Immigration lawyers are sounding alarms over what they say is an escalating immigration crackdown in Maine. Border Patrol agents, they say, are arresting people who have valid work permits, no criminal records, and who are following lawful pathways to permanent status. At least two attorneys are advising their clients to avoid travelling to Maine altogether.
Rhode Island-based immigration lawyer Arnoldo Benitez said his client — a Venezuelan asylum seeker living in Florida — travelled to Maine in early March with a construction crew to work on a jobsite Downeast.
According to a Department of Homeland Security document shared by Benitez, his client was taken into custody on March 5 by Border Patrol agents in Calais, after someone called in to report a van transporting "possible illegal aliens."
"He was not committing any crimes, was not doing anything that would warrant detention, other than being in Maine when they don't want him there," Benitez said.
The same document states that Benitez's client presented Border Patrol agents with a government-issued work authorization card, and that a background check found no warrants or criminal history.
Still, the arresting agents wrote that a work permit alone was not enough to prove lawful status, and that because the man failed to provide other documents, they determined him to be in the country illegally.
Benitez said in his nearly eight years practicing immigration law, he'd never seen this situation before. Until now, he said, having a clean record, presenting a valid work permit, and having a pending asylum claim would have sufficed.
"They would have that verified. They could see that in the system that either they have an upcoming court date or something, and just let them go on their way," he said.
Instead, Benitez said his client was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and put in fast-track deportation proceedings.
Benitez said his client had served as an officer in the Venezuelan military, but opposed the regime of strongman president Nicolas Maduro. Benitez said his client received threats for trying to leave the military, and ultimately fled to the United States several years ago.
Now, Benitez said he's telling his other clients to avoid travelling to Maine. And he's not alone.
"I am advising all my clients who have valid work authorization and their own companies, and other companies they work for, not to travel to Maine for work," said Kira Gagarin, an immigration attorney in Framingham, Massachusetts.
She said she has dozens of clients who usually travel to Maine for jobs in construction and landscaping.
Recently, she said one of those clients was arrested by Border Patrol in Maine despite having a valid work permit and no criminal record. Gagarin said her client is also petitioning for permanent status through his wife, whose asylum claim was recently granted.
"These people are here lawfully. They're going through the legal process of seeking permanent immigration status. Especially my client," she said, "because he has a very clear path to permanency."
Lisa Parisio, with the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said her group is also seeing an increase in this kind of arrest.
"We are certainly becoming aware of more and more cases here in Maine of residents, as well as people who are doing work in the state, being picked up and thrown in detention by immigration officers, despite having absolutely no criminal record, having valid work permits, and being in lawful immigration processes," Parisio said.
Parisio said her group has heard of at least ten such cases so far, involving people with pending claims for asylum and for Temporary Protected Status. She said there are likely many more, but the full picture is unclear in part because federal agencies often transfer people to detention centers out of state.
Either way, she said, it reflects an escalation in immigration enforcement, as the Trump administration seeks to increase deportations.
"There is just absolutely no compelling public policy reason for this level and broadness of enforcement," she said. "Why would the government spend resources on detaining people who are following the law and trying to do everything possible to pursue their case?"
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement released last week, the agency said it had recently arrested 39 people in Maine over ten days.
Meanwhile, attorney Arnoldo Benitez said that although an asylum officer found his client's story credible, the officer denied the asylum claim, saying the man was not part of any protected group that would qualify him for legal protection.
On Tuesday, Benitez said, a judge affirmed that decision, and ordered his client deported.
Benitez said the outcome could have been different had his client not been picked up by Border Patrol. That's because after the arrest, his client was placed in what's known as expedited removal proceedings, giving him only weeks to marshal evidence and defend his case, and severely limiting his options to appeal.
"We were only able to sort of scratch the surface with his testimony," Benitez said. "You know, it was a 30 minute hearing, that's it."
If the asylum claim had proceeded normally, Benitez said, they would have had time to present a more thorough case. Benitez said he's not sure when, or to which country, his client will be deported.
