ICE is targeting 1,400 people in Maine after launching enforcement operations in the state this week.
FOX News reports the agency had arrested 50 by late Tuesday night in what the federal government is calling “Operation Catch of the Day.”
An ICE assistant director told FOX News their agents won’t stop until they arrest everyone on the list in Maine, which includes people convicted of serious crimes.
The agency says at least one person who crossed the border illegally under the Biden administration was released.
The ICE assistant director says people on their list include people from Senegal, Somalia, Honduras, Guatemala, and the Congo, according to FOX News.
The agency says agitators have infringed on their operations in some cases, but is vowing to complete its job.
Meanwhile, Maine Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree released a statement Wednesday, calling operation “Catch of the Day” a truly heinous and inhumane name.
Pingree says ICE is conveniently detailing a handful of people it has detained with criminal records, while many people without records have been picked up.
She listed three examples of people who pose no threat who have been detained – a mother of four dropping her kids off at school, a teenager buying lunch for school at a grocery store, and a caregiver for people with disabilities on a lunch break.
Pingree claims the operation does not serve the public interest, and exists solely to meet anti-immigration quotas.