Multiple reports are confirming that at 5:00 am., Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents conducted a raid of a bus transporting workers.  This raid occurred near a housing area for farmworkers employed at nearby Backyard Farms.  Witnesses reported 17 – 19 people arrested, including a US citizen.

The incident was reported to the Maine Immigration Defense Hotline at 7:00 am and verified by organzations that began getting requests for legal assistance related to the incident.  The Hotline has been receiving a growing number of calls that originate from the more rural areas of the state.  Today’s event represents an unprecedented scale of enforement activity of this nature in Maine and raises significant concerns for impacted workers, famlies and service providers.

“We worry this may indicte the start of a new phase of enhanced enforcement activity in the state that bgan with the surge in January.  suddenlly, disruptive enforcement actions in communities like Skowhegan leave famlliles, workplaces and communities in crisis,” said Mufalo Chitam, Executive Director of the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Some workers and families in the area are now believed to be sheltering in place and may need food or medicine.  Others are likely at work and afraid to leave. As we saw during January’s surge, when thousands of Maine children missed school out of fear, the ripple effects of enforcement operations extend far beyond those directly arrested.

Anyone known to be impacted by the detentions is encouraged to fill out a request for legal assistance from the Immigrant Legal Adocacy Project at:  contact@ilapmaine.org or call 207 – 770-4499.  Additional requests can be made with:  Maine Mobile Health for health and medical assistance.  Capitol Area New Mainers for food support.  Mano En Mano for language assistance and financial assistance from the Community Relief Fund and the Maine Solidarity Fund.