Having spent the better part of a week along Maine’s 611-mile Northern Border, connecting with law enforcement near crossings, my essential readout is that deterrence matters, law enforcement needs our support, officers seldom complain, but without their courage and commitment, we would be overrun.
While my own lineage is only part Irish, they have a saying: “You cannot bolt a door with a boiled carrot.” Luckily, Maine’s northern border – largely forested and open – is harder to cross than the southern border, but we need to bolt it tight.
Maine has 24 border crossings, and illegal aliens and traffickers are a constant threat. Consider examples of what Maine faces – and could soon face in spades.
Near Rangley’s crossing, where I spoke with officers last week, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is active, even if the crossing seems quiet. Taken as a whole, the Houlton Sector – which encompasses all of Maine – apprehended 113 aliens in April from 16 countries.
They then caught another 39 illegals in May, many with criminal records – from Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and China, sweeps Rangely to Madawaska, down to Augusta.
One illegal arrested in Rangely was MS-13, an El Salvadoran gang that President Trump designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization, wanted by Interpol for aggravated murder. Recent meth and cocaine takedowns also occurred in Rangely.
Over in Jackman, the border was similarly quiet, but quiet can be deceiving. A Colombian and 13 Romanians – all illegals – were arrested by Jackman CBP agents in Skowhegan last month, part of a wider theft ring.
Inexplicably, as law enforcement protects Maine, risks rise. Not only are police undermanned, but heated anti-law enforcement rhetoric is creating its own risks. Late August, federal, state, and local law enforcement were escorting illegal aliens in Knox County, when a US citizen took it on herself to try to run them over.
Absurd, terroristic, but true. A DHS spokesman noted: “These incidents come after months of smears and rhetoric by activists, politicians, and the media comparing … law enforcement to the Nazi Gestapo, kidnappers, and Secret Police. This shameful rhetoric has fueled a culture of hate against law enforcement, resulting in a 1,000 percent increase in assaults against them.”
In pointed reference to Maine, the spokesman said: “All sanctuary politicians, activists, and the media need to turn down their rhetoric.” Note that the Democrats passed a bill making Maine a Sanctuary State, which prohibits cooperation with federal officers.
On another day, in Houlton itself, speaking with state police and federal agents, several realities popped. First, in nine months ending July, the Houlton sector – entire northern Maine border – made 557 arrests, including dangerous Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members, those on the terror watch list, including those from Egypt.
Second, and this appears to apply statewide, State police are undermanned. Across Maine, reasons are many but relate chiefly to Democrat underfunding, demoralization of recruits, stifling recruitment, retention, overtime, and morale.
Across the Houlton sector alone, numbers are down 41 percent, with vacancies almost matching those employed, counter-drug and counter-human trafficking burdens growing exponentially with cybercrime and other drug-related crimes.
As State police compensate for disappearing local forces – which cannot be maintained with high property taxes that flow from Democrat mandates on towns – the reality is that law enforcement is stretched to the limit.
Finally, context matters. Nearby in the Swanton Sector, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, and Maine, its future may be showing itself. They had illegal crossers from 66 countries, 7000 illegals last year, more than the prior 12 years combined.
While Maine has natural deterrent topography, few roads, local intelligence, and technology, the sad reality is that much of Maine’s border is wide open and could be walked over. That is why my big takeaway is that law enforcement needs help.
On the one hand, we are protected by good people. On the other hand, they badly need support in nearly every category, and get it when I am governor. Deterrence matters more than ever, “looking around corners” to predict, prepare, and prevent.
If boiled carrots do not bolt doors, open borders are a constant vulnerability. The writings of Victor Davis Hanson come to mind: “Problem with deterrence…is that it is not static, but a creature of the moment, captive to impression, and nursed on action, not talk. It must be maintained hourly and can erode or be lost with a single act of failed nerve…Once gone, remedies needed for its restoration are always more expensive, deadly…than would have been its simple maintenance.”
Bottom line: My report is that Mainers need to support our law enforcement community to the nines, maybe the tens. And no time is more vital than now.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
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