The Department of Homeland Security says Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested more than 200 people in Maine since launching large-scale operations last week.
In a written statement Monday, a spokesperson characterized those arrested as "illegal aliens."
But in many cases, immigration lawyers, employers and family members of those detained say many are pursuing lawful immigration pathways such as asylum, and have legal documents to work in the U.S.
The DHS statement highlighted four people it says have criminal records — the same four people it highlighted in a press release last Wednesday announcing the operation.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills continued to criticize the ongoing surge of immigration enforcement in the state.
The governor said ICE's tactics are unnecessarily confrontational with observers and that it's detaining people who are lawfully present in the U.S.
Speaking on Maine Calling Monday, Mills said ICE is pursuing detention quotas instead of targeting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.
She said businesses are calling her office because their workers are getting detained and that they are asylum seekers and others authorized to work and live in Maine.
"I'm getting calls from employers. They're saying, 'my people are getting ... kidnapped and taken out of their homes and their cars and they're just gone," she said.
Mills, a Democrat, has also been critical of Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whom she hopes to challenge in this year's midterm election.
Mills said Collins isn't using her position on the Senate budget committee to hold ICE accountable.
Collins was not available for an interview. In response to questions about ICE's conduct in Maine and Minnesota, her spokesperson said the senator has asked the Department of Homeland Security to explain how it's targeting detainees and why ICE is allowing agents to enter homes without judicial warrants.
"Senator Collins has contacted the Department of Homeland Security about the ICE activities occurring in Maine, including with respect to the specific detentions as reported in the Maine press," the spokesperson said. "She has asked for answers about the legal bases for these actions and about how ICE is prioritizing its activities to target what it calls 'the worst of the worst.'"
Collins as resisted calls to withhold funding for DHS, the umbrella agency for ICE as a vote to continuing funding the agency looms later this week. Mills has joined a growing list of congressional Democrats in opposing the funding bill until more accountability measures for agents are included.
