U.S. News

An ICE Agent Killed a Man in Maine Who Wasn’t Even the Target of the Warrant

By Mike Harper · July 14, 2026

The man was 26 years old, from Colombia, authorized to work in the United States, and had a Social Security number. He was not the person ICE was looking for.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday morning during what federal officials described as a deportation operation. The Department of Homeland Security said the agent opened fire after the man “attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer.” A Kia sedan was later photographed at the scene with four bullet holes in the windshield.

It is the second time in less than a week that ICE has used deadly force — and the second time the full facts have raised immediate questions.

Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said he had spoken directly with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Mullin initially told him the man was the intended target of a deportation warrant. About three hours later, Mullin called back and corrected himself.

“The person that was killed was not the person that they were seeking,” King told reporters.

DHS said agents had been conducting surveillance on the last known address of a person with a final order of removal when they encountered Guerrero. The agency said the man attempted to flee and that an officer feared for public safety. Maine’s attorney general, Aaron Frey, opened a state investigation within hours.

This shooting follows the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston last week. ICE agents in unmarked vehicles followed Salgado Araujo after he picked up co-workers for a construction job. DHS said one of the men in the van resembled someone they were looking for. Security camera footage later obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU showed an agent firing into the vehicle through a passenger-side window.

The Biddeford shooting is at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since the start of the Trump administration’s crackdown — and it is unfolding in a state that has not historically been a focal point of federal immigration enforcement. ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Trump’s second term and March 2026, with about 45% having criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent period under the prior administration, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, according to AP analysis of ICE data.

Dozens of protesters gathered at the scene in Biddeford within hours. Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she had been briefed and that “situations like these are alarming and frightening.” Former Republican Gov. Paul LePage called for calm and urged against rushing to judgment.

The Maine Attorney General’s office is now investigating. So is, separately, the family of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, whose neighbor confirmed his identity to local media Monday afternoon. His community organization said he was “a member of our community, a neighbor, and a human being whose life was cut tragically short.”

No charges have been filed against the agent who fired. No video of the Biddeford shooting has been released.