SerpApi.Org
One week after Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Biddeford, the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition (MIRC) said federal immigration enforcement was steady across the state leading up to the shooting.
“We have continued to get several hundred calls from month to month," said Panagioti Tsolkas, communications manager for MIRC. "The ICE presence has been consistent."
The calls to its immigrant defense hotline include reports from community members about suspected and confirmed ICE operations, according to Tsolkas.
While the majority of reports have come from Portland and Lewiston, Tsolkas said the coalition has also documented activity in other parts of Maine.
"We have seen it in small towns and rural areas across the state as well," he told NEWS CENTER Maine.
Despite those reports, Tsolkas said it remains difficult to determine the full scope of ICE enforcement because detailed federal data is not readily available.
"It's difficult to know those numbers without having the federal data, and as you may know, the federal information on this has been anything but transparent," Tsolkas said.
Rep. Chellie Pingree's office said it has also been trying to learn more about ICE's activity in Maine.
A spokesperson said officials with the ICE Boston Field Office reported their arrests increased slightly, from an average of about 1.3 arrests per day to 1.4 arrests per day. The spokesperson also said ICE reported an increase in "collateral" arrests, in which people who were not the original targets of enforcement actions were taken into custody.
The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition said it has not seen enforcement activity slow since Guerrero's death.
"[ICE activity] just continued on that day as if a normal day of business for them," Tsolkas said.
For more local stories, continue with us on our NEWS CENTER Maine+ streaming app.
