Hours after U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced in a press release early Thursday that "enhanced" operations in Maine had ended, President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan told reporters in Minnesota that the administration will focus on targeted enforcement across the country.
Mufalo Chitam, director of the Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition, said she's still trying to parse those statements.
"The word has been replaced," she said. "'Enhanced' has been replaced with 'targeted.' So what does that even mean?"
During the multiday surge, Chitam said she didn't see any clear pattern in who was being arrested, meaning that even if the administration does take a less sweeping approach, it's not clear who will be at risk.
"It's hard to assure a community, to say, you know, life goes back to normal," Chitam said.
In a written statement on Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it had arrested 206 people in Maine Jan. 20-24, but did not explicitly acknowledge that the operation had concluded.
The agency highlighted the names and photographs of 10 people it said have criminal records.
Safiya Khalid, an organizer active in Lewiston's Somali community, said over the last week she's been involved in rapid response efforts to support families and individuals affected by the surge. And she's not letting her guard down just yet.
"Until we are 100% sure, [we] still are involved in rapid response and community defense," she said.
Collins told Maine Public Wednesday that she had received multiple calls from constituents expressing fear and anger about the ICE operation because it was sweeping up people who are here legally.
Khalid said she would've like to see Collins take action sooner.
"Why did she let Mainers get abducted and taken by men who are masked and who are untrained and who are dangerous?" Khalid said. "Why did she even let that happen to begin with?"
Both ICE and Border Patrol have long maintained a presence in Maine. And enforcement was ramping up well before last week. Last year, ICE arrests were already up 75% compared to 2024.
The Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project said in a statement Thursday that an end to the surge does not mean that immigration enforcement in the state will cease altogether.
Portland Mayor Mark Dion echoed that sentiment in his own statement, urging residents on Thursday to continue looking out for one another.
Portland city councilor Wes Pelletier, meanwhile, said grassroots efforts to track and document ICE activity are not going away.
"A big goal for us going forward is to make that organization sustainable so that we are there to support our neighbors and keep an eye out for each other, even if the activity is not as pronounced," he said.
Pelletier said after a flood of ICE sightings last week, reports of activity slowed this week, but are still trickling in.
While officials, advocates and residents try to figure out what comes next for immigration enforcement in Maine, Auburn mayor Jeff Harmon said there are deeper questions that need to be addressed.
"The fact the surge is over means that we're unlikely to see such concentrated activity," he said, "but it says nothing about whether the fundamental behavior is — has been changed."
That behavior, he said, includes ICE's aggressive tactics and targeting of people following lawful immigration processes. Harmon said beyond the scope of any particular operation, he'd like to see federal immigration agents held to the same standards as any other law enforcement agency.
"That they're identifiable, that there's transparency, and that there is clear avenues for judicial review," Harmon said.
Mufalo Chitam, with the Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition, said many in the state's immigrant communities chose to settle here because they felt it was a quiet, out of the way corner of the country.
"Maine is far removed from the hustle and bustle of, you know, big states and everything that's happening there," Chitam said. "It feels safe."
Chitam said the wave of arrests, and the wide ripple of fear that has left many families sheltering at home, calling out from work, and keeping their kids home from school, has shattered that sense of security.
Piecing it back together, she said, won't happen overnight.
