Biddeford, Maine, police said a person was killed in a police incident on Monday. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
July 13 (UPI) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a Colombian man in Maine on Monday, marking the latest migrant death amid the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration-enforcement campaign and less than a week after a migrant was killed in Houston.
The fatal Monday morning shooting occurred in Biddeford, a city of around 22,500 people about 15 miles southwest of Portland.
Little is clear about the incident, with confusion surrounding whether the man killed was the target of the ICE operation and whether he had attempted to run ICE agents over with his vehicle.
The federal immigration agency said in a statement that at around 7 a.m. EDT agents were targeting the last known address of an undocumented immigrant with a final order of removal. ICE said an undocumented immigrant departed the residence in a vehicle, which agents attempted to stop, but the vehicle fled the scene.
“Fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. The driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries,” ICE said.
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine identified the dead man in a statement as a 26-year-old Colombian immigrant who was authorized to work in the United States and had a Social Security number.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, citing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, initially said he was told that the man had been the target of the ICE operation, but later told Fox News that Mullin had spoken to him a second time to correct the information, as “the victim was not the target of the warrant.”
ICE did not identify the dead man nor state whether he was the intended target.
During the earlier press conference in Portland, King told reporters that Mullin had said the victim had “weaponized” his vehicle and “was shot by an ICE agent.”
The agents were not wearing body cameras, he said, while stating that he told Mullin, “We want a full, transparent and open investigation of this matter.” King said that Mullin agreed one would be launched.
The Office of the Maine Attorney General also said it was investigating the shooting. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was told by Mullin that the DHS inspector general was also investigating the shooting, in cooperation with the FBI.
After King’s correction that the man killed was not ICE’s target, Maine Gov. Janet Mills called for an end to ICE’s aggressive tactics.
“This development makes this tragedy even more disturbing and infuriating, and it underscores the reckless and haphazard manner in which immigration enforcement operations are being conducted in Maine and across the country,” she said online.
“This has to end.”
During a vigil in Biddeford’s Mechanics Park, Maine immigrants’ Rights Coalition Executive Director Mufalo Chitam told those assembled to call on their elected officials to “remind them that we need ICE out of Maine.”
“If you thought ICE had left Maine, today is a reminder that ICE is still here,” she said.
Trump’s immigration crackdown has attracted staunch and growing criticism amid federal agents’ aggressive tactics that have resulted in a number of deaths, including of two U.S. citizens early this year in Minneapolis.
Last week, an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had been in Houston for some 35 years. ICE has claimed Araujo was attempting to run over a federal officer during what DHS called a “targeted enforcement operation,” though he is not believed to have been the man they were looking for.
“ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement Monday night.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, to be fired.
“Trump’s ICE agents have brought fear and terror to our communities. How many people must die for Congress to finally exercise oversight, accountability and fully reform?” he said online.
Activists at the Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Height, Los Angeles, rally on Saturday night to protest the Minneapolis shooting death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, 37, by Customs and Border Protection officers. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
