Maine shooting of Colombian man sparks calls for federal investigation

A 26-year-old Colombian man was fatally shot during an encounter with U.S. immigration agents in Biddeford, Maine. Immigrant-rights advocates identified the victim as someone authorized to work in the United States and said he had a Social Security number. Maine Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins called for a full, transparent and impartial investigation.

Near a coastal city of about 23,000 people, roughly 24 kilometers southwest of Portland, one witness said they heard multiple shots around 7:30 a.m. and saw a white SUV strike a smaller white car more than once before an officer pulled the man out. Another witness said he heard the victim say, “I tried to stop.”

The Maine Attorney General’s Office said an enforcement operation was underway when the man tried to flee in a vehicle toward an officer and was shot. The FBI responded immediately to assist at the scene. The officer who fired was placed on leave, and it was not clear whether the agents were wearing body cameras.

The Biddeford shooting came less than a week after another fatal ICE shooting in Houston. On July 7, ICE was carrying out a targeted enforcement operation when Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, allegedly tried to ram an ICE vehicle and run over an officer before he was shot. His son said he had lived in the United States for 35 years and was trying to obtain a work permit.

King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the Maine victim was in a vehicle and had “weaponized” it, but King’s office later said the man was not the intended target of the warrant. The Maine shooting was at least the ninth fatal shooting involving ICE since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown.