BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — A federal immigration officer fatally shot a Colombian man in Maine on Monday, marking the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used deadly force.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers who were pursuing him for deportation in Biddeford, a coastal
city of about 23,000 people roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.
“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said.
The Maine attorney general’s office, which is investigating the shooting along with the FBI and other agencies, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent. The motorist was the target of an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal, the office said, and the agent who killed him has been placed on leave, which is standard policy in officer-involved shootings.
Messages seeking comment were left for ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety.
The advocacy groups Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! identified the man who was killed as a 26-year-old native of Colombia. They said he was authorized to work in the U.S. and had a Social Security number.
Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.
“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground," Hayes told The Associated Press as she held a piece of cardboard with “No ICE Stop ICE” written on it. "I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”
Cory Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the scene, told the AP that security cameras at the business captured footage of the man’s car rolling into the intersection after shots were fired. Other images from the scene showed the car going in circles and bullet holes in its windshield.
“Two ICE members ran to the intersection and another ICE member in a Ford SUV went into the intersection to stop the car from rolling,” he said. “I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe he was alive when the car started rolling.”
He said Maine State Police asked that he not release the footage publicly.
The agents involved in the shooting didn’t have body-worn cameras, King said.
“The question is, what did he do with his vehicle," King said. “Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?
"That’s what this investigation is all about and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible.”
After the shooting, the man's family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition through a hotline, according to Mufalo Chitam, the organization’s executive director.
“It’s a young family and he was leaving to go to work,” Chitam told the AP.
The family isn't ready to identify the man or speak publicly about the shooting, she added.
“We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,” Chitam said. “How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”
The Colombian Embassy told the AP in an emailed statement that it is in contact with U.S. authorities and “working to formally confirm the individual’s identity and nationality.”
Dozens of anti-ICE demonstrators gathered in Biddeford within hours of the shooting.
Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.
“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” said Goodman, who was wearing a shirt that said “ICE is best when crushed.”
“It’s heartbreaking and I wanted to show up,” Goodman’s friend, Molly Zucker of Cape Neddick, said as she held a sign reading, “No human being is illegal.”
Police blocked access to the shooting scene, which is in a neighborhood of mostly multifamily homes, churches and businesses near downtown. Several protesters stood nearby, with some holding signs condemning ICE's presence in the community and state.
The fatal shooting in Maine was at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since the start of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and the second in a week, following the killing of a Houston man.
The reported shooting comes amid a newly intensified push by the Trump administration to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people. The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests continue and are surging.
“More than anything else, I want to know, ‘Why are you in Maine?’" Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a video posted on social media.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat running for Senate, wrote on X: “It’s time to get ICE off our streets.”
ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which resulted in several large demonstrations against the agency.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, named the operation “Catch of the Day,” an apparent play on Maine’s seafood industry, just as it has done for other enforcement surges, like “Patriot” in Massachusetts, “Metro Surge” in Minnesota and “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
Immigration officials said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.
A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child.” But court records painted a slightly different story: While some had felony convictions, others were detainees with unresolved immigration proceedings or who were arrested but never convicted of a crime.
ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of President Donald Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the UC Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP. About 45% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data show.
The Trump administration's immigration crackdowns received widespread condemnation last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota. Last week, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after he was pursued by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles while he was taking his construction crew to their latest job site.
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This story was updated to correct the spelling of Cory Poulin’s first name.
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Willingham reported from Boston and Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York and Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.
