Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is facing heated protests for her support of a policy that critics say led to a wrongful death on Monday.
“Protestors descended on Sen. Susan Collins’ Biddeford office Monday following a deadly shooting that authorities said involved federal immigration agents,” reported Portland Press Herald's Rachel Ohm on Monday. “Dozens of people crowded the entryway of the Main St. office Monday afternoon shouting ‘Vote her out!’ On the street, others carried signs reading, ‘NO ICE’ and ‘Melt ICE.’”
On Monday morning, a 26-year-old man from Colombia was killed by ICE agents at a shooting in the Maine community of Biddleford. Collins is being held partially responsible for his death because the five-term incumbent voted in June to support a $70 billion funding bill for Border Patrol and ICE agents.
“The protest outside Collins’ office was part of a larger demonstration about the shooting,” Ohm reported. “Around noon, about two dozen protestors marched into Collins’ office, but were shooed out minutes later as police arrived.” They reported shouted accusations such as saying Collins was at fault for the shooting and that the officers blocking the protesters were fascists.
Collins has in general been the focus of much criticism for her attempts to depict herself as a moderate while working in lockstep with much of the Trump administration’s agenda. Last month civil rights attorney Azaleea Carlea wrote in the Portland Press Herald about Collins vouching for future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that “Mainers cannot and will not forget Sen. Susan Collins’ critical role in dismantling the nearly half-century-old constitutional right, causing cruelty and chaos to ensue. Either she was foolish or a hypocritical [sic]. Either way, she is not fit to serve another term in the U.S. Senate.”
Similarly, Collins was harshly criticized in June for saying she had not read the roughly two-page memorandum of understanding that Trump was touting as having ended his ongoing war against Iran. Collins serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee and yet insisted she had “not yet had a chance to read it." The X account Collins Watch, which regularly criticizes the senator, wrote that “you can't just wait for the elevator doors to close when you get an uncomfortable question in the middle of a town hall...which is probably why Susan Collins hasn't held one since the 1990s."
Collins is also harshly criticized for relying heavily on billionaires in her reelection big. At least 79 billionaires donated to Collins’ fundraising network between January 2025 and May 20, 2026, a number that rises to 97 if one includes billionaires’ spouses as well. Overall they had donated $9.8 million to Collins’ campaign overall since 2025, comprising roughly one-third of what groups supporting Collins have raised from all donors.
