Fear remains in Somali community after wave of ICE activity in Maine

LEWISTON, Maine — The heart of the city's immigrant community expands from Lisbon Street, where ethnic food markets and other businesses usually bustle with customers. But for the past week and a half, it's been quiet, as federal immigration agents scoured the state making arrests. Many residents stayed home — and out of sight.

"The community is scared," said Effrax Saciid-Cisse, who emigrated from Somalia with her family when she was 9 years old to Lewiston, Maine's second-largest city and home to Bates College. She now runs an immigrant advocacy organization.

Saciid-Cisse said ever since Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived, many in Lewiston's large Somali community of some 3,000 people have been living in terror, fearful they will become targets.

The crackdown in Maine began as public outrage spread from Minneapolis where federal officials clashed with protesters and killed two American citizens.

The deaths have stirred action in Congress, including among some Republicans, as legislators debate funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

On Thursday, about a week after ICE launched what it called "Operation Catch of the Day" in Maine, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she'd negotiated with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to back off the ICE surge in her state.

Since the ICE operation began, many immigrants in Lewiston have opted to avoid school, work and stores so as not to be snatched by federal agents. A number of people running businesses on Lisbon Street declined to speak to a reporter, even while stressing that they are legal residents or citizens.

Saciid-Cisse said her mother, who owns a food market, has been continuously trolled by anti-immigrant extremists on social media.

"They have been contacting the city, the state — even Homeland Security — claiming that there are illegal immigrant store owners on this block, and that we send money to terrorist groups," she said.

Many non-immigrants in Lewiston have been helping their immigrant neighbors, arranging rides for children to schools and helping them buy groceries. Last weekend, more than a thousand people rallied to protest the presence of ICE in their city. And earlier this week, a small group of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse on Lisbon Street with a similar message.

Cecile Thornton, a lifelong resident of Lewiston, held a sign that said, "ICE murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti."

“I’m here to support our legal immigrants here in Lewiston, Auburn, and all of Maine," Thornton said.

She's particularly upset that many in the community were too scared to run errands or to let their kids go to school.

"They’re petrified, and it’s atrocious that this is happening in our country," she said.

According to a statement from ICE, it arrested more than 200 people during its mission in Maine.

ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde told Fox News that agents were targeting approximately 1,400 "criminals," wanted for various offenses, including child rape, drug trafficking, sexual assault and driving under the influence.

"You name it, they're on the target list," Hyde said.

But many of those detained are asylum seekers with no criminal records, according to their lawyers, families and employers, as well as local and state officials in Maine.

Those arrested include Fátima Lucas Henrique from Angola, a nurse's assistant, following the legal process to become a U.S. citizen. ICE agents stopped her in South Portland and dragged her out of her car as horrified onlookers watched and recorded the arrest while she screamed for help.

"The idea that they're targeting the worst of the worst, it really just isn't adding up," said Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline.

Sheline noted that ICE detained a Lewiston mother of an autistic son, for whom the city had to find child care; a father of a newborn child in the Portland area; and a Cumberland County corrections recruit.

"They're detaining our neighbors, our family members and employees," Sheline said.

Fayere Hussein, who owns the Ali Halal Market, which sells groceries, clothes and beauty products, said she has been horrified by the ICE operation targeting her state. There's a particular sting, she said, since she voted for President Trump, in large part because she appreciated the COVID stimulus checks issued during his first administration.

"A lot of people, they liked the money," Hussein said with a laugh.

A number of people in the community supported the president "because they thought he was going to give them more stimulus checks," Saciid-Cisse added.

Asked how she feels about the president now, Hussein answered in Somali and Saciid-Cisse translated: "I would never vote for him. What he's doing is horrible."

What Trump is doing has hit this community hard, including recently calling Somali immigrants "garbage."

According to  Sue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Portland, many of those who have been arrested by ICE in Maine  "have pending applications for legal status." She said in numerous instances, they are individuals who are authorized to work with no criminal history.

Gov. Janet Mills said, in a statement from her office, the potential end of ICE's surge in Maine "doesn't end the pain and suffering" it's caused.

Speaking with reporters in Portland on Wednesday after meeting with mayors from around the state, she called ICE's enforcement actions in Maine and Minnesota "appalling." Mills said the agency needs to reveal who it has arrested in Maine, why they were arrested, and where they are now. She also demanded to know the legal basis for the arrests.

"Where are the warrants?" she asked.

Mills, a Democrat, said Congress should replace Homeland Security's Noem, a call others have made, including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.

A statement from ICE on Thursday characterized its action in Maine from Jan. 20-24 as a success, despite the pushback from what it called "activist groups, radical politicians, and protesters." It went on to say, "ICE will not be deterred from enforcing U.S. immigration law," but did not confirm that the enhanced immigration enforcement action in Maine has ended.

WBUR asked ICE for a full list of all those detained in Lewiston and across Maine, but the agency did not respond.

Back in Lewiston, Effrax Saciid-Cisse, the Somali-American immigrant advocate, welcomed news that the ICE surge might have ended "for now." But she's hardly reassured about the future.

"I do think they will come back," she said.