As many immigrant families sheltered at home during the January ICE surge, and some businesses closed, retail sales fell by $3.4 million in some of Maine’s largest metro regions, according to a new estimate from the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a progressive advocacy group.
Policy analyst James Myall said he used student absentee data as an indicator of how many families were staying home over a 10-day period in the Portland, Lewiston, and Biddeford-Saco areas.