A federal immigration agent fatally shot a driver in Maine on Monday, the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used deadly force.
Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the agent opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against agents pursuing him for deportation in Biddeford, a coastal town of about 23,000 people.
“He was in a vehicle – he was pulled out and the term the secretary used was ‘armed’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said.
Corey Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the shooting, told the Associated Press that security cameras at the store captured footage of the man’s car rolling into the intersection after the shooting. Other images from the scene showed the car driving in circles and bullet holes in the windshield.
“Two ICE members ran to the intersection and another ICE member drove into the intersection in a Ford SUV to stop the car from rolling,” he said. “I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think he was still alive when the car started rolling.”
He said Maine State Police asked that the footage not be released publicly.
ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Man was 26, Colombian citizen: supporter
The agents did not have body-worn cameras, King said. The FBI is leading the investigation. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said state police were working with the attorney general’s office, the chief medical examiner’s office and federal officials to determine what happened.
“The question is what did he do with his vehicle,” King said. “Were officers threatened? Did the threats reach a level that justified deadly force?”
“That is what this investigation is about and I certainly intend to stick with it and do everything I can to ensure that the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible.”
The man killed was a 26-year-old native of Colombia who was allowed to work in the U.S. and had a Social Security number, according to a joint statement from advocacy groups Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente!
According to Mufalo Chitam, the organization’s executive director, the man’s family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition through a hotline after the shooting.
“It’s a young family and he wanted to go to work,” Chitam told The Associated Press.
The family is unwilling to identify the man or speak publicly about the shooting, Chitam added.
“We mourn, we are angry and we will not allow his death to be seen as routine or inevitable,” Chitam said. “How much more harm will our communities have to endure before those in authority realize that this has gone too far?”
Protesters gather near the crime scene
Dozens of anti-ICE protesters gathered in Biddeford just hours after the shooting.
Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that read “Stop killing us” and addressed it to police working at the scene.
“Unfortunately, we’re seeing this a lot more lately, and I’m angry about it,” said Goodman, who wore a T-shirt that read, “ICE is best when it’s crushed.”
“It’s heartbreaking and I wanted to be there,” said Goodman’s friend, Molly Zucker of Cape Neddick, while holding a sign that read, “No human being is illegal.”
Police blocked access to the crime scene, which is in a neighborhood of mostly apartment buildings, churches and shops near downtown. Several protesters stood nearby, some holding signs condemning ICE’s presence in the community and state.
Recent increase in immigration crackdown
The fatal shooting in Maine was at least the ninth death in an encounter with federal immigration agents since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began and the second in a week after the killing of a Houston man.
The reported shooting comes amid a renewed push by the Trump administration to implement its mass deportation agenda.
Over a five-day period in late June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people. The numbers suggest that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, arrests continue and are increasing.
“More than anything, I want to know, ‘Why are you in Maine?'” Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a video posted to social media.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat running for Senate, wrote on X: “It’s time to ban ICE from our streets.”
Previous ICE presence in Maine
ICE had a large presence in Maine earlier this year, leading to several large demonstrations against the agency.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, called the operation “Catch of the Day,” an apparent reference to Maine’s seafood industry, just as it has done with other enforcement actions.
Immigration officials said in late January that they had halted “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said at the time that some arrests in Maine involved people “convicted of horrific crimes, including aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.”
But court records showed a slightly different picture: While some of them had been convicted of a crime, others were detainees whose immigration proceedings had not yet been completed 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. This is the latest data available, according to ICE apprehension data provided to the UC Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by The Associated Press.
About 45 percent of those arrested had a criminal background.
According to the data, in the corresponding 416-day period before Trump took office, around 69 percent of those arrested had a criminal background.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement was widely condemned last winter after the killings Alex Pretti And Renee Good in Minnesota. Last week, an ICE officer fatally shot a 52-year-old Salgado Araujoof Houston after he was pursued by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles while he took his construction crew to their newest job site.
