Liars And Neighbors

ICE hits Maine. Minnesota hits back.

Maine is getting its first taste of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino’s band of brigands. Cumberland County’s sheriff is pissed.

A cluster of federal agents stopped one of Sheriff Kevin Joyce’s corrections trainees in Portland, dragged him from his car, put him in handcuffs, and drove away leaving the trainee’s vehicle alongside the road, windows open, lights on, and unsecured. Video of the arrest shows the man as he is handcuffed shouting, “I’m a corrections officer, I work in Cumberland County, what’s wrong?”

‘Bush league policing’

“We’re being told one story, which is totally different than what’s occurring, or what occurred last night,” Joyce said:

Joyce said the recruit was hired in February 2025 after undergoing a rigorous hiring process. The sheriff also said the recruit’s I-9 suggested that he was able to work in the United States until April 2029.

“In this particular case, this is an individual that had permission to be working in the state of Maine. We vetted him,” Joyce said. “Every indication we found is that this was a squeaky-clean individual that really hadn’t done anything at all.”

The incident has Joyce reevaluating his prior support for CBP:

“This opened the door for me based on the fact, I mean, this is an individual that was trying to do all the right things,” he said. “I guess if you’re not the card-carrying U.S. citizen, then you must be illegal, because that’s what they told me is ‘he’s illegal,’ and he’s definitely not a criminal. So what part of him is illegal? I don’t know.”

The citizens of Minneapolis were there before an ICE agent gunned down Renee Good on Jan. 7.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed this week that her CBP/ICE bush-leaguers have arrested “over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens,” including 3,000 in Minnesota over the last three weeks. Noem offered no proof to support those numbers, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

It’s nearly impossible to independently verify any of ICE’s numbers. The agency has refused to release information or provide names of all those detained, and immigration court has become increasingly opaque, with hearings held in secret.

But if ICE has arrested 10,000 people in the past year, a majority of the arrests would have had to occur before Dec. 1, when it began sending officers into the state.

The 10,000 figure is a substantial increase from what officials have said previously.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council, an immigration advocacy nonprofit, calls Noem’s numbers “VERY likely false.”

How very, very Trumpy.

‘ICE Out! Statewide Shutdown‘

Neighbors in Minneapolis and across Minnesota plan to protest CBP/ICE today with a citywide general strike (Minneapolis Star Tribune again):

Expect many small businesses, from restaurants to museums to yarn shops, to close on Friday as a part of a statewide action to oppose the presence of ICE and other federal immigration officials in Minnesota.

Businesses across Minnesota will shutter temporarily Jan. 23 as part of an economic blackout intended to show support for immigrant workers, customers and neighbors who have been the target of federal agents. The “ICE Out! Statewide Shutdown” is calling for Minnesotans to skip work, school and shopping.

The Star Tribune confirms that 300 Minnesota bars, restaurants, museums and shops plan to close, joining dozens of events postponed.

To be fair, perhaps general strike organizers will boast of insanely high participation numbers by Saturday to match CBP’s lies. Activists across the country recognize that with a supine Congress and Trump 2.0’s tendency to double or triple down on its outrages, that mass numbers of people in the streets or a nationwide general strike may be the only way to rein in the Trump administration. After all, stiff pushback in Davos this week got Trump to back away from military action to seize Greenland. Minnesotans could provide the inspiration.

God knows we need some.