An ICE agent shot and killed a 26-year-old Colombian national during an immigration operation in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday morning, the second fatal shooting by the agency in a week and an event that triggered protests and a federal investigation.
The shooting occurred around 7:20 AM EDT. ICE agents were conducting surveillance on a Biddeford address linked to a person with a final order of removal, according to the agency. When agents tried to stop someone driving from that address, the vehicle attempted to flee the scene, and an officer discharged his weapon, fearing for public safety, ICE said. The driver was struck. ICE did not share details on why the officer feared for safety.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, a Democrat, said initial statements indicate the subject attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot. The agent has been placed on leave. He is from ICE’s Enforcement Removal Operations department.
Conflicting accounts emerged. Senator Angus King, a political independent, said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin initially told him the person shot dead was the target of an arrest warrant in an immigration operation. Hours later, Mullin called King back to say the man was actually not the target of a warrant, according to King’s office.
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition identified the deceased as a 26-year-old Colombian authorized to work in the United States. The organization did not name him. “He was a member of our community, a neighbor, and a human being whose life was cut tragically short,” the group said in a statement. The Embassy of Colombia confirmed the nationality of the deceased and said it has requested information and clarification from DHS regarding the circumstances surrounding the death.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene. Lucas Scott, a Biddeford resident, told the Biddeford Gazette he saw flashing lights from an unmarked white SUV and at least two officers wearing green ICE vests shouting as they surrounded a white sedan. He then heard at least four gunshots. The Guardian reported that witnesses described the man as being shot in the head, though ICE and DHS have not commented on that detail.
Mary Hayes told the Associated Press that the man who was killed lived nearby with his wife and daughter. “I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes said. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”
Investigation and political response
The investigation has produced conflicting accounts. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican representing Maine, said the DHS inspector general’s office is taking over the investigation, according to the BBC. The Guardian, citing Senator King, reported that the investigation is FBI-led, and King urged state and local officials to remain involved. The two accounts have not been reconciled by either source. King said officers involved did not wear body cameras and that officials would be investigating whether deadly force was necessary. “That’s what this investigation is all about and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible,” King said, according to the AP.
The shooting drew swift condemnation. Senator Ed Markey called the shooting “the latest attack from Trump’s masked, unaccountable thugs” and said, “It’s horrific. It’s murder, and I will say it is plainly clear that we must abolish ICE now,” according to The Guardian. Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said ICE has fatally shot 11 people since Donald Trump’s second term began, The Guardian reported. “These are not isolated incidents,” Omar said in a post on social media. “They are the predictable result of a cruel, violent system.” Representative Rashida Tlaib called ICE “a rogue paramilitary organization carrying out Trump and Stephen Miller’s murderous fantasies,” The Guardian reported.
The incident follows a similar killing. On 7 July, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old builder Lorenzo Salgado Araujo as he was driving to a construction site in Houston, the BBC reported. Federal officials later acknowledged that the Mexican man was not the intended target of the enforcement operation but said he had tried to run over an ICE agent. Mullin took over leadership of DHS in March, replacing Kristi Noem after she was fired by Trump, according to the BBC. Noem’s tenure saw fatal shootings by immigration officers of two protesters, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both American citizens. The BBC reported that federal officials launched an enforcement operation in Maine in January called Operation Catch of the Day, and that civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit alleging aggressive tactics by federal agents during enforcement surges.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered in Biddeford, 18 miles south of Portland, following the shooting, the BBC reported. Others gathered outside Collins’ office to protest her vote to fund ICE. Collins has called for a full and impartial investigation of what happened.