By Eesha Pendharkar| Senior Reporter

“We as a nation and we as a community have to answer a simple question: Do we accept the idea that innocent, loving partners and loving and devoted fathers of 3-year-olds can be collateral damage to this government's policies?” -Benjamin Gideon, lawyer for the family of Johan Sebastián.

Johan Sebastián’s wife, Karolina Rojas Alvarez, speaks at a press conference Thursday, July 16, 2026. Her husband was killed by federal immigration agents Monday. She’s joined by a translator (left), Sebastián’s sister (right) and attorney Benjamin Gideon. (Photo by Eesha Pendharkar/Maine Morning Star)

By Eesha Pendharkar

Three days after Johan Sebastián was killed by federal immigration agents, his wife Karolina Rojas Alvarez remembered him as a loving and devoted father and husband who took care of their family, went to the park with his daughter every afternoon and held her till she fell asleep every night. 

By Emma Davis

All of the candidates vying for Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination called to eliminate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during their first debate Thursday night, three days after ICE shot and killed a 25-year-old in Biddeford. 

By Emma Davis

Federal Election Commission filings released Thursday underscore that whoever replaces Graham Platner as the Democratic nominee in Maine’s U.S. Senate race will be at a massive financial disadvantage to incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

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