Collins calls for an impartial investigation of the Biddeford shooting and says ICE needs to improve
Susan CollinsU.S. senator from Maine, in a statement on her Senate website
Sen. Susan Collins said an impartial investigation of the Biddeford shooting needs to proceed and that it was extremely unfortunate the agent had no body-worn camera. She said ICE needs to improve its performance but that eliminating ICE would make the country less safe.
“An impartial investigation into the shooting in Biddeford needs to proceed, as the details surrounding this tragedy are important. It is extremely unfortunate that the agent involved did not have a body-worn camera. While it is clear ICE needs to improve its performance, it is important to remember that the work ICE does to protect our country goes far beyond immigration enforcement. ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is tasked with combating cartels, human smuggling, child exploitation, forced labor, and more. Eliminating ICE would make our country less safe and endanger the lives and welfare of countless individuals.”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Was the ICE officer justified in fatally shooting Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero?
On July 13, 2026, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero during an attempted vehicle stop at Pool and Hill streets in Biddeford, Maine. ICE said Guerrero's vehicle attempted to flee and that the officer fired because he feared for public safety; Maine's initial account said the vehicle moved in the officer's direction. A nearby resident said he heard Guerrero say he had tried to stop and heard the officer say Guerrero tried to hit him. Security cameras recorded gunfire and portions of the aftermath but do not continuously show the vehicle's path at the moment of firing, and the agents reportedly lacked activated body cameras. The Associated Press and relatives identified the shooter as David Brouillette, though DHS has not confirmed his identity. In late September 2026, the Maine attorney general's office declined to comment on its investigation and had announced no finding. The dispute is whether Guerrero's vehicle posed an imminent threat when the officer fired.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
Official statement from Sen. Susan Collins the day after the July 13, 2026 shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, on her call for an impartial investigation and on ICE.
Before the quotation
Collins issued the statement the day after the July 13 shooting in Biddeford. She wrote that she had spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Mullin the night before and urged him to stop all non-urgent vehicle stops, and that the department had agreed to do so.
After the quotation
The statement also says measures Collins authored in the Homeland Security funding bill that became law in April included $20 million for expanded use of body-worn cameras, $2 million for de-escalation training and a 17 percent increase in the inspector general's budget.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the ICE officer's decision to fire on Durán Guerrero. Collins does not say whether the shooting was justified. She says an impartial investigation needs to proceed because the details matter, calls the lack of a body camera extremely unfortunate and says ICE needs to improve, while also saying that eliminating ICE would make the country less safe. Because she gives no verdict on the shooting and pairs criticism of ICE with a defense of the agency, we labeled it Mixed or conditional rather than Condemned or Defended or excused.
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More from this case
Read the full caseBlumenthal co-signs letter citing Durán Guerrero's death as showing inadequate ICE use-of-force training
“On July 13, 2026, an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine fatally shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old father, in his car after agents rammed his vehicle and fired multiple rounds through it while executing a warrant for someone else. Mr. Durán Guerrero was not the target of the operation and was authorized to work in the United States. ... These killings, combined with the whistleblower's account of corners cut on both vetting and training, make clear that officers hired during the surge did not receive adequate instruction in de-escalation, use-of-force standards, and vehicle-stop protocols before being sent into communities with the authority to use deadly force.”Read statement
Pingree criticizes body-camera failures after Duran Guerrero's killing
“Our demands are simple: Every immigration enforcement officer must have a working body camera, must be properly trained on how to use it, and be held accountable when that camera isn’t used.”Read statement
Richard Blumenthal says Durán Guerrero was murdered
“State and local authorities have been stymied and stopped in their effort to investigate. ICE has withheld and concealed evidence. The failure to investigate is obvious and deeply wrong and shameful for the federal government. On July 7, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father and husband, was shot and killed by ICE agents while on his way to work in Houston. And just five days later, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was murdered in Maine, leaving behind a wife and three-year-old daughter.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Collins calls for an impartial investigation of the Biddeford shooting and says ICE needs to improve". First published: 2026-09-26. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2787-sen-susan-collins-said-an-impartial-investigation-of