ICE officers shoot two men in Maine and Texas amid body-camera controversy
Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed men during traffic-related operations in Biddeford, Maine, and Houston, Texas, while neither officer was equipped with a body-worn camera, prompting congressional hearings and calls for accountability.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers fatally shot a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday and a 52-year-old Mexican national in Houston, Texas, last week. Neither incident involved officers wearing body-worn cameras, a shortfall the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attributes to funding interruptions caused by two recent government shutdowns.
DHS said the lack of cameras resulted from “back-to-back Democrat shutdowns” and noted that cameras have been deployed to more than half of its field offices, with the remainder slated to receive them within 60 days. The agency cited a $20 million congressional appropriation for camera procurement, but implementation has been delayed.
In Houston, ICE officers shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop; no video of the shooting has been released. In Maine, Joan Sebastian Guerrero was killed after an ICE agent pulled him from a vehicle following a collision with an SUV. Witnesses reported hearing Guerrero say, “I tried to stop,” before the officer opened the car door.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus members announced a field hearing in Houston next Friday to examine Araujo’s death, and they are considering a similar hearing in Maine. U.S. Representative Sylvia Garcia said, “The pattern is always the same,” criticizing ICE’s self-defense explanations. Representative Joaquin Castro called both killings “cold-blooded murder.”
Local officials, including Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain, called for a transparent investigation, emphasizing the need for accountability and reform of immigration enforcement practices.
The incidents have revived longstanding demands for ICE agents to be equipped with body cameras, a measure previously urged by a federal judge who described cameras as “your friends” for documenting officer safety threats.