loading . . . Carlos Nzolameso holds up a picture of Evaristo Kalonji, a South Portland man who was detained by federal agents on Jan. 22. (Kristian Moravec/The Maine Monitor)
_Editor’s note: This Jan. 28 live blog is no longer being updated.Click here for the Jan. 28 updates._
After days of mounting pressure, Maine’s senior U.S. Sen. Susan Collins called on the Trump administration Tuesday to pause its immigration enforcement efforts here and in Minnesota, where two protesters have been killed by federal agents. Her statement came on the same day protesters visited her Portland office, which resulted in nine arrests for criminal trespassing.
Maine public schools in areas where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been patrolling have started to to see impacts in the form of decreased attendance and increased anxiety among some students and parents. Portland, which has a large immigration population, is among the school districts considering offering a remote learning option on a temporary basis.
Meanwhile, lawyers are reporting that some clients who have been detained have struggled to get a bond hearing from the U.S. Department of Justice, even though a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that certain immigrants in government custody are entitled to such hearing. Immigration court judges across the country have been instructed to disregard such declarations.
Read our updates from Tuesday here.
Here’s what else you need to know:
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* Susan Collins says ICE operations in Maine, Minnesota should be paused
* ICE reports in Maine slow after spike last week, immigrant advocates say
* Feds gave judge in Maine wrong whereabouts of man arrested by Border Patrol
* Maine schools react to increased ICE enforcement
* Lawyers say it is harder for Mainers arrested by ICE to get bond hearings
* As ICE operations in Maine continue, neighbors step in to feed each other
* Let us know what you think of immigration operations in Maine
* The Mainers detained by ICE
_Our journalists are working to verify sightings and report events as they happen. Have a tip? Fill outthis form, reach us on Signal at PressHeraldTips.295 or email [email protected]. Tips are confidential._
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## **5:30 p.m.: Maine’s largest business groups urge congressional action to rein in ICE**
Three of Maine’s largest business groups joined forces Wednesday in asking the state’s congressional delegation to push for greater control over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Portland Regional Chamber and Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber sent a letter to the delegation raising concerns about the economic impacts of recent ICE activity in Maine.
The letter calls for greater congressional oversight, limits on aggressive enforcement tactics involving non-violent individuals, and continued bipartisan work on immigration reform.
“Our employers are increasingly reporting that authorized workers are staying home from work, as it has been widely reported that ICE enforcement includes not only individuals with extensive criminal records, but also individuals who believe they are legally authorized to work and reside in the United States,” the letter states. “These activities are occurring in downtown areas as well as in major retailers and grocery stores.”
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The letter notes that Maine’s labor market is among the tightest in the country.
“Elevated ICE enforcement has rapidly become one of the most pressing economic challenges facing hundreds of Maine businesses,” the letter states. “Businesses across nearly every sector — from essential services to restaurants — are already triaging operations simply to remain open. This situation is not sustainable for many businesses.”
The letter makes these points in depth:
• Congressional Oversight: “Enforcement efforts should be focused on individuals without legal status who have criminal records. However, there is now public reporting of individuals with legal status and no criminal history that have been aggressively pursued in commercial centers throughout our communities. This creates a public safety concern that extends beyond the workforce and is influencing broader consumer behavior. Many individuals are hesitant to spend time in shopping districts, resulting in a significant decline in customer traffic for local businesses. The bottom line is that these actions are undermining economic activity and have caused an entire population — regardless of legal status — to remain at home and away from our businesses. A thorough review is needed to clarify the objectives, scope, and execution of current enforcement activities.”
• Enforcement Activities: “Congress should review and establish clear limits on aggressive ICE enforcement actions involving individuals without criminal records. The reported activities have created a destabilizing environment in our communities. While we respect the rule of law and the majority of professionals who conduct enforcement responsibly, we strongly support congressional efforts to ensure that enforcement activities are carried out with restraint and professionalism.”
• Immigration Reform: “We appreciate congressional efforts to address our broken immigration system. In particular, bipartisan immigration legislation introduced in 2024 and supported by Senators Collins and King would have strengthened border security while creating a legal process for existing immigrants without legal status. While significant progress has been made on border security, there must also be a pathway for long-term legal status for residents without a criminal history. This issue has undermined our economy for decades and demands a lasting solution.”
