# Angus King U.S. Senator from Maine since 2013, elected as an independent and caucusing with Senate Democrats. Governor of Maine from 1995 to 2003, also as an independent — one of the few American politicians to win statewide office twice without a major-party line. Re-elected to a third Senate term in 2024. King's institutional position matters more than his ideology for the purposes of this vault. He holds no party's whip obligations, which makes his criticism harder to file as partisan noise, and he has spent his Senate career on committees — Intelligence, Armed Services — where the questions are about executive power rather than social policy. ## Immigration enforcement oversight (2026) King emerged during 2026 as one of the sharpest congressional critics of [[ICE]] conduct, on separation-of-powers rather than immigration-policy grounds. His argument is not that enforcement is too harsh but that an armed federal force is operating outside the legal constraints Congress imposed on it, and that Congress has declined to notice. **The shock gloves statement (August 2026).** After ICE published a notice that it would spend up to $20 million on gloves delivering an incapacitating electric charge, King issued a statement questioning whether the purchase served de-escalation or intimidation: > [!quote] Angus King, August 2026 > "At a time when the majority of Americans believe that Immigration and Customs Enforcement…has been irresponsible in its use of force, the new ICE announcement touting shock gloves begs a crucial question: is ICE genuinely focused on de-escalation or, what appears more likely, intimidation of anyone critical of their often unlawful conduct?" He noted that the money was moving through what was reported to be a no-bid contract, with little transparency or accountability, and urged "every single one of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up, assert our constitutional authority, and demand immediate answers from ICE on their hiring practices, training, and tactics." The statement's closing is its most-quoted passage: > [!quote] Angus King, August 2026 > "I never thought I would see the day when masked and armed men in unmarked cars would be roaming the streets and neighborhoods of America, acting in utter disregard of the legal constraints that are basic to our freedoms. It's becoming more and more clear that the stated basis for this gross violation of our rights—that they are ridding our communities of 'the worst of the worst'—is a lie, and the real purpose is to establish a national police force to do the bidding of a corrupt and lawless administration." He ended: "It is past time for Congress to do its duty and, for once, put country ahead of party." The framing is worth noting precisely. King is not arguing that the enforcement surge is producing bad outcomes incidentally — he is arguing that the stated justification is pretextual and that the actual object is a general-purpose federal police force. That is a claim about institutional design, and it is the reason his statement has more analytic weight than most congressional condemnations. The closing line has its own page: [[Angus King - a national police force to do the bidding]]. King also spoke publicly in July 2026 about the fatal shooting of a man by federal agents, a Maine-adjacent instance of the same use-of-force question. ## Committee position King is the ranking member of two subcommittees that matter to this vault: **Strategic Forces** on Armed Services, and **National Parks** on Energy & Natural Resources. The second is not incidental — it is the jurisdiction under which the [[Big Bend National Park Border Wall]] and the [[Independence Arch]] both sit, and it is why his name appears on the June 2026 comment letter to Interior Secretary [[Doug Burgum]] opposing the arch. See [[Commemorative Works Act]]. ## See also - [[ICE]] - [[Department of Homeland Security]] - [[Congressional Oversight]] - [[Angus King - a national police force to do the bidding]] - [[Independence Arch]] · [[Commemorative Works Act]]