State lawmaker says one person was killed by federal immigration agents in Biddeford, days after another ICE shooting in Texas.
One person was killed in a shooting involving US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maine, according to officials and media reports, just days after an ICE agent shot and killed a 52-year-old Mexican national during an immigration operation in Houston, Texas.
While few details have been released about the Monday shooting in Biddeford, a town of 21,000 people about 24 km (15 miles) south of Portland, Maine House of Representatives Speaker Ryan Fecteau posted a message to residents on Facebook.
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“This morning a shooting occurred in Biddeford,” he wrote. “A person was killed. ICE was involved. State Police and the Department of Public Safety are now on scene to gather details and would expect the FBI to investigate as well.”
ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Biddeford police referred questions to ICE, while the city’s mayor did not immediately respond.
The shooting prompted an immediate reaction from Maine Democrat and US Congressional Representative Chellie Pingree, who said she was on her way to Washington when she learned about the reports.
“I am so deeply disturbed and angry,” Pingree said in a video posted to social media.
She said there were urgent questions that needed answering, including whether the person who was shot had a criminal record, whether the incident began as a routine traffic stop, whether officers were wearing body cameras, and how the shooting unfolded.
“But more than anything else, I want to know, ‘Why are you in Maine?’” Pingree said, adding that she was concerned the case could involve someone who was legally in the United States.
“My sympathy to the individual and their family and to the entire community of Biddeford,” she said. “We will be mourning yet another victim.”
Monday’s shooting came six days after an ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston, an incident that sparked protests in the city.
ICE said the agent acted in self-defence after Salgado rammed a law enforcement vehicle and tried to run over an officer, but the agency has not released evidence supporting that account. Three eyewitnesses have disputed ICE’s version of events.
The shooting sparked protests in Houston, and reports of this latest death come amid US President Donald Trump’s escalating immigration enforcement crackdown.
