2026-01-23 03:41:00
Video credit: Ben Bozeman
A man identified as a corrections officer recruit in Portland, Maine, was taken into custody by federal officers despite his “squeaky clean” record, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce said Thursday.
Social media shared with CNN shows the man say, “I’m a corrections officer,” as agents restrain him next to his car.
Ben Bozeman, who took the video of the incident, told CNN that the man was pulled over by an unmarked vehicle.
Joyce said the recruit, who has not been identified, turned in appropriate documentation showing he was legally allowed to work in the US until April 2029, and passed the department’s “rigorous” hiring process.
“This individual’s background revealed no disqualifying conduct or no disqualifying convictions,” the sheriff said.
Yet, Joyce said he was told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the recruit was in the country illegally.
CNN reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Joyce described seeing a video showing the recruit was detained by several federal agents.
It was not immediately clear if the man is still in federal custody. CNN has reached out to Joyce to confirm.
After the recruit was handcuffed, Joyce said, the federal agents left his vehicle on the road with the windows down and the lights on.
“That’s bush league policing,” Joyce said.
The sheriff said what’s going on in the streets of Portland is a far cry from what Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, told sheriffs were the priorities of ICE and Customs and Border Protection in early 2025: To secure the border and to get criminals off the street.
