PORTLAND — Gov. Janet Mills said Wednesday that she’s demanding that the federal government provide a full accounting of who has been detained by federal immigration agents during the recent crackdown in Maine.

“We want to know, we the people of Maine want to know, who’s disappeared?” she said. “Whom have they taken into custody and why, what’s the legal basis? Where are the warrants?” 

Mills, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate, made the comments to reporters following a meeting with local mayors whose communities have been impacted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the last week.

Just over a week ago, the Department of Homeland Security launched an effort in Maine to remove what they described as the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.” So far, Mills and others say about 200 people have been picked up. 

Mills and top state Democrats called the meeting at Portland City Hall to get a sense of what’s happening on the ground.

Portland Mayor Mark Dion said he’s worried that come Feb. 1, evictions could begin to hit local families, either because the breadwinner has been picked up by ICE or because people are afraid to go to work. 

“Eviction is going to be the new tsunami that follows detention, and it will linger for quite some time,” he said.

He said a group called Project Home estimates that in Portland, South Portland and Westbrook, there are 653 households who are under the threat of eviction because of ICE. Those households represent 2,285 adults and children, Dion said. 

“It’s bad enough to be afraid to go outside,” he said. “It’ll be worse if we push them outside.”

He asked Mills to approach philanthropists to see they could help create a reserve to keep people afloat. He also appealed to the lawmakers in the room to consider what they may be able to do as well. 

Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said claims by ICE that they are targeting only violent criminals are false. He noted the detainments of a civil engineer, students and two corrections officers who passed extensive background checks and have no apparent criminal records, according to local sheriffs.

He said ICE is “creating community trauma.” 

“I want to be clear ICE is causing long term harm to Lewiston and they need to leave Lewiston and our cities across the country now,” he said.

Attorney General Aaron Frey said Maine is the sixth state to see this type of ICE operation. Other states include Minnesota, Illinois, Oregon, California and North Carolina — all of which are led Democratic governors. 

“That seems to be the playbook that the Trump administration is using when it comes to the deployment of these masked, faceless, nameless people,” he said.

He said his office has established an email tip line to gather reports of excessive force used by ICE officers which could be used to bring legal action if warranted. 

Westbrook Mayor David Morse said he’s hearing from people who are running out of money for food, heat and rent. And while all the local officials praised neighbors for helping neighbors, many of them wondered what more could be done to support immigrants.

“People are mentally and physically exhausted,” Morse said. “It’s only been a week.” 

Mills also called for the resignation or removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and criticized the name the federal government has given to its work in Maine — “Operation Catch of the Day.”

“These are human beings,” Mills said. “These are not Kristi Noem’s pets. These are not the catch of the day. These are not a menu item on some president’s state house dinner tableau.”