Lawmakers demand answers after 'bombshell' report of ICE officer
shooting in Maine
[July 17, 2026]
By LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic members of Congress demanded answers about
Homeland Security's vetting and training of immigration enforcement
agents after it was disclosed Thursday that the ICE officer involved in
a deadly shooting this week in Maine had a history of mental health
issues and violent behavior.
The Associated Press reported that David Brouillette, the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine, is an
Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since
early childhood, according to several of his close relatives.
The AP reached out to congressional leaders and several key lawmakers of
both parties for response.
The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie
Thompson of Mississippi, said Brouillette’s history of violence and
mental health issues, as well as the death in Maine, “directly call into
question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits.”
“This senseless tragedy must be investigated and the officer responsible
should be taken off our streets and face justice for his actions,”
Thompson said in a statement to the AP.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who led a shutdown of the
Department of Homeland Security earlier this year as Democrats tried to
impose restraints on immigration enforcement operations, said the
consequences of failing to put guardrails on ICE are now being measured
in lives.
“The Trump administration rushed 12,000 agents onto our streets without
ensuring they were fit to carry a badge and a gun — and Republicans gave
this rogue agency vast power and no accountability,” Schumer said in a
statement. “They empowered ICE. Now they must work with us to prevent
more killings.”
The report on Brouillette’s troubling past comes as the Department of
Homeland Security has been on a hiring spree, fueled by vast sums from
Republicans in Congress to help carry out President Donald Trump’s mass
deportation agenda. It raises fresh questions about the department's
efforts to quickly hire, vet, train and dispatch recruits who are being
sent to patrol communities across America.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chair of the powerful
Appropriations Committee, referred back to her prior statement that “an
impartial investigation into the shooting in Biddeford needs to proceed,
as the details surrounding this tragedy are important.”
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Mourners place flowers and candles in Biddeford, Maine, Wednesday,
July 15 2026, near the blood-stained pavement where Johan Sebastián
Durán Guerrero was pulled from his car on Monday by U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Collins had said earlier that it is “extremely unfortunate” that the
agent did not have a body-worn camera.
The senator ensured $20 million for expanded use of body-worn
cameras and $2 million for deescalation training as part of the
Homeland Security funding bill that Republicans approved to end the
department shutdown.
“The Democratic government shutdown delayed enactment and
implementation of these important safety measures,” she said.
At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents
since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including
25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who
was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near
his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.
“This bombshell is absolutely appalling — exactly the intolerable
danger that we feared as a result of arrest quotas and inadequate
training,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in a statement to
the AP.
“This agent clearly should never have had a gun — let alone one
provided to him by the United States government. And now a man is
dead. I’m going to continue demanding answers and accountability,”
he said.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said Trump and his administration “have
encouraged ICE and CBP to enter and terrorize our communities, even
if those agents are untrained, improperly vetted, or lack
experience,” referring to Customs and Border Protection.
“The killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was horrifying,” he
said in a statement to the AP, “and there must be a credible,
independent, and transparent investigation so that those responsible
are held accountable.”
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