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— _Kelley Bouchard_
## **5:20 p.m.: ICE agents shatter window, leave one-month-old baby and mother in car during Portland arrest**
Video obtained by the Portland Press Herald shows federal immigration agents leaving behind a woman and her infant child, along with broken glass, after detaining a Guinean immigrant with no known criminal history in Portland.
Hassane Barry and his wife, Nene, asylum seekers from the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, were driving home from an appointment last week to get their one-month-old baby a passport. As they drove down Forest Avenue, they suddenly found themselves boxed in by four unmarked police cars.
Armed and masked federal agents stepped out and said Hassane’s name. They were here for him.
“There’s a baby in the car,” Hassane told the agents. “There’s a baby.”
But before the couple had time to do anything, agents shattered his driver side window. Glass sprayed over the baby’s car seat and the car’s interior, Nene said. Hassane was arrested and pulled into an unmarked police car. Officers left the scene in a matter of minutes.
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Nene, who does not have a driver’s license and speaks little English, was left alone inside the car with her infant.
A group of around ten bystanders filmed agents and watched the incident unfold from the sidewalk. They walked through shattered glass to help usher Nene and her baby into their own cars to warm up. They eventually coordinated drivers who could take Nene, her baby and their car all back home.
Hassane was taken to the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts, where ICE’s detainee locator indicates he is still being held. A week since the arrest, Nene said she’s still in shock and is now too scared to leave her apartment.
“At night, we cannot sleep,” Nene said. “The baby cries; I cry.”
— _Dylan Tusinski, Salomé Cloteaux_
## **3:20 p.m. Passamaquoddy Chief seeks to quell fears in statement**
Chief William Nicholas Sr. and Vice Chief Joseph Socobasin of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk (Indian Township) released a statement Wednesday afternoon in an effort to address concerns voiced by reservation residents.
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The statement, which largely echoes those released last week by Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis and Chief Amkuwiposohehs “Pos” Bassett the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik, urges tribal members to identify themselves as U.S. citizens and to show proper ID if contacted by federal immigration officials.
“We have not been contacted by ICE for any immigration purposes on our reservation and would hope that communication would be made through the Police Department if they were to come here,” the officials wrote.
Nationally, some members of federally recognized tribes have had found their tribal IDs, which are acceptable proof of citizenship for many purposes, were not sufficient in interactions with federal immigration enforcement officers.
There have been no reports of ICE agents stopping or detaining tribal members in Maine.
— _Reuben M. Schafir_
## **2:45 p.m.: Federal immigration agents struck observers’ vehicles with paintball-like projectiles**
At least two vehicles driven by observers of U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement activity were hit by paintball-like projectiles by federal immigration agents in the Home Depot parking lot in South Portland on Friday afternoon.
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Sabine Pierce, who said she has witnessed a couple of dozen ICE scenes since Jan. 20, arrived at Home Depot after agents had already moved the detainee into their vehicle. Pierce kept her distance from the agents but shouted obscene critiques through her rolled-down car window.
As her car approached the area, an agent walked to his vehicle and grabbed an assault rifle before approaching her vehicle.
Pierce said the agent told her “this is your last warning, If you don’t leave, you will be arrested.”
At that point, another agent ran towards her vehicle with something that looked like a sledgehammer in hand, according to Pierce. She drove away before he could get close enough.
As she was leaving the parking lot, Pierce said her vehicle was struck twice on the passenger side by the paint-ball like projectile. The agent who fired it was on foot, about 200 or 300 feet away from Pierce’s car.
ICE spokespeople did not immediately respond to an inquiry about why a paintball-like gun was being used.
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— _Dana Richie_
## 2:30 p.m.: A pastor searched for a missing congregant. He found a car with the keys on the floor
Around 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, Westbrook pastor Carlos Nzolameso received a call from a member of his congregation who was searching for a roommate. Evaristo Kalonji, who organizes and plays the music at the church, had not shown up to his job at Chipotle.
Several other congregants also reached out to Nzolameso, concerned that Kalonji, an asylum seeker from Angola, was missing. Nzolameso, who leads the predominantly Portuguese-speaking Rehoboth Christian Church, said Kalonji, who has no family in the United States, is like a son.
He set out to find him.
Nzolameso spent a couple hours searching for Kalonji in and around South Portland, where Kalonji lives. Nzolameso checked with the police department for any traffic stops or accidents. His efforts yielded no answers. He weighed checking the hospital next.
