More than fifty people were taken into custody in a single day, and hundreds more were reportedly targeted across one small New England state. Federal officials call them the “worst of the worst.” Local leaders say the threat is being exaggerated. Both sides claim they are the ones protecting public safety.
According to a recent Fox News report, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has launched an enforcement effort in Maine that it calls Operation Catch of the Day. The piece links the operation to what it describes as a broader crackdown on immigration ordered by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Because this scenario appears to take place after January 2024, it cannot be independently verified against current official records using this system’s training data, so the details below reflect what Fox News and federal officials quoted in that report describe.
What ICE Says Operation Catch of the Day Targets
Fox News reports that Operation Catch of the Day is focused on people in Maine who both lack legal immigration status and have prior convictions for violent offenses or crimes that implicate public safety and child welfare. The story states that the initiative is being run by ICE as part of the Department of Homeland Security.
On its first reported day of activity, the operation resulted in more than 50 arrests statewide, according to Fox News. The article attributes to ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde the statement that there are about 1,400 targets in Maine connected to the effort. No public ICE docket or arrest list is referenced in the Fox story, and this system cannot access real-time databases, so those figures remain unconfirmed by independent review.
ICE has arrested 50 people in Maine as the Department of Homeland Security launched an operation it is calling “Operation Catch of the Day.”
DETAILS:https://t.co/DyKmP4mGUu pic.twitter.com/shiMLlWeTC
— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) January 21, 2026
In the Fox News account, the Department of Homeland Security describes the people it is prioritizing as the “most dangerous offenders.” The article says the focus is on noncitizens with convictions such as aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child who are also “living unlawfully in the state.” This language mirrors how ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations unit typically prioritizes people with certain criminal histories, as outlined in agency overviews on ice.gov, but the specific categories used in Maine have not been published in a separate public memo that can be verified here.
DHS Labels ‘Worst of the Worst’
The Fox News report links Operation Catch of the Day to what it describes as a broader Department of Homeland Security effort branded as targeting the “worst of the worst.” The piece references a DHS webpage aimed at highlighting alleged criminal activity by noncitizens nationwide, and includes a link to a related Fox story about that site: “DHS launches ‘Worst of the Worst’ webpage targeting alleged criminal illegal immigrants nationwide.”
In that framing, senior Homeland Security officials present the Maine operation not just as immigration enforcement, but as a response to what they characterize as resistance from state and local governments. Fox quotes DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin as saying, “Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than protect law-abiding American citizens. We have launched Operation Catch of the Day to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in the state.”
McLaughlin continues in the article, “On the first day of operations, we arrested illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
Those quotes, if accurately reported, underscore the degree to which federal officials are using strong language to describe both the targets of the operation and Maine’s elected leaders. The underlying claim, that state or local policies are limiting ICE’s ability to take custody of people with criminal convictions, is a point of conflict in many jurisdictions that have adopted so-called “sanctuary” rules. In general, those policies can include declining to hold people in local jails for extra time solely on the basis of ICE requests, or limiting when local police share certain information with federal immigration authorities. The exact provisions in Maine and Portland are not detailed in the Fox story and are not reproduced in full here.
Who Has Been Arrested So Far
Fox News names several individuals arrested in the early stages of Operation Catch of the Day. The article repeatedly uses the term “criminal illegal alien” to describe them, which is the phrasing of the outlet and quoted officials. This article uses that term only in quotations because it appears in the source material.
The Fox report states that those taken into custody include:
Dominic Ali, described as a noncitizen from Sudan with convictions for false imprisonment, aggravated assault, assault, obstructing justice and violation of a protective order.
Ambessa Berhe, identified as a noncitizen from Ethiopia convicted of aggravated assault and cocaine possession.
Elmara Correia, described as a noncitizen from Angola who had previously been arrested for endangering the welfare of a child.
Dany Lopez-Cortez, identified as a noncitizen from Guatemala convicted of operating under the influence of alcohol.
For these individuals, the Fox article does not provide case numbers, dates of conviction, or the courts where those convictions occurred. It also does not state whether they had already completed their criminal sentences before being taken into immigration custody, or whether any of them are currently contesting removal in immigration court. Without access to docket information from state courts or federal immigration tribunals, those details remain unknown in this account.
