Protesters filled the street outside U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office in Biddeford after a federal immigration enforcement agent fatally shot a man in the small York County city on Monday morning.
Some of the protestors came into the entryway of the Republican senator’s Main Street office shouting “Vote her out!” the Portland Press Herald reported.
A video shared to Facebook by Biddeford Buzz showed the street outside Collins’ office crowded with protesters, as others pressed into the entryway of the building, pounding on the interior doors as they chanted.
The Maine attorney general’s office said the shooting happened as an immigration enforcement agent was “conducting an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal” and that “the subject attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer.”
Officials have not yet identified the victim, but a neighbor told the Portland Press Herald the man was Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26 year-old originally from Colombia, a description that matches a joint statement from the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine. The two immigrant rights groups said Guerrero had authorization to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number.
Videos and photos circulating online appear to show at least two men wearing green vests emblazoned with “Police” and “Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” One photo showed a white Ford Explorer up against a white Kia sedan with apparent front-end damage on the driver’s side. In one video, two men wearing green police vests are seen pulling the limp body of a man from the Kia and shackling his wrists.
In a statement Monday, Collins said the shooting “requires a full and impartial investigation of what happened. It is my understanding that the Biddeford police have secured the site and that the FBI is investigating.”
Collins has faced criticism for casting a deciding vote to provide $70 billion over three years to ICE and Border Patrol after the agency killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota and waged a controversial January enforcement surge into Maine.
The bill was passed by the House and signed by President Donald Trump in June.
