BIDDEFORD
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers shot a driver to death in a coastal town of Maine on Monday, less than a week after an ICE agent in Houston, Texas, shot and killed a man in a traffic stop during a deportation crackdown there. Commenting on Monday’s shooting nearly 12 hours after the fact, the US Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer, “fearing for public safety,” opened fire on the man when he attempted to flee agents trying to stop his vehicle. The DHS statement made no mention of how the driver might have posed a threat. The encounter occurred around 7 am EDT (1100 GMT) in Biddeford, Maine, about 15 miles (24 km) south of the state’s largest city, Portland. DHS, the parent agency of ICE, gave few other details, except to say that the agents involved were “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.” According to DHS, “an illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle,” with ICE officers in pursuit. The agency did not say that the person seen leaving the residence was the same individual whose address was under surveillance. DHS said the Biddeford Police Department and the FBI “responded to the scene.” Immigration advocates said the person shot was a 26-year-old Colombian man who was authorised to work in the US and had a Social Security number, though they did not name him or say how they were able to identify him.
