Immigration Agents Fatally Shoot Colombian Man in Maine

Immigration agents fatally shot a 26-year-old Colombian man on Monday as he was driving to work in Biddeford, Maine. The man has been identified as Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. He was the father of a 3-year-old daughter. One witness reported seeing agents dragging Guerrero from the car after the shooting. One eyewitness said, “He was bleeding profusely from the head. He was talking. He said, 'I tried to stop.'” At least four bullet holes were seen in the car’s windshield. After the shooting, another neighbor said she heard a woman screaming at immigration agents, “You took her dad, you took her dad!” The woman was with a young girl dressed in Bluey pajamas who is believed to be Durán Guerrero’s 3-year-old daughter. Another neighbor said, “I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground. I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.” Senator Angus King’s office said the Department of Homeland Security had confirmed Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was not the target of any warrant. The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition said Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number. His death prompted protests across Maine, including outside the offices of Republican Senator Susan Collins. Protesters: “What do we want? ICE out! When do we want it? Now! Vote her out! Vote her out! Vote her out! Vote her out! Vote her out! Vote her out! Vote her out!” The killing of Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero comes just a week after an ICE agent in Houston fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican father who had lived in the United States for decades. The killings come amid a major surge in activity by ICE agents. ICE reported making 10,000 arrests over a five-day period in late June — that’s 2,000 arrests a day. www.democracynow.org