Republican Congressional Candidate Says Relative Is Being Wrongfully Deported

Screenshot via Paul LePage on X

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who is now seeking a seat in Congress, revealed that a member of his own family is facing deportation — and argued the government is wrongly targeting him.

“My son’s wife’s dad is here legally,” LePage said during a presser this week. “But he’s being deported because he came from a country that’s not liked by certain people in Washington. That’s not right.”

LePage added that his son’s father-in-law has authorization to work in the United States and “should be allowed to stay.”

The Republican did not identify the relative’s country of origin or offer additional information about his immigration case. His campaign also declined to provide further details to The New York Times.

LePage brought up his relative while fielding a question about immigration enforcement in Maine, where ICE has ramped up operations as part of the Trump administration’s broader deportation push.

While LePage maintained that people who are in the country illegally have “broken the law,” he argued immigration authorities should focus their efforts elsewhere.

He said enforcement should prioritize “people in the gangs and criminals,” adding that “not everybody that’s here is illegal.” LePage also argued that the country’s immigration laws “need to be fixed.”

The comments come as LePage campaigns for the House seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). He is running against Democratic state auditor Matt Dunlap.

“Paul LePage is no friend to immigrants or their families,” Dunlap told the Times. “He spent eight years demonizing them as governor, and he welcomed ICE’s overreach into Maine.”

Now, LePage, who served two terms as Maine governor, has long taken a hard line on immigration. As the Times noted in its Wednesday report, he disparaged asylum seekers while in office and pursued policies limiting refugee resettlement and state benefits for many immigrants.

But as he campaigns for Congress, LePage has sought to draw a clear line between legal and illegal immigration. That distinction is at the center of a campaign ad he released this week.

“Immigration built our nation,” LePage says in the ad, which emphasized that French was his first language. He then highlighted his record as governor, saying he “ended Maine as an illegal immigration sanctuary state, cut off welfare to illegal immigrants, and made sure taxpayer dollars went to Mainers.”

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