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In a late-day statement on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shifted its narrative on the fatal ICE shooting of a man in Biddeford, Maine, saying that the man was trying to flee and that the immigration agent shot him out of supposed fear for “public safety.”
Roughly 12 hours after the Maine shooting, DHS put out a statement, claiming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were carrying out an operation for a final order of removal at an address. Agents began following a resident who left the address in a car, and “attempted to conduct a vehicle stop,” the agency said.
Then, according to the agency, the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, 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,” the statement went on.
The victim has been identified by Sen. Angus King’s (I-Maine) office as Joan Sebastian Guerrero. Local immigrants’ groups said he was a 26-year-old man from Colombia with a Social Security number and authorization to work in the U.S.
DHS’s statement drastically differs from a report from the agency earlier that day. Shortly after the shooting, which happened at roughly 7 am, King said that he spoke to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin. In that conversation, King said, the agency claimed that Guerrero “weaponized his vehicle” and that the agent shot him in “self-defense.”
It also differs from previous DHS explanations for shootings. DHS has said in at least three separate fatal shootings so far this year that immigration agents shot people who were trying to ram officers with their cars, with evidence contradicting that narrative in each instance.
The supposed justification for Guerrero’s killing appears far more broad, with DHS citing “public safety” without giving any reason why Guerrero was supposedly a danger to others. Other reports of the shooting, as well as video evidence, do not suggest that Guerrero was doing anything dangerous at the time that an ICE agent shot him.
Guerrero was also not the intended target of the agents’ operation on Monday, according to King’s office.
According to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), DHS’s inspector general in Boston has taken over the investigation of the shooting. The Trump administration has worked to obstruct previous investigations into fatal shootings by federal immigration agents, barring local investigators from accessing key evidence.
Critics have said that DHS’s description of the shooting makes the killing sound like a murder.
“This statement makes clear there was no threat whatsoever. Our taxpayer dollars are funding a fascist murder machine,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Arizona). Ansari and other advocates have once again called for ICE to be abolished in response to the killing.
“This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.”
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