By Christopher Burns
Bangor Daily News, Maine
BANGOR, Maine — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested another Maine jail guard.
Officer Bassikissa Bounguiena, who worked at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, was arrested on June 9 in South Portland, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said
Bounguiena joined the sheriff’s office in August 2024 , serving as a “valued member of our team” and facing no disciplinary issues.
“He has demonstrated dedication to his duties and often works overtime,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Bounguiena completed a background check and passed a “rigorous” vetting process. He had authorization to work in the U.S. until 2030, according to the sheriff’s office, which referred all questions about Bounguiena’s detention to ICE.
It’s not the first time that ICE agents have detained a member of the sheriff’s office. During the January ICE surge, agents detained a Cumberland County corrections recruit, prompting Sheriff Kevin Joyce to blast them for the “bush league” arrest. That man was later released and continued with his training. After the sheriff’s criticism, ICE pulled all of its detainees from the Portland jail.
Despite claiming it was going after the “worst of the worst,” only 11 of the nearly 200 people ICE detained had criminal convictions.
Last summer, ICE arrested a reserve police officer for Old Orchard Beach after he tried to buy a gun for the job. That generated questions about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program, which the Old Orchard Beach Police Department used to verify that officer’s status to legally work in the U.S. Homeland Security later called the police force “reckless” for relying on its program for verifying work authorization.
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