By Andrew Gelinas

On Friday, January 30th, a massive group of people from Maine gathered in mass in Portland’s Monument Square, in protest of ICE’s presence in the state and the organization’s actions or existence as a whole. A passionate crowd of concerned Mainers began to accumulate in the hour(s) preceding the 2:30PM rally. The rally contained an hour and a half of speeches to inspire, including both student organizers and professional protest organizers, and local political figures. 

Protesters weren’t only holding up their signs, though. A brass band made up of all ages played in the moments before any of the speakers took their energetic remarks to the podium.

Past the cries and music expressing Maine’s feelings, the people took their message to the streets of Portland to spread it as widely as possible. They moved down Congress Street at 4pm, past the Portland City Hall, and down Commercial Street before returning to Monument Square. 

Portland was not the only city where marches like this happened on the second-to-last day of January. Nationwide, similar actions were taking place at the same time, all spiritually with Minneapolis, where ICE has committed some of its loudest actions, like the deaths of both Alex Pretti (1/24/26) and Renée Nicole Good (1/7/26). Taking place only 17 days apart from one another. 

This all happened shortly after the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, ICE, announced arrests in numbers higher than 200 in Maine alone. All this is a part of a program they inappropriately named “Operation catch of the day.” Homeland security describes this operation as “immigration enforcement effort across the state of Maine targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities.”(Homelandsecurity.gov) 

Senator Susan Collins has since said that ICE has ended its enhanced operations in Maine at her request, with Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security. Even though Senator Collins has pushed legislation to provide funding for ICE previously. Collins said that “There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here.”(collins.senate.gov) in a statement on the senator’s own website. 

Maine has not taken kindly to Senator Collins’ relationship with ICE. An ad campaign against Collins has been on the airwaves and the internet recently. With a $2 million budget behind it, you’ve maybe seen one of these ads already. These ads run opposite a campaign from Collins’s own team, mentioning her association with Maine’s drinking water. 

No matter what side of the aisle you sit on, ICE is the biggest concern facing all Mainers today. Perhaps it’s you, maybe your neighbor.