Faith leaders arrested during pray-in at Susan Collins’ Portland office amid intensified Maine ICE enforcement
Protest inside Senate office leads to criminal trespass arrests
Nine clergy and faith leaders were arrested on January 27, 2026, after an hours-long “pray-in” at U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ Portland office in downtown Portland, Maine. The group was charged with criminal trespass after refusing repeated instructions to leave interior common areas near the office.
The demonstration brought together roughly two dozen to at least 30 participants representing nearly 10 denominations. Organizers described the action as a religious vigil and a call for federal immigration enforcement activity in Maine to stop, alongside opposition to a Department of Homeland Security funding bill then pending in the U.S. Senate.
What happened at One Canal Plaza
Participants entered One Canal Plaza late Tuesday morning, sang and prayed, and then gathered in the hallway outside the senator’s office on an upper floor. As the event continued, office staff asked the group to disperse and raised concerns about recording devices and blocked passageways.
Portland police later responded. Authorities said the group received multiple warnings to clear the hallway and a small waiting area due to fire code concerns. Most protesters left; nine remained and were taken into custody without reported injuries or physical confrontation.
Protest demands focus on ICE operations and federal funding
The protest took place amid heightened tensions around an ongoing federal immigration enforcement surge in Maine. Federal officials have stated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 200 people in the state since large-scale operations began the prior week. Those arrest totals have not been independently verified by all outlets, and advocates and attorneys have disputed how broadly the operation is reaching beyond people with serious criminal records.
Protesters at the Collins office said they were urging the senator to call for an immediate end to the current enforcement campaign in Maine and to oppose additional funding that could support immigration enforcement activities.
Participants included clergy and lay leaders from multiple traditions, some wearing religious garments.
Several speakers referenced fear within immigrant communities and raised concerns about detentions of people they said were following legal processes.
Collins response: call for a pause and review; support for funding bill
As protests grew, Collins publicly called on the Trump administration to pause aggressive immigration enforcement activity in Maine and Minnesota and said the operations should be reviewed and more targeted. She also called for an independent investigation rather than one overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.
On the spending dispute, Collins said she did not plan to oppose the Department of Homeland Security funding bill, arguing that less than 20% of its funding is for ICE and that the remainder supports other agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard, FEMA and the Transportation Security Administration.
The arrests and the senator’s statements highlight the collision of local faith-based protest, federal enforcement tactics, and high-stakes negotiations over immigration-related funding in Washington.