Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took a Honduran illegal immigrant into custody outside a Portland school on Thursday after Portland Police released him following a domestic violence arrest the day before.
[RELATED: Maine’s Border Patrol Bust Another Illegal Immigrant Gang Member, This Time in Union…]
“ICE had to make this arrest at large in the community because Portland authorities do not cooperate with ICE,” said U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to the Portland Press Herald.
The arrest took place around 8:00 a.m. after the alleged illegal immigrant was dropping off a child at the nearby Gerald E. Talbot Community School.
According to the DHS, the man was an illegal immigrant from Honduras who had been arrested the day before on domestic violence charges. Despite the arrest, the Portland Police Department, following city policy, refused to collaborate with ICE and released him.
The DHS pointed out that they only needed to make the arrest in public near the school because the Portland Police Department had not cooperated with them.
The Maine Wire reached out to ICE for more information on the arrest and for the name of the illegal immigrant, but they did not respond immediately.
The arrest sparked outrage among school employees and Portland School Board Chair Sarah Lentz, who claimed the ICE officers refused to identify themselves during the arrest.
“It was incredibly close to a school, and I think our entire community is just really reeling with the fact that this happened,” she said during a press conference.
“As a board of public education, our job is to provide free, appropriate education to every student, regardless of the identities that they hold, and this interrupted that, and really created substantial harm within our community,” she added.
The Portland Police Department was reportedly unaware that the arrest would take place. According to Superintendent Ryan Scallon, the Portland Police Department will try to stop any enforcement activities they learn about from occurring at schools.
The arrest even prompted a response from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maine, urging schools to avoid asking students about their immigration status or requesting documents that only legal immigrants would have.
“ACLU of Maine is reminding parents, students, and school leaders that knowing their rights is a powerful way to keep our communities as safe as possible in the face of rapidly changing immigration enforcement practices,” said the leftist organization.
