Colombian national killed by ICE agent during operation in Maine
ICE did not share details on why the officer feared for safety. Maine's top prosecutor said the incident involved an officer from ICE's Enforcement Removal
ICE did not share details on why the officer feared for safety. Maine's top prosecutor said the incident involved an officer from ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations department, and the agent has been placed on leave pending an investigation. Initial statements indicate "the subject attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot", said Maine's Attorney General Aaron Frey, a Democrat. The name of the deceased man is not being released until he is formally identified and his family are notified, the statement added.
The inspector general's office for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, is taking over the investigation, according to Senator Susan Collins, a Republican representing Maine. Fellow Maine Senator Angus King, a political independent, said he was initially told by DHS chief Markwayne Mullin that the person who was shot dead was a target of an arrest warrant in an immigration operation. But hours later, King said Mullin called him to say the man was actually not the target of a warrant, his office told the BBC.
The person who was killed was a Colombian national, the Embassy of Colombia confirmed. The Embassy said it has "requested information and clarification" from DHS "regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death and will continue to follow the case closely as the investigation progresses". According to the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, the person who was killed was a 26-year old Colombian authorised to work in the US. "He was a member of our community, a neighbor, and a human being whose life was cut tragically short," the organisation said in a statement, which did not name the man.
Protests broke out in Biddeford, 18 miles (30km) south of Portland, following the shooting. Others gathered outside the entrance of Collins' office, to protest against her vote to fund ICE. The senator has called for a "full and impartial investigation of what happened".
The BriefWire