PORTLAND — Julie Sherman, a community organizer for Maine People’s Alliance, says she’s never walked 76 miles in one sitting before. But this week, she’s among a group of at least 15 who are marching from Biddeford to Augusta to demand that Sen. Susan Collins stop funding federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

In April, Collins voted for a bill that gave the federal agency $70 billion. In July, an ICE agent killed Biddeford resident Johan Sebastián Guerrero, sparking an increase in anti-ICE protests in Maine.

The group marching also blames Collins for rising healthcare costs and the decline in SNAP availability. The group blames President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” for these changes, which Collins did not vote for.  

Collins is also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate this year. She’s running against Democratic nominee Troy Jackson.

Sherman said she doesn’t expect the march to affect Collins’ decisions and votes. She said Collins isn’t the senator she used to be. What Sherman does want out of this march, though, is to encourage people to vote.

“For people to truly understand what the impact has been of Collins’ votes, we want to make sure we are walking through the places that are some of the most hard-hit in our state,” Sherman said.

Spectrum News is awaiting a response from Collins’ office. 

The march is expected to last five days and end at Collins’ office in Augusta, where protesters intend to present her staff with documents detailing their complaints with her voting record. They also intend to present several petitions calling for Collins to stop funding ICE and to call for the agency to leave Maine.

The group will also stop in Lewiston on the way. Sherman said she expects more people to join the march once they get closer to Augusta.

The Maine People’s Alliance, a progressive community action organization, held a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the purpose of the march and for opposing Collins. State Rep. Cheryl Golek (D – Brunswick, Harpswell) said at the press conference that though Collins voted against the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” her vote to proceed with the debate on the bill led to the cuts in healthcare funding that resulted, in part, in the controversial closure of the birthing unit at Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta.  

“When she had an opportunity to stop this bill from moving forward, Senator Collins rolled out the red carpet and escorted it down the aisle, through the door to passage,” Golek said. “At a time in which Mainers are struggling with the cost of nearly everything, she helped advance a bill that cut programs that Mainers depend on.”

Collins told Maine Public last year that she voted to advance the debate because “the majority leader, whether it's a Democrat or Republican, always has the right to determine which bills come to the floor, except under very few circumstances, and thus, I defer to the right of the majority leader to bring the bill to the floor.”