Susan Collins must go | Letter
Letter Highlights Tragic Local Incident and Accuses Senate Candidate of Funding ICE
Mount Desert, Maine — In a strongly worded letter to the editor of the Press Herald, local resident Maria Hutchins urged Maine voters to reject Republican Senator Susan Collins in the upcoming 2026 Senate race. The letter, which appeared in the paper on March 20, 2026, linked a violent tragedy in Biddeford to Collins’s federal immigration policy.
Hutchins began the note by describing the 3‑year‑old girl who survived a shooting in Biddeford on July 13, 2026. “I could not stop thinking about the 3‑year‑old girl in Biddeford who lost her father on July 13, shot right through the windshield of the car, with her in the backseat,” the writer recounted. “It is an unspeakable horror and heartbreak.” She added, “It would never have happened without Sen. Susan Collins giving ICE billions of dollars with zero reforms.”
The letter went on to criticize Collins’s role in federal immigration enforcement. “Our sitting senator has released a fascist army into our streets with a mandate to arrest thousands of ‘immigrants’ per day,” Hutchins wrote. She cited reports of ICE detaining “more than 500 infants and toddlers” and transporting them to distant facilities, describing the agency’s actions as “indiscriminate kidnappings of brown people.”
Hutchins claimed that Collins funded ICE “without any guardrails — despite the outcry and vocal protests of her constituents.” She concluded that the senator had “shown that she doesn’t care an iota about her constituents” and called for a political response: “It is time for us to prove her wrong. We see her, we reject the harm she is causing and we will vote her out. This is on her. What happens next is up to us. Collins must go.”
The letter was signed by the writer’s name and listed “Mount Desert” as her address.
Senator Susan Collins has served Maine in the U.S. Senate since 1997 and is a Republican. She has overseen a range of federal policy decisions, including those related to immigration, though she has publicly opposed some high‑profile ICE initiatives. The letter’s allegations have not been corroborated by official sources or independent investigations.
The tragedy in Biddeford that Hutchins references was reported by local news outlets as a fatal shooting that left a parent dead and a young child injured. Police identified the suspect, who has been charged with first‑degree murder. The case has become a rallying point for local advocacy groups calling for stricter gun control and increased community safety measures.
The Maine Democratic Party has intensified its campaign against Collins, citing her record on immigration, healthcare, and environmental policy. Democratic candidates in the 2026 Senate primary have pledged to oppose Collins’s “strong‑hand” approach to federal enforcement and to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform with safeguards for families and children.
Maine voters face the decision on November 5, 2026, when the Senate seat will be contested. The Press Herald will continue to provide coverage of the race, including updates on campaign events, policy debates, and polling data. In the meantime, letters such as Hutchins’s illustrate the passion and urgency that some constituents feel about the intersection of local tragedy and national policy.
