Are we shocked about this? If you’re here illegally, you’re going. If you’re here illegally and are committing crimes, you’re definitely being shipped out. Somali-led fraud is a nationwide epidemic. Minnesota is the epicenter due to excellent reporting from Nick Shirley and the shooting of Renee Nicole Good, who was killed after she tried to ram an ICE agent in Minneapolis. But Washington State, Ohio, and Maine also have fraud issues, and now ICE is heading north (via NYT):
The Trump administration has started an immigration enforcement operation in Maine, targeting Somali immigrants in the state, according to two U.S. officials with knowledge of the plans.
The decision comes weeks after a similar operation in Minnesota incited protests and raised questions about the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Thousands of officers and agents from the Department of Homeland Security were deployed there, and ICE’s actions have come under significant scrutiny in the wake of the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis this month by an ICE officer.
A number of asylum seekers from African countries who arrived in the United States during the Biden administration have settled in Maine, joining a Somali population that started arriving there in the early 2000s, when refugees from the country began settling in Lewiston. Yet Maine remains an overwhelmingly white state, with one of the oldest populations in the country. Some employers have begun looking to immigrants to fill labor gaps, as native-born employees have either left the work force or retired.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Maine telegraphed the upcoming operation in a statement on Monday advising people to protest peacefully.