(AFP) – A US immigration officer on Monday fatally shot a man identified by rights groups as a 26-year-old Colombian, an incident likely to fuel criticism of President Donald Trump’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.
Maine’s attorney general’s office said an ICE officer was “conducting an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal when the subject attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot.” It said the agent would be placed on leave in line with protocol after police-involved shootings. The FBI earlier said it was also 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.
Protesters rallied in the area with signs reading “ICE Out!” and gathered at the office of Maine’s other senator, Susan Collins, a member of Trump’s Republican party. “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 immigration crackdown, ICE’s heavily armed agents have faced nationwide backlash for aggressive tactics, and for the shooting deaths of two US citizens this year in Minneapolis.
© 2024 AFP