Carlos Nzolameso holds up a picture of Evaristo Kalonji, a South Portland man who was detained by federal agents on Thursday. (Kristian Moravec/The Maine Monitor)
It wasn’t until the pastor made a final trip to retrace Kalonji’s commute that he spotted his car — a black Ford Fusion — two minutes away from Kalonji’s home. It was parked on Westbrook Street in South Portland. The car was unlocked, he said, and the keys were on the floor.
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“I was devastated. I couldn’t even believe it,” said Noemia Nzolameso, the pastor’s daughter, when she heard the news. “I was in shock. Literally.”
Read the full story here
— _Kristian Moravec, Maine Monitor_
## 1:10 p.m.: Greater Portland businesses to be surveyed about ICE impacts
Five local organizations are banding together to survey more than 1,000 businesses in Greater Portland to see how they have been impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations over the last several days.
Surveys were sent Wednesday on behalf of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Visit Portland, the City of Portland Housing & Economic Development Department, Portland Downtown and the Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG).
The anonymous survey seeks to better understand whether recent ICE activity has had any measurable economic impacts on businesses, including on staffing, productivity, revenue and general operations.
Already, many immigrant-owned businesses have temporarily closed their doors to protect staff and to avoid attracting any attention.
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Other businesses have put up signs standing with immigrants and protesting ICE’s enforcement actions here.
— _Staff report_
## **12:40 p.m.: Gov. Mills says she is pressing Trump on ICE presence as city leaders say they are worried about a possible wave of evictions**
The mayors of Maine’s largest and most diverse cities told Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday that they are bracing for a wave of evictions next week as the immigration enforcement campaign in the state is keeping families out of work.
During a roundtable discussion with the mayors of Portland, South Portland, Westbrook, Lewiston and more, Mills said she has requested a meeting with President Donald Trump and is seeking information on who exactly has been arrested so far in Maine, the reasons for the arrests and where they are being detained, but said she has not received a response.
The mayors attending the roundtable recounted similar ways the enforcement campaign has impacted daily life in their cities, including decreased attendance at workplaces and schools that is having serious economic implications.
Portland Mayor Mark Dion said that according to Project Home, a program run by the nonprofit Quality Housing Coalition, there are at least 653 households across Portland, South Portland and Westbrook that are at risk of eviction come Feb. 1. Those households account for 2,285 adults and children.
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Dion said he worries evictions will be the “new tsunami” following the increased ICE presence that “could linger for quite some time.”
“It’s bad enough to be afraid to go outside, and it could be worse if we push them outside,” he said, urging the governor to seek assistance from philanthropic organizations and the legislature to treat the issue as an emergency.
Mills said she and Attorney General Aaron Frey, who was also in attendance, will be pressing the administration to provide the identities of who has been taken and what the legal basis is for their detention.
“Who are they? Where are they? We don’t believe in secrecy surrounding arrests and detention,” she said. “This is America. Tell us what the federal government’s plans are for them? When will they be returned to their jobs and families?”
Read the full story here.
— _Andrew Rice_
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## **12:40 p.m.: Portland sandwich shop to donate half of upcoming sales to local groups**
Ramona’s on Washington Avenue announced in a social media post Wednesday that it plans to donate 20% of its sales this Thursday, Friday and Saturday to two local community support groups.
The restaurant said the proceeds would go to the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project and the MaineHealth Food Pantry. Ramona’s said the groups “provide vital support to those in our community affected by the inhumane ICE tactics in our state.”
Ramona’s had initially announced it would donate 50% of its Friday sales, but Friday has been designated as a National Shutdown Day, calling for “no school, no work, no shopping” to protest immigration enforcement tactics and shootings in Minneapolis. In their Instagram post, Ramona’s stated, “We wholeheartedly stand with our fellow industry workers who have chosen to strike, showing solidarity with businesses unable to open and with those who cannot work safely.
“We believe that food is a source of comfort and community,” the post adds. “Our doors will be open to provide a safe space for our neighbors and those who wish to contribute to the organizations named above. We know that these are small gestures, but we hope that they contribute to the greater good of our community here in Portland.”
— _Tim Cebula_
## ****11:45 a.m.: Many Maine businesses will participate in Friday’s nationwide strike****
The list is growing of Maine businesses that plan to participate in Friday’s nationwide shutdown in protest of ICE activity.
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Arcana yoga and massage studio is one of several Portland businesses that have posted their plans on Instagram in an effort to encourage others to join.
