ICE Shoots and Kills Colombian Man in Maine

An ICE officer fatally shot a man on Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine, which is a coastal city about 15 miles southwest of Portland — the second time in a week the agency has used deadly force, and at least the ninth death tied to the administration's immigration crackdown.

What ICE says happened

According to the agency, officers were conducting surveillance around 7 a.m. on the last known address of someone with a final deportation order. A person left the residence by car, agents tried to stop the vehicle, it attempted to flee, and an officer fired — citing concern for public safety.

Who was killed

The victim has been identified as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national. Advocacy groups say he was legally authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number. A neighbor said he was married with a young daughter, about 2 or 3 years old.

The detail that's changed the story

Sen. Angus King said Guerrero wasn't actually who ICE was looking for that morning — the removal order agents were acting on belonged to someone else. Maine Gov. Janet Mills called that detail "even more disturbing and infuriating" once it became public.

There's also a real gap between two official explanations for the shooting. King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin privately told him agents said Guerrero "weaponized" his vehicle, implying he tried to run over an officer. But DHS's own public statement never used that word — it only said the officer fired "fearing for public safety," without specifying the actual threat. Agents involved weren't wearing body cameras, and

nearby surveillance footage doesn't clearly show the moment shots were fired.

Where it stands now

The officer who fired has been placed on leave. Maine's Attorney General, the FBI, and DHS's own inspector general are all investigating. ICE has temporarily paused vehicle stops nationwide while agents receive new training. Sen. Susan Collins says she's been told the inspector general will lead the review.

Election implications for Susan Collins

The timing puts Collins in an uncomfortable spot heading into her re-election fight this fall. A fatal, wrong-target ICE shooting in her own state hands Democrats a ready-made line of attack — especially with Maine's Senate race already in flux after Graham Platner's exit from the Democratic primary. Collins has tried to stay above the fray procedurally, pointing to DHS's inspector general and the FBI as the investigators of record rather than commenting on the substance herself. That's a familiar move for an incumbent trying not to get pulled into a national controversy she didn't create, but it also leaves an opening: whoever Democrats settle on as their nominee will have a fresh, local, emotionally resonant story to point to on immigration enforcement, in a state where this kind of incident isn't an abstraction happening somewhere else.

Why ICE still has a role, even after a case like this

Incidents like this are going to fuel calls to abolish ICE entirely — and that reaction is understandable given what happened. But there's a difference between demanding accountability for a specific failure and concluding the agency itself shouldn't exist. Someone has to enforce the immigration laws Congress has written; without an agency responsible for that, removal orders become unenforceable on paper only, and the system loses any real deterrent effect. The more defensible response to a case like this isn't erasing the agency — it's forcing the reforms that should've already been in place: body cameras on every agent, clear public-safety standards for when force is justified, and real consequences when an operation goes this wrong.