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Maine
‘Traumatic’: Maine family, with two high schoolers, detained at Canadian border
Local News
A mother and her three teenagers were detained at the Canadian border. Two are students at two Portland high schools.
A Maine family was detained by federal immigration agents at the Canadian border last week, leaving empty seats at two Portland high schools.
Two Portland Public School high schoolers, who attend Casco Bay and Deering high schools, were detained with their family in Vermont and transferred to Texas, Superintendent Ryan Scallon told families Friday.
“To have students in class one week and then suddenly gone the next is traumatic. And to know that two young people are in a detention center when they could be in school is deeply upsetting,” the district said in a statement. “The Portland Public Schools remains committed to serving all students, irrespective of immigration status, and we will not change.”
The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection did not return a request for comment, but the Portland Press Herald reported that CBP confirmed the family’s detention.
The “family unit,” including four family members, was returned by Canada Border Services Agency to the port of entry in New York on Nov. 12 after being denied asylum, the spokesperson said, per the Herald.
The four family members entered the U.S. near San Luis, Arizona in 2022, CBP said.
A GoFundMe is raising money to hire a lawyer and pay bond for Carine Balenda Mbizi, Olivia Mabiala Andre, Joel Mabiala Andre, and Estefania Mabiala André. Mbizi is the mother of 19-year-old Olivia, 16-year-old Joel, and 14-year-old Estefania, The Boston Globe reported.
Mbizi, of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is in the South Texas Family Residential Center, while Olivia is also in custody, according to ICE’s inmate tracker. The detention facility was not listed.
Joel and Estefania did not appear in the tracker, which does not show information about juveniles. Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer, where Joel plays soccer in Portland, asked their community to call local representatives to prevent the family’s deportation.
“Joel is a part of our family, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” the soccer community wrote on social media. “We must do everything in our power to fight for Joel.”
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition says over the past two weeks its immigrant defense hotline has seen an uptick in reported ICE detentions.
They say this corresponds with a national shift in ICE activity, including bids for local businesses to cooperate with ICE.
In Maine, the arrests follow a broader trend of targeting Black and brown immigrants, including people navigating immigration proceedings.
The coalition, which represents more than 100 organizations, says it’s ready to protect civil and human rights and is urging immigrants to prepare themselves and their families.
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They suggest having the defense hotline ready in case you witness ICE activity, making sure you have important personal documents in case of detention, and reviewing rights around judicial warrants in private spaces, like your home or workplace.
On a crisp afternoon in early April 2026, Richard Davis walked to the end of a boat launch on the Back River, a tidal channel that cuts through Midcoast Maine’s rocky coastline. As the tide swept in, Davis, co-founder of a local group called Protect Wiscasset and an area resident, fixed his attention on the […]
It wouldn’t be Mother’s Day without a stop at the florist.
According to Fox Business, about 154 million flowers are sold during the week of Mother’s Day. So it’s safe to say it was a busy day for stores like Estabrook’s Maine Garden Center and Nursery.
Plenty of families stopped by to pick out flowers on Sunday, looking to choose the perfect bouquet for their moms.
“I think Mother’s Day is tradition, you know, and so it’s great to see families here. We have a lot of new families that have come today for the first time with their young children and their mother. Watching the young kids and seeing how excited they are—their eyes light up at all the beautiful flowers,” Tom Estabrook, president of Estabrook’s, said.
Estabrook says Mother’s Day tends to be a great kickoff to the spring season.
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