ICE Crackdown In Maine Called 'Operation Catch Of The Day'
DHS Launches Immigration Crackdown In Maine, Titled ‘Operation Catch Of The Day.’ Let’s Talk About It
The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security has set its sights on a new state to use as a staging ground for its mass deportation agenda — which means the state of Maine can likely look forward to the same chaos and communal discontent federal agents have brought to Illinois, Oregon, California, New York, Louisiana, North Carolina, Minnesota, and everywhere else the MAGA-fied federal government has deployed its community-terrorizing foot soldiers.
Now, It’s not exactly clear why the Trump administration selected the whitest state in the nation as a dumping ground for federal agents tasked with hunting down allegedly undocumented migrants — but what I really want to talk about is these cute and snappy but not very clever titles given to anti-immigrant operations by DHS.
Because why TF is the department calling this newly-launched operation in Maine “Operation Catch of the Day”?
From ABC News:
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin singled out Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, and “her fellow sanctuary politicians” for prompting the need for the federal immigration crackdown in Maine.
“We have launched Operation Catch of the Day to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in the state. On the first day of operations, we arrested illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, we are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
Look, here at NewsOne, we’ve reported for months — with countless receipts — federal agents are demonstrably not prioritizing the “worst of the worst” in “criminal illegal aliens,” despite what DHS representatives have said ad nauseam since January 2025. And since Trump administration officials rarely seem to be able to talk about, well, literally anything without name-dropping their Democratic political opponents, one could easily assume Maine got added to President Donald Trump’s I Heart Anti-Immigrant Hate tour just because the state’s leading Democrats have stood up to the regime.
But, again, I really want to focus on these absurd immigration enforcement titles.
Early this year, Trump’s DHS introduced “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, which had federal agents from multiple agencies descending from helicopters onto apartment buildings, where they dragged Black and Hispanic residents out of their homes in the middle of the night, arresting anyone who couldn’t immediately show proof of citizenship, the overwhelming majority of whom were not members of the Venezuelan gang the administration claimed to have been targeting.
Later, the administration launched “Operation Charlotte’s Web” in Charlotte, N.C. — a title that pissed off the family members of E.B. White, the late author of the classic 1952 children’s tale Charlotte’s Web. It was also yet another operation that resulted in the vast majority of those arrested being non-criminals, and one N.C. Governor Josh Stein had warned was “not making us safer,” but was instead “stoking fear and dividing our community.”
After that came “Operation Catahoula Crunch” in New Orleans, which I can only assume is named that because the Catahoula Leopard Dog is Louisiana’s official state dog. (Which wouldn’t be the only indicator that this administration regards non-white immigrants as little more than animals.)
Apparently, folks in the Trump administration find it amusing to bestow titles that would be more appropriate for cereal brands, video games and children’s libraries onto operations that —as I’ve written before — “separate families, upends people’s lives, detains and deports them without due process, and disappears them to countries that may or may not be their countries of origin.” (I wrote that before immigration agents started dragging elderly people out of their homes half naked in freezing temperatures, using small children as bait to lure out their family members, circulating memos to inform agents that they can bust into people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, and — oh yeah — killing people.)
Anyway, Maine officials have been preparing for the potential chaos ahead.
“In the coming days, if Maine citizens seek to exercise their rights to assemble and protest, it is vital that these protests remain peaceful,” Andrew Benson, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maine, said Monday. “Anyone who forcibly assaults or impedes a federal law enforcement officer, willfully destroys government property, or unlawfully obstructs federal law enforcement activity commits a federal crime and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Mills — who said in a Jan. 14 video statement that her administration was unsuccessful in getting the Trump administration to share details of its operations in her state — has taken a different approach to preparing her citizens for potential clashes between agents and civilians.
More from ABC:
“If any operations take place, our goal as always will be to protect the safety and the rights of the people of Maine,” Mills said. “Look, Maine knows what good law enforcement looks like because our law enforcement are held to high professional standards, they undergo substantial professional training, and they are accountable to the law. And I’ll tell you this, they don’t wear a mask to shield their identities, and they don’t arrest people in order to fill a quota.”
Mills said she fully supported the right for the people of her state to protest, as long as they do so peacefully.
She also directed a message to the federal government.
“If your plan is to come here to be provocative and to undermine the civil rights of Maine residents, do not be confused. Those tactics are not welcome here,” she said.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline took things a step further and refused to mince words regarding ICE, saying in a statement on Wednesday that the agency’s “terror and intimidation tactics reflect a complete lack of humanity and concern for basic human welfare.”
“These masked men with no regard for the rule of law are causing long-term damage to our state and to our country,” Sheline said. “Lewiston stands for the dignity of all the people who call Maine home. We will never stop caring for our neighbors.”
Again, the name “Operation Catch of the Day” alone shows how unserious this administration is about treating potential detainees with any regard for their dignity or general humanity. The pattern has been clear.
The cruelty is the point.
SEE ALSO:
ICE Snatches Up 5-Year-Old To Use As ‘Bait’ To Arrest Father
ICE Memo: Agents Can Enter Homes Without Judge’s Warrant
DHS Launches Immigration Crackdown In Maine, Titled ‘Operation Catch Of The Day.’ Let’s Talk About It was originally published on newsone.com
