migrant from Guatemala who was convicted of operating operating under the influence of alcohol, according to DHS.
Dominic Ali, a Sudanese national convicted of false imprisonment, aggravated assault, assault, obstructing justice and violating a protective order, was also arrested.
DHS didn’t immediately respond to inquiries about whether Ali is the same Sudanese man who was featured in the Fox News broadcast.
On Wednesday, Portland Mayor Mark Dion called the operation “a war of terror” during a press conference with other city council members, but advised residents against interfering with ICE’s enforcement.
“I want everyone safe. Interrupting law enforcement is a risk… that could lead to outcomes no one wants,” he reportedly said.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted the state’s pols for its sanctuary city policies, which have served as the basis for ICE crackdowns in several other Democrat-led states across the country in recent months.
Maine “Governor [Janet] 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,” McLaughlin wrote in a statement.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
Mills’ office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
