ICE Detains a Corrections Officer, Leaves His Pregnant Wife Terrified (w/ Ben Bozeman)

Summary

Bulwark Takes – ICE Detains a Corrections Officer, Leaves His Pregnant Wife Terrified

Podcast: Bulwark Takes
Host: Tim Miller (The Bulwark)
Guest: Ben Bozeman
Original air date: January 25, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode discusses the shocking detention of a Maine corrections officer by ICE, even though he was legally present and part of law enforcement. The conversation between Tim Miller and Ben Bozeman, the local resident who recorded and helped after the incident, delves into what happened, the emotional fallout for the officer’s pregnant wife, and broader concerns about federal law enforcement activity in Maine. The episode also touches on the growing frequency of similar episodes and the local political climate in response.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Incident: ICE Detains an Off-Duty Corrections Officer

[01:29–03:27]

• Tim Miller introduces the recent surge in ICE activity, particularly in Maine, and the video of federal agents detaining an off-duty corrections officer, who is legally present and works in law enforcement.
• Quote:

  "Despite the fact that the person was a not here illegally and b part of law enforcement themselves."
  (Tim Miller, 01:34)

[02:28–03:10]

• Audio excerpt from Ben’s video, capturing the officer’s confusion and distress as he's detained by ICE agents.

[03:10–03:43]

• Ben Bozeman, on why the officer was targeted:

  "What's his crime? Having a job—his crime's having a job."
  (Ben Bozeman, 03:14)

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2. Ben Bozeman’s On-the-Ground Account

[03:47–05:56]

• Ben was walking in an area with local breweries and witnessed unmarked cars surround the officer's vehicle.
• The officers detained the man swiftly, leaving his car running with windows down in cold weather.
• Ben took initiative to safely move the car and contact Project Relief Maine, an immigrant advocacy group.
• He found the officer’s name via car registration and helped connect the advocacy group with the officer’s family.

[05:56–06:00]

• Ben describes delivering the car to the officer’s pregnant wife, who was “visibly shaken” and in a state of “utter despair.”
• Quote:

  "She asked me if I knew how long it would be that he would be detained for. And I just, you know, I don't know. Just shattered me."
  (Ben Bozeman, 06:00)

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3. The Emotional Toll on the Officer’s Family

[06:00–07:09]

• The officer’s wife, in her early 20s and pregnant with their first child, is left frightened and uncertain about her husband’s fate.
• Ben is deeply affected by the encounter, wishing he could do more to help.

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4. Official Response: Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce

[07:18–09:11]

• Sheriff Joyce criticizes ICE’s actions at a press conference, highlighting that the officer is a “squeaky-clean individual” who was vetted and legally allowed to work.
• He calls ICE’s approach “bush league policing,” especially leaving personal property unsecured.
• Key Quotes:

  "This is an individual that had permission to be working in the state of Maine. ... For some reason, he was picked up last night. Folks, that's bush league policing again."
  (Sheriff Kevin Joyce, 07:52)
  "Every indication we found is that this was a squeaky clean individual that really hadn't done anything at all."
  (Sheriff Kevin Joyce, 08:52)

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5. Ben’s Continued Efforts and the Community Impact

[09:18–10:49]

• Ben has not been contacted by authorities but is staying in touch with advocacy groups.
• These groups are overwhelmed by the volume of detentions and requests for help.
• Ben expresses worry for the family, especially given the officer’s role as the breadwinner.

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6. The Broader Pattern of Detentions

[11:16–13:06]

• Ben notes similarities to recent incidents across the country but is shocked to witness it firsthand.
• Reports of daily detentions in the area, including of a local pastor and a mother of four.
• Ben:

  "Every day it's, it's something else in a different part of town… The cases are, or the instances are really mounting up and it's, you know, it's getting kind of dizzying. Honestly."
  (Ben Bozeman, 12:19)

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7. Local Political Reactions

[13:06–14:46]

• Tim asks Ben about political candidates catching his attention amid the turmoil.
• Ben expresses excitement about Graham Platner, drawn by his proactive and urgent approach.
• Ben’s political engagement history: previously supported Bernie Sanders for his activism and desire to “do something.”

