Around 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a male individual in Brunswick near Union Street. The arrest marks the first time students have been notified of ICE activity in Brunswick, with previous operations in Maine concentrated on Portland, South Portland, Westbrook, Biddeford and Lewiston.

According to Chief of Police Scott Stewart, the Brunswick Police Department (BPD) was notified of ICE’s operation shortly before it was conducted and did not act in any way to assist the agents in their arrest.

“I am aware that ICE called [BPD at] approximately 8 a.m. to inform us that they were going to a particular address to make an arrest. Not that ICE ‘have to’ give us a heads up, [but] it is certainly appreciated. We did not respond to the address to assist in any way,“ Stewart wrote in an email to the Orient.

Stewart said that the individual arrested was a male, but BPD could not provide additional information on the man or his arrest.

“We did not arrest him, so I would not have the ability to positively identify him,” Stewart wrote.

Additionally, Stewart noted that around the time of the arrest, several individuals confronted the ICE agents that were parked on Union Street. Soon after, the federal agents contacted BPD to inform them the arrest had been made and they were leaving Brunswick.

At 2:49 p.m., almost seven hours after the arrest, Associate Vice President of Safety and Security Bill Harwood sent an email to students, faculty and staff confirming ICE’s presence near campus, followed by another email at 5:52 p.m. with information that the morning’s action targeted a single individual near Union Street.

“There is no other known or ongoing [ICE] activity in the Brunswick area at this time,” Harwood wrote.

The College was alerted to ICE’s presence in the area by reports from community members and local law enforcement.

“Safety and Security learned about reports of the presence of ICE agents in Brunswick through several sources, including outreach from members of the community and our monitoring of reports of law enforcement activity in and around Brunswick,” Harwood wrote in an email to the Orient. “We informed the campus community about these reports via email. We contacted [BPD] to request information about the reports.”

ICE’s February 10 arrest in Brunswick comes just 12 days after U.S. Senator Susan Collins’ (R-ME) January 29 statement announcing the end of ICE’s enhanced operations in the state.

“While the Department of Homeland Security does not confirm law enforcement operations, I can report that Secretary Noem has informed me that ICE has ended its enhanced activities in the State of Maine,” Collins’ statement read. “There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here.”