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# ICE Shooting Death in Maine Becomes at Least Ninth Fatality Tied to Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Surge
**BIDDEFORD, Maine** — A fatal shooting by a federal immigration officer in a small Maine coastal city has ignited fresh outrage over the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign, marking what advocates and news organizations say is at least the ninth death connected to the crackdown since the president returned to office.
The shooting, which unfolded Monday morning in Biddeford, a quiet community roughly 15 miles southwest of Portland, has left a young family shattered and a neighborhood demanding answers. It also represents the second time in barely a week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used lethal force against a civilian, intensifying scrutiny of how the agency is carrying out its mass deportation orders.
## What Happened in Biddeford
According to ,the Department of Homeland Security, an ICE officer “fearing for public safety” shot and killed the driver while agents were watching the home of someone they believed was in the country illegally and had a final order of removal. The department said when ICE tried to stop the vehicle driven by someone leaving that home, the vehicle attempted to flee and the officer opened fire.,
But conflicting accounts have emerged about who was actually targeted. ,Maine Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was killed — and that earlier information suggesting the victim was the target of the enforcement action was incorrect.,
Neighbors described a chaotic and bloody scene. ,Resident Daniel Boucher said he looked out his window after hearing a “pop, pop, pop” sound and saw a small car turned 90 degrees toward the curb with an SUV behind it, and that the wounded driver’s car kept moving down the street until the SUV struck it again., ,Boucher recalled hearing the victim clearly say, “I tried to stop.”,
Security camera footage obtained by the Associated Press captured part of the encounter. ,The video shows a white vehicle approaching an intersection at a modest speed before making several slow circles, then a law enforcement SUV blocking its path as two officers open the driver’s door and drag out a limp body.,
## The Victim Identified
,Neighbor Nelson Elias identified the man killed as 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, saying he walked outside Monday morning to find his neighbor had been shot and killed amid what sounded like a loud commotion involving law enforcement., Advocacy organizations confirmed he was a Colombian national. ,According to two nonprofit groups in the state, the victim was a 26-year-old Colombian man who was authorized to work in the United States.,
The Colombian government has stepped in to assist. ,The Colombian Embassy said it was in contact with U.S. authorities about the death and was providing the necessary consular assistance to the family.,
Grief poured out among those who knew Guerrero as a devoted father and husband. ,Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter, describing how she watched his wife fall to her knees over his body while his young daughter cried, wearing a pink backpack, “because she’s never going to see her father again.”, A neighborhood laundromat owner recalled simpler moments — ,saying the man regularly visited her business and would bring his daughter, giving her quarters to buy candy from the vending machine.,
## Investigations Launched, Officer on Leave
Maine authorities have opened their own inquiry into the shooting. ,The Maine attorney general’s office said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent, and confirmed the officer who fired the fatal shots has been placed on leave., Federal oversight has also been triggered. ,Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Mullin told her the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.,
King has pressed for full accountability, raising pointed questions about whether deadly force was justified. ,He asked what the driver actually did with his vehicle, whether officers were genuinely threatened, and whether any threat rose to the level justifying deadly force., Notably, ,the agents involved in the shooting did not have body-worn cameras, King said.,
King also tied the incident to broader policy pressures within the agency. ,He described the operation as “a broad sweep with people with a quota,” saying agents “have been told they have to arrest 2000 people a day by the White House.”,
## Part of a Widening Pattern
The Biddeford shooting came only days after another deadly ICE encounter far from Maine. ,On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.,
The two shootings reflect a dramatic escalation in enforcement activity nationwide. ,The shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda, with ICE arresting more than 10,000 people during a five-day period at the end of June., Analysts note that ,the figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests are surging nationwide.,
This is not the first time ICE’s use of force has drawn national condemnation. ,The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota., International backlash has also grown; ,the Senate of the Republic of Mexico condemned incidents tied to U.S. immigration authorities involving the deaths of 17 Mexican citizens during Trump’s second term, calling for thorough investigations into each case.,
## Community Response
Within hours of the Biddeford shooting, dozens of demonstrators gathered near the scene to protest. ,Dozens of demonstrators critical of ICE and Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown gathered in Biddeford within hours of the shooting, including Amy Goodman, who arrived carrying a sign reading “Stop Killing Us.”, ,”Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” she said.,
Advocacy groups in Maine have called for full transparency from federal officials. ,The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine said in a joint statement they were “devastated and outraged” by the shooting death, adding that the public deserves a full and transparent account of what happened.,
## Broader Enforcement Data Raises Questions
Data reviewed by researchers suggests the profile of people being targeted in Maine has shifted in recent months. ,ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of President Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, according to arrest data provided to the UC Berkeley Deportation Data Project., However, ,only 45% of those detained had criminal records, compared with 69% during a similar period before Trump first took office.,
## What Comes Next
As federal and state investigators continue piecing together the exact sequence of events in Biddeford, the case has become the latest flashpoint in a national debate over the tactics, oversight, and accountability of immigration enforcement under the current administration. With protests planned to continue and lawmakers from both parties calling for transparency, the shooting is likely to remain a focal point in the ongoing controversy surrounding ICE’s expanded operations — as families in Maine, Texas, and Minnesota all grapple with the human cost of the administration’s deportation push.
For now, the streets of Biddeford bear quiet reminders of the loss: flowers, candles, and handwritten notes marking the spot where a husband and father’s life ended during a routine morning that turned fatal in an instant.