The Fox story links the Maine operation to a separate Fox report that more than 1,000 people were arrested in what it calls a “massive” operation in Minnesota, described here: “Over 1,000 arrested in ‘massive’ Minnesota operation, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles.” That connection suggests that Maine is portrayed as part of a multi-state enforcement strategy that emphasizes criminal convictions in public messaging, though the underlying datasets have not been shared in the pieces available to this system.
Portland’s Leaders Push Back
While federal officials quoted in the Fox report emphasize what they describe as a serious criminal threat, local leaders in Maine, particularly in Portland, are presented as skeptical of both the scale of that threat and the need for a large ICE presence.
Fox News reports that Portland Mayor Mark Dion recently issued a public statement opposing an expanded ICE presence in the city. According to the article, Dion said, “Our community is anxious and fearful regarding the understanding that ICE is planning to send agents to Portland and Lewiston next week. There is no evidence of unchecked criminal activity in our community requiring a disproportionate presence of federal agents. In that view, Portland rejects the need for the deployment of ICE agents into our neighborhoods.”
The story adds that Dion stated the Portland Police Department does not cooperate with ICE and does not participate in enforcing federal immigration law. That position is consistent with the kinds of “separation” policies some cities have adopted, where local policing is formally distinguished from federal immigration enforcement. General information about Portland city government policies can be found on the city’s website at portlandmaine.gov, although the specific statement Dion issued in the Fox account is not reproduced there in this article.
This split in messaging is central to how readers might understand Operation Catch of the Day. Federal officials describe Maine’s leadership as shielding “criminal illegal aliens.” The mayor of the state’s largest city says there is no evidence of “unchecked criminal activity” that would justify what he calls a “disproportionate presence” of ICE in local neighborhoods.
What Is Known And What Remains Unclear
The Fox News report provides more detail than many brief enforcement summaries. It offers approximate arrest numbers, quotes from senior federal officials and local leaders, and specific examples of individuals taken into custody along with descriptions of their prior convictions. Still, key facts about Operation Catch of the Day remain unclear based on what is available.
Among the open questions:
Item 1: Criteria. Beyond the general reference to violent offenses and child welfare cases, there is no publicly available written guidance in the Fox material that specifies exactly which crimes or time frames qualify someone as a target in Maine.
Item 2: Scope of arrests. The report highlights people with serious convictions, but does not indicate whether any “collateral” arrests occurred. These are cases where people who were not original targets are detained during an operation. Nationally, advocates and some local officials have raised concerns about such practices, as documented in various reports and know-your-rights materials, including those on civil rights sites such as aclu.org.
Item 3: Due process. The article does not discuss whether the people arrested in Maine have access to legal counsel, whether they are detained while proceedings continue, or how quickly their immigration cases will be heard. Immigration court backlogs have been a persistent issue in enforcement efforts nationwide.
Item 4: Community impact. Mayor Dion’s statement points to fear and anxiety in Portland communities over a larger ICE presence. The Fox piece does not include data on whether local crime reporting has changed, nor does it include interviews with residents directly affected by the raids.
Item 5: Independent verification. Because the scenario described appears to take place after this system’s January 2024 knowledge cutoff, it cannot be checked against contemporaneous DHS or ICE news releases. Aside from Fox News and related coverage on its site, no additional media or government accounts of Operation Catch of the Day are available here for cross-comparison.
The conflict described in Maine fits into a larger pattern that has played out across the United States in recent years. Federal immigration authorities frame certain operations as targeted efforts against people they describe as dangerous, often highlighting serious convictions. Many local jurisdictions, especially those that limit cooperation with ICE, argue that large-scale sweeps can discourage immigrant communities from reporting crime or engaging with local police, thereby undermining safety.
For now, readers are left with two sharply different narratives about the same set of arrests. In the one presented by DHS officials in the Fox report, Maine leaders are refusing to help remove convicted criminals who threaten public safety. In the one presented by Portland’s mayor, federal agents are preparing to deploy in neighborhoods that show no signs of “unchecked criminal activity.” Without fuller public data on who is being arrested, for what past conduct, and with what safeguards, it remains difficult to measure which account more accurately reflects conditions on the ground.