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8. Closing Thoughts

[14:46–15:10]

• Tim reiterates his appreciation for Ben’s help and invites updates to support the officer’s family or local advocacy if more information becomes available.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On witnessing the detention:

  "Just coordinated swoop down on this guy's car…five, seven, some odd agents popped out. ...My video, I started in three minutes, I think, tops. It was done."
  (Ben Bozeman, 03:53)

• On the officer’s wife:

  "The feeling I had of just like, complete helplessness in the face of, like, utter despair was ... soul crushing."
  (Ben Bozeman, 06:00)

• On ICE activity:

  "It's just, I'm losing track. ...a local pastor got, got grabbed. I think a couple now corrections officers have been, have been taken."
  (Ben Bozeman, 12:19)

• On politics:

  "I was a Bernie supporter for sure. I want to see someone who will, I don't know, fight for, you know, to do something."
  (Ben Bozeman, 14:15)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------| | 01:29 | Episode topic introduction by Tim Miller | | 02:28 | Audio clip of the actual detention | | 03:43 | Ben Bozeman joins the discussion | | 05:56 | Ben describes returning the car to officer's wife | | 07:18 | Clip of Sheriff Kevin Joyce’s press conference | | 09:18 | Ben discusses community and advocacy response | | 11:16 | Ben reflects on witnessing the broader ICE pattern | | 12:19 | On increasing incidents in Maine | | 13:19 | Ben's thoughts on local politics and activism | | 14:46 | Tim Miller closes the interview |

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Tone and Language

The conversation is urgent, raw, and emotionally charged throughout, reflecting the stress and confusion experienced by those directly affected by ICE enforcement actions. Ben Bozeman’s tone is compassionate and frustrated, while Tim Miller brings journalistic clarity and empathy.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode exposes the human impact of recent ICE actions in Maine, spotlighting the distress caused even to law-abiding, contributing members of society. The emotional fallout for families, the confusion among local law enforcement, and the strain on advocacy networks all point to a growing crisis. The episode closes with a call for greater community support and vigilance against unjust policies.

Transcript

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[Tim Miller]

Hey everybody, Tim Miller from the Bulwark here. Obviously we've been focusing a lot on what was happening with ICE and CPP in Minneapolis, but there has also been a surge over the past week of activity in Maine and one video in particular has caused a stir up there and caught our attention. This was of a correction officer off duty recruit that was hassled by these federal agents and despite the fact that the person was a not here illegally and b part of law enforcement themselves. And this video that has prompted a press conference and other stuff we'll get into in a little bit was taken by local resident Ben Bozeman and we're lucky to have a chance to talk to him now. So watch the video and then we'll get with Ben on the other side.

[Correction Officer]

I'm a correct office at work. It come under what's wrong? I'm just coming from war. What's wrong? I don't understand this. I don't have any my life coming from ward. My uniform is right there. No let me pray to you man. Oh, my God.

[Ben Bozeman]

He's got a job. So they can't have that. Can't have productive members of society. All right, what's his crime? Having a job is crimes having a job. Hey, is your job fulfilling you?

[Tim Miller]

Is it.

[Ben Bozeman]

Is it like, make you feel good? What's gonna think about. Just leave his car there, I guess.

[Tim Miller]

Hey, Ben, man, thanks for doing this.

[Ben Bozeman]

Yeah, my pleasure.

[Tim Miller]

So tell us a little bit about the scene, like what your situation was. You kind of how you spotted it. Just paint a little picture for us.

[Ben Bozeman]

Yeah, I mean, I was just in the area. There's a few breweries nearby. So just saw. Was walking by and saw, you know, the lights pop on, the blue lights flashing. And then within moments, you know, four other unmarked cars themselves started lighting up. Flashing as well. Just coordinated swoop down on this guy's car, like five, seven, some odd agents popped out. And I think my video, I started in three minutes, I think, tops. It was done. Left his car on the side of the road, left it running, left the windows down. It was maybe 10 degrees outside and that was it. So I guess their plan was just to leave it there for the rest of the night, but I hopped in and put it in a parking lot nearby just to get it off the street.

[Tim Miller]

You took the car and put away and you contacted what, immigration advocates, you said?

