This Wednesday, the mayor of Lewiston announced an “increased presence” of U.S.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the city. This comes after weeks of rumors regarding increased ICE activity in the state and the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement of “Operation Catch of the Day” in Maine. For some students returning to campus after winter break, this is a new reality; for others, it is nothing new.

Many students returning to Bowdoin have watched ICE’s presence intensify in their home communities, especially in Minneapolis, where the agency’s presence has increased sharply in recent weeks.

On January 7, Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Margot Trout ’28 lives a few miles from where Good was killed. She described the atmosphere in the community as ICE activity increased leading up to and after the incident.

“I would say the week leading up to the shooting, ICE was definitely a topic of conversation and something that people were concerned about and sharing news about on social media,” Trout said. “But it definitely took on a different level of intensity after [Good’s] murder.”

Angel Del Valle Cardenas ’26 and Alexis Martinez ’28, two members of the Latin American Student Association (LASO), also noticed a recent increase in ICE activity within their neighborhoods.

“[ICE] ramped up a bit in the past few days. They’ve had a lot of raids and are moving east to north to west, which is scary, but I’ve been in contact with my family,” Martinez said.

The effects of increased ICE activity have also been felt closer to campus. Owen Keller ’28 was quick to notice effects in his community of Scarborough, the home of ICE’s headquarters in southern Maine.

“[ICE] has been a problem for years now, and now [that] they’re kicking up their action, it’s been really disturbing to the community,” Keller said. “What they’re preaching about making us feel safer by taking on crime actually just disrupts the community.”

With the uptick of ICE presence in their communities, some students are apprehensive about being away from home.

“Just coming back, and, I don’t know if ‘pretending’ is the right word, but, just going on with business as usual, knowing that … this stuff [is] going on nationwide … [makes you] think that it could easily happen anywhere,” Del Valle Cardenas said.

Trout also spoke about her experience being away from home after having protested in Minneapolis following Good’s killing.

“I would say that protest … [is] something that was really important for folks like myself,” Trout said. “But when I left Minnesota to come back here to Maine, it [felt] like I was abandoning the Twin Cities because … I feel like there’s not very much that I can do to directly support friends who are staying in their homes because they are scared of being accosted by ICE.”

Nora Rikansrud ’28, another Minneapolis resident, described the shared feelings of community and helplessness after tragedy in her city.

“It’s nearly impossible to be at Bowdoin and focus on school right now, as I’m sure it is for all the students whose communities are being brutalized by ICE and the Trump administration. I feel helpless watching the onset of what is essentially an illegal military occupation,” Rikansrud wrote. “That said, the unified community response in Minneapolis and Minnesota at large is unbelievable. People mobilized like nothing I’ve ever seen … to protect our vulnerable neighbors and reject fascist violence.”

Back on campus, ICE remains a pressing topic of conversation. Due to the increased presence of the agency in Maine, Associate Vice President for Safety and Security BIll Harwood announced the implementation of updated door lock schedules for various campus buildings in a schoolwide email.

For some students, the change was unexpected but necessary.

“I mean, it’s a shame, but I don’t want ICE in our buildings, you know? I don’t want them patrolling this place. They just make everyone feel more unsafe. So, if that’s what we have to do for the time being, then I guess I can live with it,” Keller said.