Senator Collins Questions Secretary of Homeland Security, FBI Director on Illegal Marijuana Grow Operations in Maine
Q&A with Secretary Noem: Click HERE to watch and HERE to download.
Q&A with FBI Director Patel: Click HERE to watch and HERE to download.
Washington, D.C. – At hearings to review the Fiscal Year 2026 budget requests for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, questioned Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel about federal law enforcement efforts to help shut down illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations in Maine and support the efforts of state, county, and local law enforcement.
Q&A with Secretary Noem:
Senator Collins:
Madam Secretary, I want to bring to your attention to an important issue that may not yet be one that you've been briefed on. In August of 2023, DHS issued a memo in which the Department stated that it had identified more than 270 Chinese-backed illegal marijuana operations in the State of Maine alone, producing up to an estimated $4.3 billion in illicit revenue. These grow houses are primarily run by Chinese organized crime syndicates with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Our sheriffs and local law enforcement have worked night and day to shut down these grow houses that tend to be located in very rural areas of the state.
I hope that the President's more detailed budget request includes funding that can be used to help supplement the county, state, and local law enforcement efforts.
DEA has also been involved. IRS has been involved. The FBI is starting to get involved. But DHS obviously has an important role to play. So, I hope you will commit today to joining this all-of-government effort to shut down these dangerous, illegal grow houses.
Undoubtedly, there's human trafficking going on as well. The marijuana is destroying these houses with black mold, because it's grown inside to try to hide what is going on. And it's being smuggled to other states. This isn't just a problem in Maine, some 22 states have similarly found these illegal grow operations with ties to transnational criminal organizations in China.
Secretary Noem:
Well, thank you, Senator Collins. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, and this important discussion. Obviously, we're very concerned with securing our border and knowing who's coming into our country illegally, but also who's already here. And so, you pointing out the fact that we have investments in this country, businesses, and marijuana grow houses that have a presence of ties to the PRC is incredibly alarming. So, I agree that we should work together to see what we can do…
This is alarming that we have China – not only are they stealing our IP, manipulating their currency, but they're building a presence in this country as well. And so everything that we can do to make sure that we're addressing that and not allowing them to get a foothold within the center of our country and in our important states like Maine is incredibly important.
So, thank you for bringing it to the attention of everyone today, and I commit to working with you.
Q&A with FBI Director Patel:
Senator Collins:
Director Patel, when you and I met in my office prior to your confirmation, I described to you a terrible problem that we have throughout rural Maine, and that is the proliferation of the illegal marijuana operations connected to transnational Chinese criminal organizations. These grow houses are destroying homes; they're threatening our communities, our public health, and our national security.
When I asked your predecessor, Director Wray, about this issue at last year's hearing, he confirmed the connection between these illegal marijuana grow operations and Chinese criminal organizations.
Now, Maine's county—particularly our sheriffs—local, and state law enforcement, are working hard to shut down these grow houses, but they need more help from the federal government to help identify connections to money laundering, human and drug trafficking, and other criminal activity.
Has the FBI developed a strategy and dedicated resources toward combating these illegal marijuana grows that are tied to transnational criminal organizations in China?
Director Patel:
Senator Collins, I remember our conversation vividly and took it to heart, and I appreciated your—I highlight our conversation as one of those examples of allowing me to be educated on what is effectuating citizens across this country, and I use it as an example of, we can't quarterback that operation from Washington, D.C., alone.
So, what we've done since I've taken the seat as the Director of the FBI, is reprioritize assets to push out into the field, to cover down in not just pieces of Maine, but all of Maine. And when we finish this redeployment cycle, hopefully within the next six to nine months, we will not only just have the manpower in the field, but at headquarters, I've prioritized intelligence collection against the CCP that is directly tied to these marijuana grow houses. We have numerous new investigations open on just these matters alone, but the field is telling me what you're telling me, we need more folks out there. I'm trying to put them out there as fast as I can, but I also can't cripple the needs in Washington, D.C., so we're doing it in a timeline fashion of 30, 60, 90, day pushes as best as we can.
Sen. Collins:
Thank you. I hope that we can come up with a strategy that involves DEA, the FBI, and our sheriffs, everybody involved. There's still more than 200 of these suspected houses that are the illegal growing operations.
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In response to concerns raised by constituents in 2022, Senator Collins sent a letter to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Director requesting that appropriate action be taken to address illegal growing operations in Maine. Since then, Senator Collins and the Maine Delegation sent letters to the former U.S. Attorney General in August 2023 and January 2024 urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to shut down these operations. In the fall of 2023, she received a briefing on the U.S. DEA’s efforts. In February 2024, Senator Collins joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter requesting a briefing on the DOJ’s efforts. At the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s annual worldwide threats open hearing last year, Senator Collins questioned the former FBI Director on how the FBI is supporting state, local, and county officials. She then questioned the former Attorney General on this topic at an Appropriations hearing in April 2024. Senator Collins also questioned the former Secretary of State on the Government of China’s potential involvement. In response to a similar line of questioning in June 2024, former FBI Director Wray confirmed a connection between the illegal grow operations and Chinese organized crime.
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