In the aftermath of a surge of federal immigration officers to Maine by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), civil rights groups and local media say the federal government mostly swept up people without criminal records, such as asylum seekers, not the "worst of the worst" that the DHS said it was targeting.
On January 21, the DHS announced "Operation Catch of the Day," an immigration enforcement surge across Maine "targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities." But like in other parts of the country that the DHS has flooded with Border Patrol and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, records show relatively few undocumented immigrants with criminal records being arrested. Instead, ICE swept up people who already had or were seeking legal status in the country through the federal immigration system.
