Today, almost 100 individuals showed their support for the rights of immigrants in downtown Portland.
Because his parents and many of his family members are immigrants from Mexico, Jakob Flores, a student at Maine College of Art and Design, said the problem is personal to him. He claimed that the possibility of a family member being deported is a persistent worry.
Before, it was a ‘if’ question. Since many people are being deported to nations with which they have no connection, the question now is when we will have family members kidnapped, whether we will even be able to locate them, and whether they will even be sent back to their own country,” he stated.
Being one of the few Latinos at the demonstration, Flores said it was nerve-racking to demonstrate in public, but he feels obligated to use his relative status as a U.S. citizen to support others.
Portland resident Molly Jones said she is witnessing the consequences of President Trump’s tough immigration enforcement in Maine.
“My family knows somebody who was taken by ICE not too long ago,” she continued. “After that, someone who works for the same company as myself was also taken. It seems like you hear about it every day.
Since Trump took office, ICE has arrested more than 100 people in Maine, according to the Deportation Data Project, a sharp increase above the arrest rate from the prior year.
