Maine Senator Susan Collins voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general and Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general, whose Justice Department targeted dozens of political opponents with criminal charges, and Kristi Noem and Markwayne Mullin to run Homeland Security, whose agencies claimed authority to monitor anti-ICE protesters, including U.S. citizens. She also voted to confirm Marco Rubio, whose State Department revoked a student's visa over an op-ed.
In October 2025 Collins voted against amendments to bar federal officers at protests from concealing their identifying information and to require a governor's consent before National Guard duty in a state, and in June 2026 she voted against body cameras for immigration agents.
Susan Collins's Confirmation Votes and Votes on Federal Agents, Troops and Protesters
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Justice Department Leaders Who Prosecuted Trump's Critics. Susan Collins voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general on February 4, 2025 and Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025. Their department targeted dozens of political opponents with criminal charges, most of which failed. A federal judge called a grand-jury probe of Minnesota officials a blatantly unlawful and unethical use the grand-jury process, and prosecutors indicted the journalist Don Lemon and others after they covered a church protest in January 2026.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Homeland Security Secretaries Whose Agencies Monitored Protesters and Searched a Congresswoman's Home. Collins voted to confirm Kristi Noem in January 2025 and Markwayne Mullin in March 2026 to lead the Department of Homeland Security. ICE leadership claimed authority to use all available tools to monitor and investigate anti-ICE protester networks, including U.S. citizens, Brookings reported. Under Mullin, Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a court-approved search warrant at Omar's home, 22 days before the election, after Mullin said his department was investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Prosecutor Who Investigated Six Democratic Lawmakers Over a Video. On August 2, 2025, Collins voted to confirm Jeanine Pirro as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., 50-45. Her office investigated Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and five other Democratic lawmakers over a video telling troops they may refuse unlawful orders, and after a grand jury refused to indict, Pirro dropped the investigation in February 2026.
- Collins Voted to Confirm Marco Rubio, Whose State Department Revoked a Student's Visa Over an Op-Ed. On January 20, 2025, Collins voted to confirm Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. His department revoked Rümeysa Öztürk's student visa for writing an op-ed in her student paper, and the Tufts graduate student was arrested on the street by masked men in plainclothes in March 2025.
- Collins Voted Against Barring Federal Officers at Protests From Hiding Their Identities in October 2025. On October 9, 2025, Collins voted no on Senator Jeff Merkley's amendment requiring federal officers doing crowd control to show their agency and identifier, and providing that they may not tape over or otherwise obscure or conceal the identifying information. It failed 47-50. In an arrest a federal judge later ruled unlawful in Iowa, "No identification was made" by the ICE agents, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
- Collins Voted Against Requiring a Governor's Consent Before Guard Troops Patrol a State in October 2025. On October 9, 2025, Collins voted no on Senator Chris Van Hollen's amendment requiring the consent of the chief executive officer of a state for certain full-time National Guard duty there, which failed 47-50, and against Senator Tammy Duckworth's amendment placing a limitation on provision of support by Armed Forces to civilian law enforcement without notice to Congress, which failed 46-52. The administration had deployed the California Guard without consent of its governor, and a judge ruled the Los Angeles deployment violated a federal law against military members conducting domestic law enforcement, warning of "a national police force with the President as its chief".
- Collins Voted Against Body Cameras for Immigration Agents Who Detain People for Filming Them in June 2026. On June 5, 2026, Collins voted no on an amendment to buy body-worn cameras for immigration officers and make the footage available to the people filmed. It failed 46-53. Alex Pretti was fatally shot while filming an immigration operation in Minneapolis in January 2026.
What the Crackdown Under Officials Susan Collins Confirmed Has Meant in Maine and Beyond
- Citizens detained. ProPublica has documented 506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents, including at least 63 Americans detained while recording them.
- Maine operation. During ICE's January 2026 operation in Maine, immigration lawyers said "it's mostly people without criminal records who are being arrested", NPR reported.
- Prosecutions of critics. Protect Democracy found that of the Justice Department's cases against the president's opponents, "Most of those cases have failed".
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Civil liberties
What is Susan Collins's record on civil liberties under Trump?
Susan Collins voted to confirm the Justice Department leaders who prosecuted the president's critics, the Homeland Security secretaries whose agencies monitored protesters, and the secretary of state whose department revoked a student's visa over an op-ed. In October 2025 and June 2026 she voted against requiring federal officers at protests to show identification and against body cameras for immigration agents.
How did Susan Collins vote on the October 2025 amendment requiring federal officers at protests to identify themselves?
Susan Collins voted no on October 9, 2025 on Senator Jeff Merkley's amendment, which would have required federal officers doing crowd control to display their agency and an identifier, and it failed 47-50. ProPublica has documented at least 63 Americans detained while recording immigration agents.
Did Susan Collins vote to confirm Marco Rubio, whose State Department revoked student visas over speech?
Yes. Susan Collins voted to confirm Marco Rubio on January 20, 2025. A federal court later found the visa policy's purpose was to chill pro-Palestinian speech and declared it unconstitutional, and the appeal is pending.
Last updated: 2026-10-25