ICE shootings in Maine and Houston spark outrage and scrutiny

Federal and state investigators are examining the fatal shooting of a driver by immigration officers on a residential street in Biddeford, Maine, after 7 a.m. Monday, a killing that came just six days after another ICE shooting in Houston left a Mexican national dead.

In Maine, Sen. Angus King said the man killed was not the target of the warrant, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin later told him the victim was not the intended target. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said she was told the victim was a 26-year-old Colombian man. The victim was identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero. Maine Presente! said Guerrero was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number. The Colombian Embassy said it regretted the death of a Colombian national and asked the Department of Homeland Security for information and clarification. The FBI and the Maine Attorney General’s Office are investigating the shooting.

Officials said the driver tried to flee and that an officer fired out of fear for public safety. The tactical questions are who was being pursued, how much warning officers gave and whether force was necessary on a residential street in a city where neighbors woke to police tape and federal agents.

ICE said the July 7 shooting in Magnolia Park happened during a targeted enforcement operation, and it identified the victim as 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national. DHS said ICE officers were not wearing body cameras during the encounter. Accounts also differed over whether the driver tried to run over an officer.

More than 1,000 protesters marched in Houston on July 8, chanting "ICE out of Houston." Within a week of the shootings, the Trump administration ordered ICE to suspend most vehicle stops nationwide.