Federal immigration enforcement shootings have drawn growing scrutiny since President Donald Trump’s second term began in January 2025. That debate sharpened again in Biddeford, Maine, where a 26-year-old Colombian man was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a traffic-stop encounter on July 13.
Biddeford shooting adds to count of 7 traffic-stop deaths
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a driver in Biddeford on July 13 during what the agency described as an enforcement operation tied to a final order of removal. The Maine Attorney General’s Office said initial statements indicate the man attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of an officer, and ICE said the officer fired while fearing for public safety.
Reuters reported that the Maine shooting, together with the July 7 Houston killing, brought the number of people shot dead during immigration enforcement operations since January 2025 to at least seven in traffic-stop encounters. Earlier cases identified in reporting include 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez in South Padre Island, Texas, in March 2025; 38-year-old Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez in Franklin Park, Illinois, in September 2025; and Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January 2026. The Associated Press has counted the broader total of deaths in encounters with federal immigration officials even higher because it includes incidents beyond traffic stops.
The latest victim in Maine was identified by the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and local reporting as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old native of Colombia. The coalition said he was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number, and a neighbor told The Associated Press he was leaving for work when he was stopped.
The shooting happened around 7 a.m. in downtown Biddeford, a city about 15 miles southwest of Portland. Maine’s attorney general said Biddeford police, Saco police, the Maine State Police and federal authorities are assisting with the investigation, while ICE confirmed the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave.
What is confirmed publicly is still limited. Senator Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the man who was killed was not the intended target of the warrant service operation, a detail also reported by CNN, CBS News and The Associated Press. ICE has not publicly confirmed that mistaken-identity account in the same terms, saying instead that agents had identified the vehicle after it left the last known address of a person under a final removal order.
Another confirmed detail is that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras, according to King. That has become a recurring issue in recent ICE shootings, including the Houston case six days earlier. Security-camera footage reviewed by The Associated Press shows the vehicle moving slowly around an intersection before being blocked, but it does not capture the precise moment the shots were fired.
The Biddeford shooting is receiving national attention in part because it followed the Houston killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old homebuilder who was driving his construction crew to a job site when an ICE officer opened fire on July 7. Reuters reported that Salgado Araujo’s death had already brought the tally of fatal immigration-enforcement shootings since January 2025 to at least six before the Maine incident.
Reporting by Reuters and The Atlantic has pointed to a broader increase in vehicle-focused immigration enforcement operations during the current crackdown. The Atlantic, citing senior ICE officials, reported that targeted operations are now more often aimed at people in vehicles and that ICE officers receive less training in conducting vehicle stops than most local police officers.
For Maine residents, the practical next step is the investigation. State and federal authorities have said reviews are underway, but ICE has not released the officer’s name, a full incident timeline or body-camera footage because none was recorded. As of July 14, officials had publicly confirmed the fatal shooting, the ongoing investigations and the officer’s leave status, while key questions about targeting, tactics and the exact sequence of events remained unresolved.