Portland, Maine-Immigrant communities across the northeastern United States are reporting a sharp increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity this week, with Maine emerging as a focal point of concern as families describe arrests, home surveillance, and an atmosphere of fear spreading through neighborhoods.
In cities and rural towns across Maine, asylum seekers who have lived in the state for years under pending immigration cases say ICE agents have intensified operations, appearing near homes, workplaces, and community centers. Many of those affected are individuals who have complied with immigration requirements, regularly checked in with authorities, and waited years for asylum interviews or court decisions.
Community advocates report that several people have already been detained, while others say they were warned by neighbors and local networks not to open their doors or leave their homes due to ICE presence in their areas. The result has been a near-lockdown in some immigrant neighborhoods, with families staying indoors and avoiding routine activities out of fear of arrest.
One of the most alarming developments, according to parents and community organizers, is the impact on children. Multiple families said they have kept their children home from school after reports circulated that ICE agents were seen near school bus routes. While no official confirmation has been issued that buses were stopped, the reports have been enough to trigger widespread panic, leading to empty classrooms and worried school administrators.
“Parents are terrified,” said a local immigrant rights volunteer in southern Maine. “These families have been waiting peacefully for years. Now they feel hunted, and the children are paying the price.”
Advocacy groups say the operations appear to be concentrated in the Northeast, where large numbers of asylum seekers from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean were resettled over the past several years. Many had begun to rebuild their lives, working legally, enrolling children in school, and integrating into local communities.
ICE has not released detailed public information about the scope of the operations in Maine, and officials have not responded to requests for comment on whether schools or buses are being monitored. In past statements, the agency has said its enforcement actions are targeted and based on federal law, not random sweeps, but fear on the ground tells a different story for families now living in isolation.
Local leaders and humanitarian organizations are calling for transparency and restraint, warning that aggressive enforcement in communities with large numbers of asylum seekers risks destabilizing families, disrupting education, and eroding trust between residents and authorities.
For now, many families remain indoors, waiting, uncertain when the pressure will ease or who will be next to receive a knock at the door. As one asylum seeker in Portland said quietly, “We escaped danger once. We didn’t expect to live in fear again—especially not here.”
