Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she's asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to pause the immigration enforcement surge in both Maine and Minnesota, calling both operations too sweeping and indiscriminate.
Collins' request comes amid public backlash over how Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents are sweeping up people who are legally present in the U.S., causing fear and anxiety in both states.
Collins has previously questioned the rationale behind the surge of ICE agents in Maine. Now that it's underway, she says her misgivings have only grown.
She told Maine Public that she spoke to Noem on Monday.
"I asked her to pause the operations in both Maine and Minnesota so that they could be reviewed and far more targeted in their scope," she said.
Collins says she has received multiple calls from constituents expressing fear and anger about the ICE operation because it was sweeping up people who are here legally. She said Noem asked for examples and that she's compiling a list.
She described the events in Minnesota as appalling and was hopeful about recent staffing changes at the direction of the White House, including the recent deployment of White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota.
Homan, an immigration hardliner who served during the Obama and first Trump administration, had been sidelined during the surge. Collins said she wasn't sure why.
Collins also rejected Noem's characterization of Alex Pretti as a "domestic terrorist" after he was shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis last weekend. She reiterated her call for an independent investigation, not one overseen by DHS.
The Republican also questioned the training of new ICE recruits, saying they were deployed too quickly.
"I believe in a rush to get them out to the field that their training has not been as thorough and extensive as it should be," she said.
Collins stood by her calls to continue funding DHS, the umbrella agency for ICE, in an upcoming funding bill. That position has drawn criticism from Democrats, including two of the leading contenders vying to unseat her in the upcoming midterm election, Gov. Janet Mills and Graham Platner.
Collins said 80% of the DHS funding as nothing to do with ICE and that the bill includes accountability measures like requiring body cameras and crowd de-escalation training for agents.
Democrats in the Senate have vowed to block funding for DHS in upcoming vote because of ICE's conduct.
