A man was killed Monday morning during an immigration enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine, when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent opened fire on the vehicle he was driving, according to The New York Times.
According to CNN, Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said in a statement that one person had died, with state police and the Department of Public Safety responding to the scene. The shooting occurred at approximately 7:15 a.m. at an intersection in the city, which lies roughly 20 miles south of Portland.
The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition told CNN the victim was a 26-year-old Colombian national who had been issued a Social Security number, had legal work authorization, and was traveling to his job at the time of the incident. Federal authorities had not publicly confirmed his identity or those details.
Maine Sen. Angus King, who said he spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the incident, described the person as a male in his 20s who had been ordered removed from the U.S. Relaying what Mullin told him, King said the secretary described the man as having used his vehicle as a weapon before an agent opened fire. King also noted the agents were not wearing body cameras, and said the FBI is leading the investigation.
In a post on X $TWTR cited by CNN, Republican Sen. Susan Collins called for what she described as a complete and unbiased inquiry into the shooting, adding that she believed the FBI had taken charge of the investigation.
Fewer than seven days before the Biddeford incident, an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, during a July 8 traffic stop in Houston. In response to that and other cases, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced her government would bring formal complaints before the U.S. Justice Department concerning 17 Mexican nationals who died during immigration operations, CNN reported.
Both incidents have drawn fresh attention to the earlier deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who lost their lives when federal immigration agents carried out an enforcement operation in Minneapolis earlier this year, CNN reported.