ICE agent fatally shoots a Colombian man during a vehicle stop in Maine
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a 26-year-old Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine, during a vehicle stop. The Department of Homeland Security said agents were conducting surveillance at an address tied to someone with a removal order and fired when the driver tried to flee, with an officer discharging his weapon out of concern for public safety. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Senator Angus King the driver had allegedly used the vehicle as a weapon.
Maine’s attorney general, who is investigating the shooting, said preliminary evidence suggests the driver was moving in the direction of the agent when the officer fired. The victim was authorized to work in the US, and Colombia’s embassy said it was providing consular assistance. The shooting is at least the ninth death linked to the administration’s intensified immigration enforcement; rights groups count more than 60 deaths in ICE shootings or detention since January 2025, with detention mortality at its highest in over a decade.
The case adds to friction with Latin American governments over enforcement tactics. Mexico’s president has already said she will seek US criminal complaints over the deaths of Mexican citizens in ICE operations, and a fatal shooting of a work-authorized foreign national is likely to sharpen questions from Congress about ICE’s rules on when officers may fire at moving vehicles.