ICE agents were allegedly spotted on the University of Maine Farmington Campus last week, inspiring taxpayer-funded professors to attempt recording their whereabouts and to call a hotline intended to help illegal immigrants evade law enforcement, according to internal UMaine Farmington communications obtained by The Maine Wire.
[RELATED: Maine Immigrant Groups Set Up Hotline to Warn Illegals of ICE Activity…]
“As a public institution, most of our campus is open to the public and to law enforcement. In the event an immigration official approaches an employee or student in person or otherwise contacts them, please immediately contact Laurie or Christine, who are familiar with both our obligations to outside law enforcement and our protocols for protecting the legal rights of students and employees,” said UMaine Farmington President Joseph McDonald in an email to staff and students.
The situation began when Visual Arts professor Melissa Thompson used her college email address to send a message to the school’s faculty and staff, claiming that a student told her he might be late for class because he was being harassed by ICE and Border Patrol agents.
The student also reportedly informed her that two other students had been detained by ICE but that they were subsequently released.
“At 2:04 pm I received a text from a student, saying that he may be late for class because he is being harassed by ICE/Border Patrol on campus. He also reported that he knew two students who were detained by ICE, but have been released,” said Thompson in her email.
“He did not know how many students in total have been detained, or if they have all been released. He very reasonably indicated that he is afraid to leave the dorm to go to class for his own safety. I thought everyone should be aware ASAP that we have Border Patrol harassing/detaining students on campus,” she added.
The Maine Wire cannot verify whether the student was actually an immigrant investigated by ICE or whether he was simply providing an excuse to skip class that his liberal professor would readily accept. Nevertheless, Thompson’s message prompted a response from other professors.
Geology Professor Douglas Reusch responded, also cc’ing the faculty and staff, claiming that he decided to grab a camera and walk around campus in hopes of recording federal agents, and found another professor and a student doing the same. He stated that none of them found any signs of a “disturbance.”
“My instinct was to grab my camera and search around campus. (I didn’t think to phone Public Safety.) It was heartening to cross paths with a student and a faculty colleague doing the same. A dual search on bikes failed to locate any disturbance,” said a relieved Reusch.
He suggested that the school should develop a plan for how to respond to immigration enforcement activities going forward.
Interestingly for a science professor, Reusch’s email signature includes a quote from physicist Max Born, which appears to deny the existence of objective truth.
“This relaxation of the rules of thinking seems to me the greatest blessing which modern science has given us. For the belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it, seems to me the deepest root of all that is evil in the world,” reads Reusch’s email signature.
In response to the situation, President McDonald issued his statement, reporting that the school has been investigating and found no confirmation of immigration enforcement activities.
He asked students and staff to immediately report law enforcement activities and offered concerned students access to counseling services.
On Saturday, Art and Design Professor Dawn Nye raised the alarm again, claiming ICE had been spotted in Farmington’s Flint Woods.
“Hello UMF: The number to report on ICE that was given yesterday is not working. Please be advised, a friend just let me know that there is an ICE truck in Flint woods,” said Nye.
Nye also shared a map of Flint Woods, with a piece of paper on it seemingly pointing to the place where ICE agents were allegedly spotted.
Nye’s message prompted Gretchen Legler to call the Maine ICE Watch Hotline. Legler, according to her personal website, teaches creative writing at UMaine Farmington. She strangely does not appear in the university’s directory, but as of Saturday, she still had a UMaine email address, suggesting that she still works at the school.
“Hello Friends. I just called this number below and reported (thanks to Dawn’s email ) that an ice vehicle had been cited near Flint woods in Farmington. Apparently the hotline is not operational on the weekends. But I did leave a message,” said Legler.
“The group that is running the hotline has emphasized that if we can have a central place for gathering information about ICE sightings, it helps to build a database of information. If you do see ice agents or ice vehicles, take pictures of [sic] you can. This is all part of the verification process,” she added.
The ICE hotline is intended to allow people to report sightings of ICE activity so that a notice can be sent out to illegal immigrants to help them evade law enforcement.
The emails reviewed by The Maine Wire raise concerns that taxpayers are funding an institution whose employees appear to be actively working to resist federal law enforcement. The responses from professors also raise questions about whether the school knowingly enrolls students who are in the country illegally.
