ICE agent shoots dead 26-year-old Colombian worker in Maine

A United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fired his weapon during a traffic stop in Biddeford, Maine, killing a 26-year-old Colombian national who was authorized to work in the country. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said agents were conducting surveillance at an address linked to a person with a final removal order and attempted to stop a vehicle leaving the site. The driver allegedly tried to flee, and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.

Maine Senator Angus King reported that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer fired after the driver attempted to use the vehicle as a weapon against ICE agents. King added that the agents were not wearing body cameras and were in Biddeford to arrest someone other than the man who was shot. The Maine attorney general, leading a separate state investigation, said preliminary evidence suggests the driver was moving toward the officer when the shot was fired. The officer has been placed on administrative leave, and the DHS Office of Inspector General and the FBI are also investigating.

Human-rights groups identified the deceased as a Colombian citizen with legal work authorization, and Colombia’s embassy said it was providing consular assistance to his family. The incident adds to a series of deaths linked to federal immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump intensified immigration actions, including the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota earlier this year.

ICE, the largest federal law-enforcement component of DHS, has faced criticism for aggressive tactics such as masked agents, unmarked vehicles and large-scale raids. Advocacy groups say these methods create fear in immigrant communities. Demonstrators gathered in Biddeford after the shooting, calling for the agency’s abolition.

The shooting follows another fatal ICE incident on July 7, when an officer killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston during a pursuit. Overall, at least nine deaths have been linked to federal immigration enforcement since the current administration began, with additional fatalities occurring in detention facilities. Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights reported that 52 people died in ICE custody during the first 500 days of the administration, a mortality rate described as the highest in more than a decade.