[Ben Bozeman]

Yeah, so there's. There's a local group that's doing a lot of good work, doing their best, I guess, to. To sort of like provide support for families that have been affected, called Project Relief Maine. I didn't really know what to do with the video. I'm not really like a huge, you know, online presence or anything. So I. I messaged them, said I had this video of this guy being, you know, just abducted and what should I do with it? And so they, you know, I sent it to them. I was able to, in this guy's car, you know, in the. In the glove box, find the car's registration. I got his name with his name. I was able to, you know, pass that along. They were able to track down his family and sort of work as an intermediary between myself and the family to, you know, figure out what next. And basically just, you know, first things first is get the car back to him because they were. They were too afraid to. To leave once they had heard what happened to. To him. So, yeah, so I ended up bringing the car to his wife myself later that night.

[Tim Miller]

Oh, man, that's cool. How was she doing?

[Ben Bozeman]

Awful. That was probably the. That was one of the worst things I've personally ever experienced. I think she, you know, was in her early 20s. I. I don't want to, like, I'm just. I'm still. I haven't really heard from. From them. I've reached out to Project Relief to see if I could, you know, continue to be of service to. To her specifically, because it was, you know, affected me so much. But, yeah, she was, you know, visibly shaken. She's crying. She's pregnant with their first child. And just, you know, the feeling I had of just like, complete helplessness in the face of, like, utter despair was. Was just like. Yeah, soul crushing. I don't know. I don't really have the words, but, yeah, I mean, she. What really got me was she asked me if I knew how long it would be that he would be detained for. And I just, you know, I don't know. Just shattered me. I don't. So that's horrible.

[Tim Miller]

And so at this point, we haven't heard what. Anything more?

[Sheriff Kevin Joyce]

No.

[Ben Bozeman]

I mean, in the press conference that the sheriff gave yesterday.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, why don't we pull that up? Actually, for people who haven't seen it, I'm just gonna play a little clip of that, and then we can talk about that on the other side. This is the Cumberland County Sheriff, Kevin Joyce. Great accent he has. And again, it's just another situation. We were talking about this similarly in Minneapolis, where the administration and Vance, these guys are saying that they're not targeting people based on skin color, that they're not doing anything inappropriate. And then similarly to Minneapolis, here, we have a local member of local law enforcement saying, no, the opposite. They're menacing my own people, and they're doing it improperly. Let's just listen to a little bit from Kevin Joyce.

[Sheriff Kevin Joyce]

This is an individual that had permission to be working in the state of Maine. We vetted him. He took the extra step of risking his job to fly to Texas to take care of hearings, and for some reason, he was picked up last night. Folks, that's bush league policing again. In my world, you wait for a wrecker. You wait for somebody to come pick it up that the individual wants, or you get permission to drive the vehicle into a public parking spot and you lock it up and you give the person their car keys. You don't leave their personal belongings unsecure along the streets of the city of Portland. It's not fair to the guy that owns the car. It's surely not fair to the Portland police. And it's what my understanding is is.

[Ben Bozeman]

Going on.

[Sheriff Kevin Joyce]

I'll end with this. We're being told one story which is totally different than what's occurring or what occurred last night. Every indication we found is that this was a squeaky clean individual that really hadn't done anything at all.

[Tim Miller]

So, yeah, man, that's the sheriff and I don't know. So did you have any kind of contact with them about, about the situation?

[Ben Bozeman]

I haven't had any contact with any sort of law enforcement or anything like that. I, I've reached out again, like I said, to, to the various, like, immigrant advocacy groups, but they've also been posting that, you know, they're getting absolutely inundated, flooded with messages both from, you know, community members like myself who want to volunteer and want to support, but also, I would imagine from family members of people who have been, you know, detained or abducted or any, you know. So I, I'm sure that they're all just underwater at this point. They have to vet everyone that wants to volunteer to make sure that, you know, there's no, you know, bad actors or people trying to, you know, troll them or something. So, no, I haven't heard anything about, about the, the, the gentleman in question about whether or not he, you know, where he is, if he's still detained. I, I assume he is. But yeah, it's just been, it's been in a vacuum and I, I, yeah, I, I keep just thinking about his, his wife and just, I don't know if she's like, alone. I, I hope there's family nearby that can, I don't know, bring groceries, you know, do the, just do little things. And also she's, she's like I said, five, you know, midway through a pregnancy that doesn't have her, her breadwinner to, to sort of like take part in or provide support. And it's just, I can't. Yeah, words are, that's brutal.

