Politics
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U.S. Sen. Susan Collins acknowledged Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s administration deployed too many immigration agents without proper vetting, as Democrat Troy Jackson closed their third debate by saying she “paid for the bullets” in a fatal shooting in Biddeford.
The debate, hosted by WABI and WAGM, was the third of four in 10 days. It fell three months after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a Colombia native who was not the target of a warrant. Jackson, a former Maine Senate president from Allagash, holds a narrow polling lead in the crucial race.
Collins’ comments echoed reforms she has pushed since the shooting, but they were among her sharpest on the agency following the July shooting. Jackson’s campaign previewed his ICE attack hours before the debate, and he closed on a line that appeared to be written in advance.
“Sen. Collins paid for the bullets at Donald Trump’s command. Now she wants credit for not pulling the trigger,” Jackson said in his closing statement.
He was referring to the June immigration funding package Collins voted for weeks before the shooting, which Democrats have made a centerpiece of their attacks on her. Jackson again said it gave ICE $70 billion without reforms, a figure he has repeatedly overstated. ICE got about $38 billion, with most of the rest going to Customs and Border Protection. Collins secured money for training and oversight, though not mask bans and warrant requirements Democrats wanted.
Collins, a Republican seeking a sixth term, restated that ICE needs reform but should not be abolished. She cited $20 million she secured for body cameras, a 17% budget increase for the Homeland Security inspector general and more money for de-escalation training.
“I think what happened is far too many ICE officers were hired and deployed without adequate vetting and training,” Collins said.
Jackson, who wants to abolish ICE and move its work to CBP, an agency prevalent in border areas including Aroostook County, seized on the admission and called ICE a rogue agency doing Trump’s bidding.
In a rejoinder, Collins tried to outflank Jackson by countering that the agents who fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January were from CBP. Jackson conceded some may have been but blamed a culture he said ICE created.
Collins’ argument was that her clout gets results for Maine. Through an hour dominated by energy costs, healthcare and Trump’s tariffs on Canada, she said several times that she and Jackson would have voted the same way on the Iran war, the tariffs and Trump’s tax-and-spending law, but that only she could deliver. She pointed to nearly $37 million in federal heating aid released early after she lobbied the administration, and to tariff exemptions for Canadian pulp, concrete and road salt.
“Our Constitution guarantees that regardless of population, each state has two senators, but it does not guarantee that all 100 senators will have the same knowledge, experience, and clout,” Collins said in her closing statement.
Jackson said he would not give her credit for pulling a few items off the tariff list “when we should have never had a list.” He also argued that Democrats need control of the Senate to end the Iran war, after Collins said there were not enough votes to do so.
The exchanges grew testy as the night went on. Collins said Jackson had “repeatedly insulted my integrity all evening long,” and she attacked him for not yet filing a campaign finance report. His first one is due Thursday because he replaced former nominee Graham Platner after the last quarterly deadline. He promised to release it Wednesday morning, a day early.
The candidates meet a final time Thursday at the Gracie Theater in Bangor, in a debate hosted by News Center Maine, The Portland Press Herald and Maine Public. It will be the only one with a live audience and questions from voters.