As I draft this column, Sen. Susan Collins has announced the end of (I can’t believe I’m typing this stupid name) Operation Catch of the Day. (I bet whoever came up with that one thought they were just so funny.) However, Susan Collins’ word is essentially Monopoly money at this point: important to the game and completely worthless in the real world.

To me it feels like that scene in “Willow” where the army pretends to have retreated but they’ve actually dug holes in the ground and are hiding to pop out at the most opportune moment, when the castle’s defenses are down. So, keep the whistles handy. Of course, it’s entirely possible that the ICE weenies did get scared off by the big storm we had last weekend. After all, they’re from away.

However, even if ICE is gone for the season, Border Patrol will still be here. And I think it’s important to talk about that. Recently, ICE has been getting all the attention for its actions in cities around America, especially, but not exclusively, Minneapolis. This makes sense — they’re huge, flashy, untrained and “ICE” lends itself to clever wordplay.

There are several videos circulating of the murder of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the
Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital (and jeez, could those thugs have picked a more sympathetic victim?) I don’t recommend watching them.

But the summary of events is, Alex Pretti was trying to film some Department of Homeland Security agents and assist a woman who had been pepper sprayed by the aforementioned DHS agents. A group of agents dogpile him to the ground. Then, in multiple videos analyzed by the New York Times, an agent points a gun at Alex’s back, as he is pinned to the ground, and fires at point blank range. Another agent joins in. Ten shots are fired in five seconds.

Those agents worked for Border Patrol. Border Patrol has jurisdiction within 100 miles of the country’s border. This includes the entire state of Maine. We’ve got hundreds of these people operating here. Does that make you feel safer? I have to say it’s not doing anything for me.

Back in October, which was, for me, literally my son’s lifetime ago, there was a “crackdown” by DHS agents in Chicago. (Notice how they started with big cities and keep going for smaller and smaller ones? I think they bit off more than they could chew.) One Border Patrol agent got out of his car to shoot a woman named Marimar Martinez five times.

She was accused of trying to ram his car. However, there was so little evidence of that happening that federal prosecutors, working for the Trump administration, dropped all charges against her. And you know how much they love prosecuting immigration activists.

Anyway, the Border Patrol agent, Charles Exum, then texted to a bunch of his buddies “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book, boys.” And he works in Maine! That guy has the right to pull over anyone driving in Maine and quiz them about their immigration status.

Starting this past summer, Border Patrol ramped up its activities deeper inside Maine, not just checking passports at border crossings, but showing up at job sites and collaborating with local police arresting people who have valid work permits, no criminal records and who are following lawful pathways to permanent status.

They’ve also been using drones for surveillance — not of drug smugglers or anything like that, of course. That would be too dangerous. No, they used drones to watch a bunch of roofers at work. So if you work outside with people who aren’t white, keep your eye on the sky.

Border Patrol has also, over the past year, been arresting people who have valid work permits, no criminal records, and who are following lawful pathways to permanent status. Maine has a serious shortage of workers in general. The last thing we all need is agents deporting the people keeping our economy afloat.

The chances of us getting rid of Customs and Border Patrol is small, and honestly I’m not
sure we should; we do need people at the border making sure nobody brings in illegal fruits and vegetables. But right now it sure looks like they’re less interested in serving and protecting, and are instead being used by the government as a weapon against immigrant and immigrant-adjacent communities.

We’ve been lucky in Maine that there have been no executions in the street. Let’s keep it that way.