The coastal city of Biddeford, Maine, was the scene this Monday of the second shooting death by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in less than a week. A 26-year-old Colombian, whom authorities had not identified more than twelve hours after the incident, died from shots fired by an ICE agent as he was about to go to work in his car. Maine independent Senator Angus King stated that, according to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, the victim was not the same man for whom ICE had a deportation order. A déjà vu of what happened six days earlier in Houston, when another ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado, a 52-year-old Mexican who was mistaken for someone else.
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It was just after seven in the morning when a shooting alerted the residents of Biddeford, a small working-class city of about 23,000 inhabitants, located about 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Portland. Several witnesses saw federal agents running after a white car that had bullet holes in the windshield. The driver was killed. Hours after the incident, authorities still had not identified the man, who, according to announcements by the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente!, was Colombian, 26 years old, and had a work permit and a social security number.
Soon several residents began to gather at the scene to protest against ICE operations, while the death of Salgado was still fresh. In both cases, the government’s first explanation, almost 12 hours after the events, was that the agents acted in self-defense.
On July 13, 2026, at approximately 7:00 AM ET, ICE was conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal. An illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle. ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The…
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 13, 2026
“ICE was conducting targeted surveillance at the last known residence of an undocumented immigrant with a final removal order. That individual left the residence in a vehicle. ICE agents attempted to intercept the vehicle; it tried to flee the scene and, out of concern for public safety, an agent fired their weapon,” DHS said in a statement.
“The Biddeford Police Department and the FBI responded to the scene. The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been notified and, as with any use of firearms, this incident will be investigated. This is a developing situation and the public will be informed as more information becomes available,” it added. The DHS statement does not reveal whether he was the target or not, as Secretary Mullin assured according to Senator King.
Maine Governor, Democrat Janet Mills, in response to reports that the victim was not the ICE target said: “This fact makes the tragedy even more disturbing and outrageous, and highlights the reckless and arbitrary way immigration enforcement operations are carried out in Maine and across the country. This has to end.”
Questionable versions
In Salgado’s case, witnesses who were traveling with him in the car when he was shot contradict the Administration’s version that he was going to attack the agents. In the death that occurred in Biddeford, local residents believe the driver had already been shot when agents chased the car that was spinning out of control and, according to the DHS version, tried to ram them.
‘I tried to brake’
Daniel Boucher recounted that he looked out the window of his third-floor apartment after hearing some snaps and saw a small car “turned 90 degrees relative to the curb” with a pickup truck behind it, AP reports. The driver was injured and the vehicle began moving down the street until the pickup truck hit it again, Boucher said. “He had a bloody face. He had a bloody head,” Boucher said, visibly moved. “I clearly heard the victim say: ‘I tried to brake’; I heard him say that clearly.”
In neither case were the agents wearing body cameras to verify their versions, a measure that is delayed after DHS committed to equipping all immigration agents with them. After the deaths of U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti in January in Minneapolis from shots fired by federal agents, DHS invested millions of dollars for this purpose in response to pressure from Democrats and the public, but most still do not have cameras.
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Mary Hayes, who lives near the shooting site, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter. “I saw a wife fall to her knees upon seeing her husband’s lifeless body on the ground,” Hayes said while holding a cardboard sign reading “No ICE, Stop ICE.” “I saw a little girl crying, with her little pink backpack on, because she will never see her father again,” she lamented. Witnesses said they saw the victim bleeding from the head.
Cory Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the scene, said the establishment’s security cameras captured images of the man’s car moving toward the intersection after the shots were fired. Other footage of the scene showed the vehicle spinning and the windshield with bullet impacts.
“Two ICE agents ran toward the intersection and another ICE agent, in a Ford pickup, entered it to stop the vehicle that kept moving,” he recounted. “I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think he was alive when the car started moving.” He noted that the Maine State Police asked him not to make the footage public.
Liam LaFountain, mayor of Biddeford, called in a statement for “a full, thorough, and transparent investigation into this fatal incident.”
Maine Attorney General Aaron M. Frey said Monday afternoon that, according to initial reports, a deportation agent was “carrying out an enforcement operation related to a final removal order when the individual attempted to flee in a vehicle toward the agent and was fatally shot.”
ICE intensifies arrests
The State of Maine has an aging population, so in recent decades it has welcomed migrants who have helped revitalize the economy and now represent about 5% of the population. ICE’s presence intensified in that state since January with the so-called Operation Catch of the Day, referring to the state’s seafood and lobster industry. In recent weeks residents said ICE activity increased. The Administration has pushed detentions nationwide, reaching 2,000 daily by the end of June, doubling the number of arrests occurring in previous months.
Wayne, who has led DHS since late March, when he replaced Kristi Noem, came to the position aiming to keep ICE out of the headlines. The killings of Good and Pretti sparked the department’s unpopularity and most of the population opposed federal agents’ abuses to fulfill President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
Politicians and civil organizations demanded a thorough investigation of the facts. In previous cases, the impartiality of the investigations has been questioned, which have been handled by the FBI without involving local authorities.
“The extrajudicial execution of another community member at the hands of ICE agents in Maine — just days after the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston — represents a devastating and unacceptable escalation of violence. These are not isolated incidents; they reflect an increasingly militarized immigration enforcement system, lacking accountability and willing to use lethal force against the very communities it is supposed to serve,” said Angélica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), in a statement.
