Senator Susan Collins short term memory loss about her voting record showed up in lost votes to defeat her re-election campaign
Susan Collins and the đź’˛70 billion mistake 
When Senator Susan Collins complains to the New York Times about how her voting record has not been fairly reported, she has a mental block in her flawed reasoning for the defeat she experienced on November 3, 2026, when her re-election campaign was demolished.
Susan Collins to the New York Times post her defeat: “Everybody ignores the fact that I voted to convict him in the second impeachment trial. What bigger break could there be? It is never enough. I want results and they want angry rhetoric.”(In other words, Maine Writer IMO: Senator Collins stopped listening to her constituents a long time ago.)
Echo Editorial Board published in the Portland Press Herald
It’s insulting for Senator Susan Collins to suggest that the Biddeford ICE murder of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero could be politicized; ICE is a shameful political incarnation in pursuit of a political end.
Earlier this year, Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins voted for a $70 billion funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs ( aka ICE) and Border Protection. Until Donald Trump leaves office, more than half of this funding will be used to fund ICE alone.
By the time of the April vote (a vote of 214-212), there was no ambiguity about what the masked and muscular ICE of Trump’s second term is, does or gets away with.
In Biddeford, Collins’ constituents were delivered a deeply distressing reminder.
The fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by an ICE agent hired just this year was the second such killing in America in as many weeks. All of us in Maine are continuing to reckon with the fact that his wife and his 3-year-old daughter watched him die.
This federal agency has been on administrative steroids in recent years — hastily and carelessly manned by recruits who were drawn in by unusual cash bonuses; led by people who are indifferent to its already cynically lowered standards; committed to meeting arbitrary arrest and detention quotas; and answering to almost nobody.
When things go wrong, and they have gone very wrong, the response has been to double down. In January of this year, 2026, after two people were shot dead by ICE agents in Minnesota, Senator Collins declined to call for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who saw fit to defend the fatal shootings before any investigation into them had commenced.
When ICE paused its work in Maine later that month, Senator Collins spoke about steps to “improve trust, accountability and safety.”
Safety still doesn’t come into this, evidently, nor does accountability. By any sensible standard, both in the bloodied streets and by the courts nationwide that have found ICE to have — again and again — distorted the truth and deceived the public, trust has been destroyed.
Members of this Portland Press Herald editorial board were appalled last week to see Maine’s senior senator again reach for the bewilderingly promotional word “improve.”
“While it is clear ICE needs to improve its performance,” Collins said in a statement, “it is important to remember that the work ICE does to protect our country goes far beyond immigration enforcement.”
Collins’ sustained commitment to this sloppy, deadly incarnation of ICE strains credulity. In the absence of any cause for optimism about effective federal reform, we’ve resorted to mitigation efforts at the state and local levels.
Writing in this defeated spirit last September, we called on Maine to assume a more firm and unified stand against the work of ICE locally. Early last summer, we praised a handful of Maine towns that chose to withdraw or pause their departments’ work with ICE. If this reads to you now as quaint, please know that we agree.
Our Press Herald March investigation into correspondence between ICE agents and local police in Portland resulted in considerable public dismay. The police department was dismayed too, ultimately calling a meeting with editors to complain about the damage done by the association between ICE and Biddeford PD.
It’s insulting for Senator Susan Collins to suggest that the Biddeford ICE murder of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero could be politicized; ICE is a shameful political incarnation in pursuit of a political end.
Earlier this year, Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins voted for a $70 billion funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs ( aka ICE) and Border Protection. Until Donald Trump leaves office, more than half of this funding will be used to fund ICE alone.
By the time of the April vote (a vote of 214-212), there was no ambiguity about what the masked and muscular ICE of Trump’s second term is, does or gets away with.
In Biddeford, Collins’ constituents were delivered a deeply distressing reminder.
The fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by an ICE agent hired just this year was the second such killing in America in as many weeks. All of us in Maine are continuing to reckon with the fact that his wife and his 3-year-old daughter watched him die.
This federal agency has been on administrative steroids in recent years — hastily and carelessly manned by recruits who were drawn in by unusual cash bonuses; led by people who are indifferent to its already cynically lowered standards; committed to meeting arbitrary arrest and detention quotas; and answering to almost nobody.
When things go wrong, and they have gone very wrong, the response has been to double down. In January of this year, 2026, after two people were shot dead by ICE agents in Minnesota, Senator Collins declined to call for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who saw fit to defend the fatal shootings before any investigation into them had commenced.
When ICE paused its work in Maine later that month, Senator Collins spoke about steps to “improve trust, accountability and safety.”
Safety still doesn’t come into this, evidently, nor does accountability. By any sensible standard, both in the bloodied streets and by the courts nationwide that have found ICE to have — again and again — distorted the truth and deceived the public, trust has been destroyed.
Members of this Portland Press Herald editorial board were appalled last week to see Maine’s senior senator again reach for the bewilderingly promotional word “improve.”
“While it is clear ICE needs to improve its performance,” Collins said in a statement, “it is important to remember that the work ICE does to protect our country goes far beyond immigration enforcement.”
Collins’ sustained commitment to this sloppy, deadly incarnation of ICE strains credulity. In the absence of any cause for optimism about effective federal reform, we’ve resorted to mitigation efforts at the state and local levels.
Writing in this defeated spirit last September, we called on Maine to assume a more firm and unified stand against the work of ICE locally. Early last summer, we praised a handful of Maine towns that chose to withdraw or pause their departments’ work with ICE. If this reads to you now as quaint, please know that we agree.
Our Press Herald March investigation into correspondence between ICE agents and local police in Portland resulted in considerable public dismay. The police department was dismayed too, ultimately calling a meeting with editors to complain about the damage done by the association between ICE and Biddeford PD.
Let’s stop this. Let’s correct our focus. When it comes to federal immigration policy and enforcement, the buck starts and stops with Congress. The policies are horrible. The practices are out of control. And the resulting discomfort and anger needs to be reserved for the source. Until Donald Trump leaves office, more than half of this funding will be used to fund ICE alone.
When things go wrong, and they have gone very wrong, the response has been to double down. In January of this year, after two people were shot dead by ICE agents in Minnesota, Sen. Collins declined to call for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who saw fit to defend the fatal shootings before any investigation into them had commenced.
When ICE paused its work in Maine later that month, Senator Collins spoke about steps to “improve trust, accountability and safety.”
Safety still doesn’t come into this, evidently, nor does accountability. By any sensible standard, both in the bloodied streets and by the courts nationwide that have found ICE to have — again and again — distorted the truth and deceived the public, trust has been destroyed.
Members of this Press Herald editorial board were appalled last week to see Maine’s senior senator again reach for the bewilderingly promotional word “improve.”
“While it is clear ICE needs to improve its performance,” Collins said in a statement, “it is important to remember that the work ICE does to protect our country goes far beyond immigration enforcement.”
Collins’ sustained commitment to this sloppy, deadly incarnation of ICE strains credulity. In the absence of any cause for optimism about effective federal reform, we’ve resorted to mitigation efforts at the state and local levels.
Writing in this defeated spirit last September, we called on Maine to assume a more firm and unified stand against the work of ICE locally. Early last summer, we praised a handful of Maine towns that chose to withdraw or pause their departments’ work with ICE. If this reads to you now as quaint, please know that we agree.
What little intervention Senator Collins has managed in response to Maine’s outrage in recent days pales in comparison to what the senator has knowingly and willingly allowed ICE to become. It’s been a very poor performance on her part.
When things go wrong, and they have gone very wrong, the response has been to double down. In January of this year, after two people were shot dead by ICE agents in Minnesota, Sen. Collins declined to call for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who saw fit to defend the fatal shootings before any investigation into them had commenced.
When ICE paused its work in Maine later that month, Senator Collins spoke about steps to “improve trust, accountability and safety.”
Safety still doesn’t come into this, evidently, nor does accountability. By any sensible standard, both in the bloodied streets and by the courts nationwide that have found ICE to have — again and again — distorted the truth and deceived the public, trust has been destroyed.
Members of this Press Herald editorial board were appalled last week to see Maine’s senior senator again reach for the bewilderingly promotional word “improve.”
“While it is clear ICE needs to improve its performance,” Collins said in a statement, “it is important to remember that the work ICE does to protect our country goes far beyond immigration enforcement.”
Collins’ sustained commitment to this sloppy, deadly incarnation of ICE strains credulity. In the absence of any cause for optimism about effective federal reform, we’ve resorted to mitigation efforts at the state and local levels.
Writing in this defeated spirit last September, we called on Maine to assume a more firm and unified stand against the work of ICE locally. Early last summer, we praised a handful of Maine towns that chose to withdraw or pause their departments’ work with ICE. If this reads to you now as quaint, please know that we agree.
What little intervention Senator Collins has managed in response to Maine’s outrage in recent days pales in comparison to what the senator has knowingly and willingly allowed ICE to become. It’s been a very poor performance on her part.
Labels: Biddeford, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, Maine, Portland Press Herald
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 10:26 AM
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