[Tim Miller]

And that kid is an American. The kid is going to be an American. And this guy, and according to Sheriff Joyce, you know, he was hired in February, he'd gone through, he'd been doing his paperwork, done all the right things. And this is just same thing we've seen over and over again. It's people who are trying to go about this the right way that are being targeted. What inspired you to get involved? Was it like, have you been wanting to get involved? Is it just happenstance that you were there? Are you like, are you kind of a person that, that does activism stuff?

[Ben Bozeman]

I mean. Yeah, I mean, I like to consider myself at least like, politically literate. If not, you know, super active. But no, I mean in this case it's like I'd obviously seen, seen videos going back months now from different parts of the country. I have a friend in min. In Minneapolis. I, you know, been in contact with him about everything that's going on in Minnesota and it's, you know, you see the videos and it's awful. But to see it, you know, just, you know, it felt very surreal. Just sort of walking by and then the lights come on and it's like, oh, this is, this is happening right now right in front of me. This guy is like, you know, pleading for pleading his innocence and being ripped away out of his vehicle. So it's like, like I said, it's one thing reading about it and then just to sort of be thrust into it is, was, was completely another thing.

[Tim Miller]

Are you hearing a lot more about other instances and this has been happening recently? Like you hearing more at work or like your buddies, whatever?

[Ben Bozeman]

Yeah, I mean like it's, there's reports of every day it's, it's something else in a different part of town. And you know, a couple, couple towns away, a couple cities over, you know, a mother of four I think got got, she dropped her kids off at, at a local high school. They followed her home and they, they, they, you know, grabbed her in the parking lot as she was getting out of her, out of her car to go back in her house. Yeah, I mean it's just, I'm losing track. But yeah, I think a local pastor got, got grabbed. I think a couple now corrections officers have been, have been taken. But yeah, the cases are, or the instances are really mounting up and it's, you know, it's getting kind of dizzying. Honestly.

[Tim Miller]

I just, this is a politics show so I've like, I have to take my shot with a one man focus group here. Do you have any. Obviously the main politics stuff's kind of hot right now. Interesting. Different primaries. Is anything. What's, who's catching your eye?

[Ben Bozeman]

Platner. I mean I'm really excited. I, it just seems I heard someone say this about. I used to live in New York City, so I, I follow that fairly closely too. And I was really excited by Zoran's campaign and candidacy and someone mentioned that like out of all this sort of Democratic politicians, Zoran seemed like he just, he wanted the ball to use like a sports, you know, terminology. And I get that same feeling from, from Platner, from Graham Platner. I think he knows it seems like he recognizes the moment we're in. And, you know, he wants the ball and he wants to. He wants to do something if elected to. To office and. And with the power that comes with it. So I'm definitely planning on. On voting for him. So. Yeah.

[Tim Miller]

Is that. Is it like, is that a recent thing for you that you've been getting? Or, like, were you a Bernie guy or is it just. Just. I mean, yeah, moment calls for it.

[Ben Bozeman]

Yeah, I. I was definitely. I was a Bernie fan. I don't know if I was like, you know, mega hardcore Bernie, bro, whatever the pejorative term is, but, yeah, I was a Bernie supporter for sure. I want to see someone who will, I don't know, fight for, you know, to do something.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah.

[Ben Bozeman]

And it seems like he's the most likely. The most likely candidate that would. That would do that in this. In this state, anyway.

[Tim Miller]

All right, man. I appreciate you jumping on with us. This is just a brutal situation, and that's so, like, fucking awesome that you did that for the family. And if you, you know, get more information or hear about Micah way, our. Our viewers could, you know, support the family or local groups or whatever, just let us know and I'll make sure to give it a shout. All right, man.

[Ben Bozeman]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Tim Miller]

I'd appreciate it. That's Ben Bozeman, everybody. Subscribe to the feed. Thank you for doing this, brother. We'll talk to you soon.

[Ben Bozeman]

Cheers. Thank you.

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