Less than a week after Immigration and Customs Enforcement killed Mexican construction worker Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, the scene played out yet again in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13, bringing the death toll from ICE shootings in the last 18 months to 11, with another 22 people injured.

Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian immigrant, was killed by agents who fired into his car as he left his home in the early morning. Once again, officials claimed he “weaponized his vehicle.” Once again, the federal agents were not wearing body cameras. Once again, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Markwayne Mullin said the victim was not the “intended target” of their operation.

One witness reported seeing an ICE vehicle ramming Guerrero’s car. Neighbors who heard the shots and witnessed the aftermath report that the bloodied young man was overheard saying “I tried to stop” while agents dragged him from the car. Guerrero died moments later with his wife and little girl looking on.

Although Mullin initially claimed Guerrero was under an order to leave the country, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine, two immigrant rights groups, said Guerrero had authorization to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number.

Protests erupt across Maine

Protests erupted across the state in the hours after the killing. A sea of homemade signs appeared on the streets of Biddeford, a coastal town of about 25,000, almost immediately. That evening hundreds of protesters convened in Monument Square in Portland, the state’s largest city.

Cynthia Phinney, the president of the Maine AFL-CIO, issued a statement the day of the killing saying it was indicative of ICE’s “continued reign of terror and intimidation.” 

“ICE must stand down,” Phinney said.

State officials have also reacted, with Governor Janet Mills posting on X: “[That he was not the intended target] makes this tragedy even more disturbing and infuriating, and it underscores the reckless and haphazard manner in which immigration enforcement operations are being conducted in Maine and across the country. This has to end.” 

The Maine district attorney’s office has announced it will open an independent investigation into the shooting. This, along with a similar response by Texas officials in the Salgado Araujo case, follows a pattern. It was set in Minnesota, where local and state officials challenged the federal government efforts to keep under wraps the evidence surrounding the ICE killings of civilian observers Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Minnesota prosecutors announced on June 13 that the federal government had finally turned over evidence in those cases months after the state filed suit.

On July 14, reacting to the outcry by public officials and the outpouring in the streets, the Trump administration ordered ICE officers to halt most vehicle stops while carrying out operations across the country.

The quick response by protesters in Maine is a sign of the level of community organization that has developed there in response to the Trump administration’s terror campaign against immigrant workers. In January, DHS launched “Operation Catch of the Day” in the state, alleging agents would target “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities.” The widespread operation appeared to end within days, but residents report that there is more ICE activity than ever in their communities.

Amy Strum, a leader of the Lake Region chapter of the group Indivisible, said, “I was shocked but I wasn’t surprised. ICE has been escalating their operations here in Maine quietly.”

That hush was broken by the four shots that rang out in Biddeford early on Monday, July 13, and the protests that quickly erupted.

We are publishing below for the information of our readers an article from the Maine Morning Star, reporting on the protests against the latest ICE killing. The headline, subheadings, text, and photos that follow are from the original.

— World-Outlook editors

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Hundreds protest fatal ICE shooting in Biddeford

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and candidates vying to oust US Sen. Susan Collins join demonstration

By Emma Davis and Eesha Pendharkar

July 13, 2026, 3:07 pm

Hundreds in force, Mainers marched through downtown Biddeford on Monday hours after immigration agents fatally shot a man. 

“I thought something like this would be coming our way,” said Zack Beaulieu, noting the uptick in ICE activity in Maine as of late. 

Several other attendees echoed that sentiment, including Jonathan Haines with the Maine Coalition for Peace and Human Rights, who said, “This is devastating and sad, but it’s inevitable because that’s what the system is.”

The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine identified the man killed as a 26-year-old from Colombia, who was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number. A name has not been released. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security have responded to requests for comment. 

“We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,” said MIRC Executive Director Mufalo Chitam. “How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”

Aside from the Biddeford incident, there have been at least 21 shootings, 10 of them fatal, involving immigration agents during president Donald Trump’s second term.

The FBI  is investigating the incident, but the Maine Attorney General’s Office is also separately looking into it. 

While the demonstration was focused on the Monday shooting and ICE, the contentious Maine U.S. Senate race also influenced the scene, with protesters stopping at Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ local office and several candidates vying to oust her in attendance. 

Members and candidates for Congress weigh in 

After gathering in Mechanics Parks at noon, the crowd marched up Main Street, stopping at Collins’ office to chant, “Vote her out!” 

Troy Jackson, Nirav Shah, Paige Loud and Shenna Bellows — some of the at least seven candidates running to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee — each criticized federal immigration authorities at the protest. 

Also in attendance, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree told Maine Morning Star that she’d yet to hear any details from the federal government, as of early afternoon. Pingree has been in contact with Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey. 

“We do not want ICE to cut off the state [from the investigation] in any way,” Pingree said. 

Collins called in a social media post for “a full and impartial investigation of what happened.” Her office did not respond to requests about who the senator wants to head the investigation, or whether she’s heard any details from the federal government.  

In a conversation with Michael Szatkowski from Buxton, former gubernatorial candidate and Maine public health chief Nirav Shah said, “How many more Americans are we going to let die at the hands of ICE before we say, ‘Oh, maybe this isn’t working? Maybe we should — I don’t know — completely dismantle the entire system?’”

Szatkowski responded, “By ICE’s own data, they are not rounding up criminals. They are rounding up people who are here legally. So, they’re not protecting anybody from anything.”

The majority of people ICE has detained across the U.S. do not have criminal records, which was also the case during ICE’s large-scale operation in Maine in January. Federal authorities detained many asylum seekers and other immigrants who were legally allowed to be in the country.

Jackson stood at the edge of the crowd, holding a sign that said “Abolish ICE.” He’s been advocating to get rid of the federal agency for a long time, he said. 

“You don’t get a free pass because you say you’re law enforcement, which these guys aren’t,” Jackson said. 

Bellows, who rejected federal immigration authorities’ request for undercover license plates during the January surge said the Office of the Attorney General can conduct an investigation to hold the federal agency accountable. 

“That will not be easy,” she said. “But I trust that leaders in this state have the conviction and the courage to do so, and that is what must happen.”

What Mainers are saying

Reacting within hours, people traveled from across Maine to join the protest, including Amy Strum of Bridgeton, who immediately got in her car and drove an hour when she heard the news. 

A leader of the Lake Region chapter of Indivisible, the grassroots activist group, Strum said, “I was shocked but I wasn’t surprised. ICE has been escalating their operations here in Maine quietly.”

Attendees raised signs that read: “ICE, Trump’s army of thugs, are not welcome in Maine,” and “This is the government our founders warned us about,” while chanting “Solidarity forever!” and “No more hate, no more fear, immigrants are welcome here.” 

“We want everyone in the country to know this young man’s name,” said Biddeford resident Amy Phalon, “just like they knew the names of the wonderfully brave white people who have been shot by ICE.” 

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