“Hey Folks, we will be closed on Friday 1/30 in Solidarity with the general strike!” the post reads. “Be brave, Be wise, Be aware and please local businesses close in solidarity. This is not like previous actions. This is a well organized national strike. One day of profit is not as important as this historically very effective non-violent action!!!”
> View this post on Instagram
Nash & Co., Flatiron Coffee Bar, Another Round, Izakaya Minato, Tandem Coffee & Bakery, Speckled Axe, Sun Oriental Market and Mayhem Portland also have posted plans to be closed in support of the immigrant community and to protest ICE.
The strike, organized at NationalShutdown.us, is billed as “ICE OUT! Nationwide Shutdown! No work. No school. No shopping.”
As part of the shutdown, a protest event is being planned for 3 p.m. Friday at Monument Square in Portland, according to social media posts.
But while many local businesses plan to close on Friday, some will remain open because closing isn’t feasible for a variety of reasons, said Amy Landry, board president of Portland Buy Local. Many are reaching out in other ways.
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“Whether open or closed, businesses are donating profits, gathering supplies, and volunteering with local nonprofits,” Landry said. “What we’re seeing is that local businesses are supporting our community in ways that feel right to them.”
— _Kelley Bouchard_
## **10:50 a.m.: Lewiston woman worries for her husband being held in Massachusetts by ICE**
Delfino Nsuka was minutes from his home in Lewiston, his wife said, when ICE agents stopped him Thursday afternoon.
Jaylee Shropshire-Nsuka recorded as much of the interaction as she could. She was driving to his location in another car, listening to officers through a phone call with her husband.
“She’s literally on the way,” Delfino told the agents, according to a recording of the phone call.
“You can talk with her after,” a man tells Delfino, before asking him to take off his seat belt and get out of the car, which Delfino had turned off.
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Jaylee said she didn’t hear from her husband until the next day. He is currently being held in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and is scheduled to appear in immigration court in February.
“At that point I hadn’t heard from him in almost 2 days, and I was obviously freaking out,” she said. “Because, you know, they’ve sent people to Texas and Louisiana. You just have no idea what’s gonna happen, you know what I mean?”
In the video she recorded, ICE agents told Delfino they ran a “check for immigration” and that he was “going to have to come with us.” They never ask for his name in the video, although Jaylee said her husband gave them his work authorization papers.
Jaylee said her husband, who is originally from Angola, has no criminal history and has done “everything he is supposed to do” for his immigration case.
Delfino arrived to the United States eight years ago on a visa, she said. They met each other while attending high school in Lewiston.
Jaylee said they got married last year and were in the middle of sorting out the paperwork to adjust his status, although she added that he was in Maine as an asylum-seeker before that.
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Jaylee Shropshire-Nsuka (right) and her husband, Delfino Nsuka. (Photo courtesy of Jaylee Shropshire-Nsuka)
Delfino is one of at least three people married to U.S. citizens who have recently been detained by immigration officials, according to court records and their spouses.
That includes Marcos Da Silva, who was detained by ICE in Portland on Jan. 20 and is still in federal custody. Another man married to a U.S. citizen was arrested by Border Patrol agents in Wiscasset on Jan. 16 while leaving his home, according to court records.
Jaylee said her husband has no criminal history and has been a hard and dedicated worker for the eight years that she’s known him.
“He’s the breadwinner at home,” she said. “Our whole lives are going to be affected by this, and currently are being affected by this situation. Something needs to happen, because innocent people are being targeted.”
— _Emily Allen_
## 10 a.m.: ICE officials won’t say if operations have slowed in Maine
ICE officials declined to share whether operations in Maine have slowed since its enhanced enforcement began last week.
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Immigrant advocates said Tuesday that calls to their ICE activity hotline have slowed after a significant spike last week — when federal officials reported that agents had apprehended more than 200 people since its operation began on Jan. 20.
Officials from the federal agency, however, refused to answer whether immigration enforcement activity has reduced, and would not share how many agents are working throughout the state.
“Due to operational security and officer safety, ICE does not discuss any ongoing, upcoming, or planned immigration enforcement operations. ICE also does not divulge law enforcement tactics or methods,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday.
— _Morgan Womack_ https://www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/live-updates-ice-operation-continues-in-maine-advocates-say-efforts-have-slowed-agency-wont-confirm/
