Maine appears to be the next target of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. This week, the mayors of the state’s two largest cities, Portland and Lewiston, told residents that they believe federal immigration agents could arrive as soon as next week.
On Thursday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills joined MS NOW’s “All In with Chris Hayes” to discuss how her state is bracing for the possible operation.
Mills said she had attempted to contact the federal government but had received “no response, no confirmation or denial.” The Democrat said the fact that the Trump administration has refused to deny the deployment of federal agents “speaks volumes.”
“So we have to prepare and assume that they’re sending some people in for some kind of operation in our cities,” she said.
The looming presence of federal agents in Mills’ state comes as videos continue to stream out of Minnesota that show Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers using violent tactics to arrest residents.
“If they plan to engage in provocative actions, if they plan to deprive people of civil rights — civil liberties on our streets and our cities and towns — they’re not welcome here,” Mills told Hayes. “Those tactics are not welcome here.”
“We are a state that applauds professional law enforcement,” Mills continued. “We know good law enforcement when we see it. We hold our law enforcement agents to strict training requirements and high professional standards.”
Much like Minnesota, Maine also boasts a large Somali-American population. The group has become a frequent target for the administration, which has promoted allegations of widespread fraud at Somali-run day care centers in Minneapolis.
Earlier this week during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump claimed “Somali scams” were happening “in Maine, too.”
“It’s a terrible thing to target an entire community based on race, ethnicity, religion,” Mills said. “I welcome any and all evidence of fraud. If somebody has evidence of fraud, let us know and we’ll pursue it,” she continued. “But listen, to target and castigate an entire community because of the alleged misdoings of a couple people is wrong — and it’s unconstitutional, in my view. It’s discriminatory.” The governor questioned the administration’s true intentions in investigating fraud in her state and cited her past experience as a district attorney and attorney general. “I know how to investigate fraud. I know how to prosecute fraud,” she told Hayes. “It need not result in a street sweep of innocent people,” Mills said. “It need not endanger the civil rights and civil liberties of people because of their ethnicity, the color of their skin or their religion. It need not entail a sweep or an operation of the sort that has gone on in other states and cities across this country.” You can watch Mills’ full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. Recommended
