This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
In the state of Maine, the Portland City Council passed a resolution Monday night to allow Portland’s mayor to participate in lawsuits against ICE. The vote came after federal agents conducted immigration raids in Portland and in Lewiston as part of what the Trump administration has called Operation Catch of the Day. They are playing on the fact that Maine is well known for its seafood, as they talk about catching people, Operation Catch of the Day. Lewiston and Portland have sizable Somali populations, just like Minneapolis. The resolution passed by the Portland City Council noted that attendance at some schools has decreased by 20% and that many workers are afraid to leave their homes. Maine state lawmakers are also considering legislation aimed to keep ICE out of schools, healthcare facilities, public libraries.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline testified last week.
MAYOR CARL SHELINE: As the mayor of Lewiston, I’m advocating strongly for LD 2106. This bill protects the people of Maine as they visit and use our community institutions and also safeguards their personal information from our tyrannical and authoritarian federal government. I wish that things were different, but they are not. Masked government agents are here snatching our residents and sowing fear and terror. This bill allows our neighbors to safely visit their doctor, check out a book and go to second grade. Passage of this bill also sends a strong message that this Legislature stands in complete resistance to the federal government’s slide into fascism. I appreciate Representative Sato for sponsoring this bill and the committee’s time. Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Mufalo Chitam, the executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, based in Portland, Maine. The group represents over 100 member organizations.
Operation Catch of the Day? Mufalo Chitam, it’s horrifying to even say that. But can you talk about what has happened in the last weeks? Have you experienced an ICE surge in Maine? I’m not talking about the weather. And talk about who’s been arrested, who’s been taken and how you’re organizing with the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition.
MUFALO CHITAM: Yeah, no. Thank you so much.
Yeah, I mean, it’s hard to think about the, you know, “Catch of the Day,” but again, you know, we’re a state where, like you said, we’re a lobster state. But yeah, it’s been a — it’s been a whirlwind, I mean, since January 20th, when we — I got the first verification at 7:45, and, you know, four, five days later, it was just sheer panic. I mean, it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. I think, you know, you kind of watch these things on TV, and then when you see them done in the streets, you know, it’s just — it just sends a very wave of fear, and, you know, it was just panic. It was just panic.
But our organization has been really planning for this. We didn’t think we’re going to be — you know, we’re going to be this soon. We thought they would come, but not this soon. But our organizing, our hotline, you know, we had over 5,000-plus increase in phone calls. You know, for the next five days after January 20th, it was just — it was just boots on the ground. It was just boots on the ground. But we’ve been organizing. We’ve been, you know — but, you know, as we started seeing the number, the people who are being picked up, this became like — it just became real, you know, just became real, because it was your neighbor. You know, it was also just somebody that you go to church with. And when we heard that they were coming for the worst of the worst, you know, that was really painful to see, because it was just ordinary people that we know. You know, one of our community leaders was picked up on the first day. And she’s, you know, basically — you know, you look at what she’s being claimed to have done, it’s just a mother, you know, just a poor mother just trying to make a life here in the United States. But, yeah, it’s been really, really challenging. But we’ve been organizing. As you heard from the mayor from Lewiston, you know, LD 2106 is one of the legislations that we are, you know, advocating that it passes to keep our communities safe, to keep our communities safe.
And now, you know, since last week, it’s been very hard to tell people that they are safe, that they can go back to work, because we don’t know who they are targeting. We don’t know who they are targeting. When we saw, you know, the number of people who were being — who were being arrested, there was no pattern. There was no pattern. So, it gets very hard to tell somebody, you know, that they are safe. And so, people have been sheltering in place. And the community really did a great job, you know, organizing themselves, getting information, getting to know your rights, you know, also curbing rumors. So, you know, it’s been great to see our community sheltering in place and getting informed.
But it’s been also amazing to see the larger community come to — come to our aid, you know, people buying groceries for folks, picking up their prescriptions, picking up their kids. You know, it’s just been a community support, and we’re very, very grateful that, as a small state, you know, community means a lot. Most people, including myself, we moved to the state of Maine because of that sense of security. You could let your child walk down the street. If your child could walk to school, you could let them. But now it’s very, very challenging for parents to let their children walk down the street. So, that sense of stability, you know, has gone. And, you know, that’s what gets — becomes very hard. You know, when you destabilize a community, it’s very, very difficult to have them back, to have that back, you know, for people to still feel that sense of security. So you’re always looking over your shoulder. You’re always, you know, suspecting: Who’s that one in that car? You know, when you hear a knock on your door, you don’t know when or if to even open. So, you know, it’s very, very challenging right now for people to really feel safe, to really feel that, you know, they are a target or they’re not a target. So, we’ve been — we’ve been organizing, and we will continue advocating for the immigrant rights here in our state. And for us, you know, it’s really ICE out of Maine.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you — most Americans are not aware that there’s a significant immigrant community in Maine, especially of Somalis. Could you talk about the evolution of that community, how it developed and how it grew?
MUFALO CHITAM: Yeah, I think it’s been over, you know, right now, I would say, I think, over, like, 10, 15 years, you know, when we saw the increased number of people of Somali descent come to the state of Maine. And so, Lewiston, one of our board chair — our board chair lives in Lewiston, and she tells the story of when she moved to Lewiston from Atlanta. There were only like three immigrants, and most — and they were Somalis. And fast-forward, you know, people move to a community because of somebody that looks like them or somebody that speaks their language and knows their culture. And so, as people started moving to Lewiston, as people started moving to Lewiston, you know, that community started growing, not because of anything, but because there were people who could help them integrate, there were people who could help them learn the language, you know, help them get a job.
And so, over the years, you know, that community has grown. We have a lot of, you know, nonprofits. Most of our — some of our organizations, you know, are based in Lewiston. We saw businesses thrive. We saw nonprofits thrive. You know, we saw schools getting more diverse. And so, over the years, you know, Lewiston has become — has become one of the states that — you know, most of our immigrants. From 2019, we also saw an increased number of people who came in seeking asylum from different countries, other than — other than Somalis. So, we have people from Angola and from Congo who live in Lewiston. So it’s not just, you know, people from Somali who live in Lewiston. And so, it is a growing state, and we’re proud of what immigrants are doing in the city of Lewiston.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you so much, Mufalo Chitam, for joining us. Of course, we’ll continue to follow what’s happening. Mufalo Chitam is executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, based in Portland, Maine. It seems President Trump has targeted Maine both for the Somali community of Lewiston and Portland and also as he takes on the female governor of Maine, Janet Mills. We’ll continue to cover these stories.
Coming up, we’ll talk with the ProPublica reporter who revealed the identities of the two Border Patrol agents who killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “The World Turned Upside Down” song, performed in our Democracy Now! studios by Billy Bragg.
