ICE kills 26-year-old in Maine: What happened, and who else has ICE killed?
More than 60 people have died in ICE shootings or while in detention since Donald Trump returned to power. The fatal shooting of a 26-year-old
More than 60 people have died in ICE shootings or while in detention since Donald Trump returned to power. The fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Maine has become the latest flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on foreign nationals. Human rights groups identified the man killed in Biddeford on Monday as a Colombian national authorised to work in the US. Colombia’s embassy said it was in contact with American authorities and was providing consular assistance to his family. The shooting comes amid a sharp increase in immigration arrests, renewed protests and mounting concern over the growing number of people killed during ICE raids and other enforcement operations. Scrutiny is also growing over the rising death toll inside immigration detention facilities. Here’s what we know. What happened in Maine? The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said agents were conducting surveillance at an address linked to someone who had received a final order of removal from the country. The incident unfolded in Biddeford, a coastal city about 24km (15 miles) southwest of Portland, the state’s biggest city. According to DHS, agents attempted to stop a vehicle leaving the address. The department said the driver tried to flee and that “fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon”. Earlier, Maine Senator Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had told him the officer fired after the driver allegedly attempted to use the vehicle as a weapon against ICE agents. King also said the agents involved were not wearing body cameras and that they had been in Biddeford to arrest someone other than the man who was shot. The brief DHS statement did not mention a weapon or whether the person killed was the individual agents had originally sought to arrest. The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and advocacy group Presente!
said the man who was killed had authorisation to work in the US. Meanwhile, Maine’s attorney general, whose office is conducting a separate investigation into the incident, said preliminary evidence suggests the driver was attempting to flee in the direction of the agent when the shooting occurred. The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave. The DHS Office of Inspector General is also investigating alongside the FBI. Al Jazeera has contacted DHS seeking clarification about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Why are ICE controversial? ICE, the largest federal law enforcement agency within DHS, has long been responsible for enforcing immigration laws and carrying out deportations. But since Trump returned to office, the administration has taken on a far more visible and aggressive role in its methods used to deport foreign nationals. Civil rights groups and immigrant advocates have condemned operations involving masked federal agents, unmarked vehicles, large workplace raids and arrests outside immigration courts and public spaces. Critics say the tactics spread fear throughout immigrant communities. It comes as tensions escalated earlier this year in Minneapolis, where residents described the city as being “under siege”, as federal immigration agents intensified operations that began last December. The crackdown led to nationwide attention after two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, were killed in January during separate immigration crackdowns, triggering large demonstrations and widespread international condemnation. Gregory Bovino, the senior Border Patrol official who led the federal operation in Minneapolis, also drew widespread attention for posting videos from enforcement actions on social media. Footage of Bovino walking through protests in a long military-style coat while directing officers prompted criticism, with some commentators likening the imagery to fascist aesthetics. Why is there renewed attention on ICE? Following the unrest in Minneapolis, Bovino was reassigned, and data shows there was a temporary slowdown in arrests. According to the Deportation Data Project, daily ICE arrests fell to about 1,057 in February.
The BriefWire