Colombian migrant killed in ICE shooting in Maine

A man died on Monday in the city of Biddeford, Maine, in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The incident comes less than a week after another federal agent fatally shot Mexican migrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, amid the anti-immigration crackdown by Donald Trump’s administration.

Hours after news of the Maine shooting emerged on Monday morning, authorities had still not confirmed the identity of the person who was shot. However, two migrant-rights organizations in the state — Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine — reported that the deceased was a 26-year-old Colombian man. Presente! stated that he had authorization to work in the United States and had a Social Security number.

“Our community is taking immediate action to protect and care for this family that has been shattered by state violence,” said Crystal Cron, executive director of Presente. “To say we are heartbroken does not convey the depth of the exhaustion, terror, or grief we are feeling. We will not let this death be reduced to a footnote in this administration’s enforcement statistics. There is no freedom until everyone is free.”

Maine Senator Angus King said that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin assured him that the agent opened fire after the man allegedly attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers who were pursuing him, and that the deceased was subject to a deportation order.

“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” said King, who is an independent senator.

The agents involved in the shooting were not wearing body cameras, according to information King said he received from Mullin. According to King, the FBI is leading the investigation.

This is not the first time the Department of Homeland Security — which oversees ICE — has sought to justify a fatal shooting by federal agents by claiming that the deceased attempted to run over or attack officers with a vehicle. The department made a similar claim after the death of Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas last Tuesday.

Salgado was killed while driving to work. The Department of Homeland Security initially stated that the federal agent fired because he felt threatened, a version of events that witnesses have disputed. Authorities later confirmed that Salgado, who had lived in the United States for more than three decades, was not the intended target and had been mistaken for another migrant under surveillance. His family, politicians, and several civil-rights organizations have called for a full investigation.

The aggressive manner in which ICE operations have been conducted has resulted in several fatalities this year, including those of U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January. In addition, 21 people have died while being held in immigration detention centers. At this rate, the number of deaths will surpass the 33 people who died in ICE custody last year, which marked a historic record.

News of the Maine shooting was announced by Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau on social media. “A person was killed. ICE was involved. State Police and the Department of Public Safety are now on the scene to gather details, and would expect the FBI to investigate as well,” Fecteau wrote on Facebook. “These are the details I have at this time. I will provide further updates, as they are relayed to me.”

According to the local newspaper Portland Press Herald, two witnesses said they heard gunshots and saw officers attempting to stop a vehicle driven by the man who was reportedly shot. One witness said he saw the man — whose identity has not been released by authorities — exit the car bleeding from his head.

A video recorded by another witness and shared with CNN showed officers trying to stop a white car that was circling an intersection. Images from the scene showed bullet holes in the vehicle’s windshield.

Corey Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the site of the shooting, told the Associated Press that “two ICE members ran to the intersection and another ICE member in a Ford SUV went into the intersection to stop the car from rolling.” “I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe he was alive when the car started rolling,” he said.

Biddeford, a city of more than 21,000 residents, is located 15 miles (24 km) south of Portland, Maine, and 90 miles (145 km) north of Boston, Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. The Maine State Police and the FBI are at the scene, along with the Biddeford Police Crime Scene Unit, according to local media reports.

Maine Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, commented on the incident in a statement: “I have been briefed about the fatal shooting in Biddeford this morning involving federal law enforcement. I know that situations like this are alarming and frightening. The Maine State Police are at the scene and working cooperatively with the Attorney General’s Office, Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and federal officials to determine the facts of what happened this morning.”

The organization Biddeford Saco for Racial Justice called for a protest against ICE at noon in Mechanics Park in Biddeford. According to local media reports, demonstrators have already begun gathering in the city, which has a working-class downtown along the Saco River and a coastal area that is popular with tourists.

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