A shooting on Monday involving US immigration agents killed a man identified by rights groups as a 26-year-old Colombian man, an incident likely to fuel more criticism of the Trump administration’s deportation drive.
The shooting happened in Biddeford, a town of 22,000 people in the northern state of Maine and comes a week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot dead a Mexican man in Texas.
“This morning a shooting occurred in Biddeford. A person was killed. ICE was involved,” Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau wrote on Facebook.
Maine Governor Janet Mills said that state police were working with federal officials to determine what happened. The FBI said it was investigating.
One eyewitness, Lucas Scott, told local media that he heard at least four gunshots after seeing several ICE agents surrounding a white sedan on Monday morning.
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente Maine, which jointly identified the victim as a 26-year-old Colombian but did not name him, said the man was authorized to work in the United States.
“We will not let this death be reduced to a footnote in this administration’s enforcement statistics,” said Crystal Cron, executive director of Presente Maine.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately comment.
Senator Angus King of Maine told reporters he understood, based on a conversation with Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, that the victim was the subject of an ICE arrest warrant over his immigration status.
King demanded a “full, transparent and open investigation,” but said the agents involved were apparently not wearing body cameras.
Images from the scene showed a police cordon in place on a residential street, with a forensics unit stationed next to a red tent.
Anti-ICE protesters were also gathered in the area and planned a rally Monday in response to the shooting.
“A person has died, and their loved ones and the people of our community deserve clear answers about what happened,” Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain said in a statement.
“I recognize the fear and uncertainty that an incident of this magnitude has brought upon our city.”
Tasked with enforcing Trump’s mass deportation campaign, ICE’s heavily armed agents have faced nationwide criticism for aggressive tactics, and for the shooting deaths of two US citizens this year in Minneapolis.
AFP
