Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican congressional candidate and longtime supporter of stricter immigration enforcement, revealed that his son's father-in-law is facing deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite holding a valid work permit, raising questions about the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and its impact on families with longstanding ties to the United States.
LePage made the disclosure during a campaign event. The former two-term governor is running for Maine's open 2nd Congressional District seat against Democratic State Auditor Matt Dunlap in November.
According to the Portland Press Herald, LePage said his relative is facing deportation because he comes from a country that is unpopular with certain officials in Washington.
"That's not right," LePage said, according to local media reports. "He has a work permit. He should be allowed to stay."
LePage did not identify his relative, disclose his country of origin or provide details about his immigration case. His comments also did not establish whether the man has received a final deportation order or remains in immigration proceedings.
The Republican candidate used his family's situation to explain why he believes ICE should concentrate its enforcement efforts on gang members and people involved in criminal activity rather than immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for decades.
"Would I go after everybody that's here that have work permits and have been here for decades? Probably not," LePage said. "I'd probably go for the people in the gangs and the criminals. I would start there."
However, LePage stopped short of opposing ICE's broader immigration enforcement operations. He acknowledged that federal agents have a responsibility to enforce existing immigration laws, even when he disagrees with individual deportation decisions.
He also called on Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration system, arguing that lawmakers have failed to resolve longstanding problems with federal immigration legislation.
His remarks come as Maine continues to confront the consequences of the Trump administration's expanded immigration enforcement operations.
In January, ICE launched an operation in the state known as "Operation Catch of the Day," which federal officials described as an effort to arrest immigrants with serious criminal histories. However, immigration records obtained by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition indicate that many people arrested during the crackdown had no criminal record.
Approximately 69% of people arrested by ICE in Maine during the first seven months of 2026 had neither a criminal conviction nor a pending criminal charge. Only 12% had been convicted of a crime, according to the analysis reported by the Portland Press Herald.
The figures have prompted questions about the administration's stated enforcement priorities and the extent to which immigration agents are targeting people without criminal histories.
LePage's comments also come amid scrutiny of ICE operations following the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Colombian immigrant Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford in July. He was legally living in the United States with his wife and young daughter when he was shot during an encounter with immigration agents. He was not the intended target of the agents' administrative warrant.
The shooting intensified concerns about federal immigration enforcement in Maine and renewed calls for greater accountability.
Despite questioning his relative's deportation, LePage has continued to oppose a new Maine law restricting certain cooperation between state and local police and federal immigration authorities.
