Hundreds protest fatal ICE shooting in Biddeford

Hundreds in force, Mainers marched through downtown Biddeford on Monday hours after immigration agents fatally shot a man. 

“I thought something like this would be coming our way,” said Zack Beaulieu, noting the uptick in ICE activity in Maine as of late. 

Several other attendees echoed that sentiment, including Jonathan Haines with the Maine Coalition for Peace and Human Rights, who said, “This is devastating and sad, but it’s inevitable because that’s what the system is.”

The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine identified the man killed as a 26-year-old from Colombia, who was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number. A name has not been released. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security have responded to requests for comment. 

“We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,” said MIRC Executive Director Mufalo Chitam. “How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”

Aside from the Biddeford incident, there have been at least 21 shootings, 10 of them fatal, involving immigration agents during president Donald Trump’s second term.

The FBI  is investigating the incident, but the Maine Attorney General’s Office is also separately looking into it. 

While the demonstration was focused on the Monday shooting and ICE, the contentious Maine U.S. Senate race also influenced the scene, with protesters stopping at Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ local office and several candidates vying to oust her in attendance. 

Members and candidates for Congress weigh in 

After gathering in Mechanics Parks at noon, the crowd marched up Main Street, stopping at Collins’ office to chant, “Vote her out!” 

Troy Jackson, Nirav Shah, Paige Loud and Shenna Bellows — some of the at least seven candidates running to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee — each criticized federal immigration authorities at the protest. 

Also in attendance, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree told Maine Morning Star that she’d yet to hear any details from the federal government, as of early afternoon. Pingree has been in contact with Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey. 

“We do not want ICE to cut off the state [from the investigation] in any way,” Pingree said. 

Collins called in a social media post for “a full and impartial investigation of what happened.” Her office did not respond to requests about who the senator wants to head the investigation, or whether she’s heard any details from the federal government.  

In a conversation with Michael Szatkowski from Buxton, former gubernatorial candidate and Maine public health chief Nirav Shah said, “How many more Americans are we going to let die at the hands of ICE before we say, ‘Oh, maybe this isn’t working? Maybe we should — I don’t know — completely dismantle the entire system?’”

Szatkowski responded, “By ICE’s own data, they are not rounding up criminals. They are rounding up people who are here legally. So they’re not protecting anybody from anything.”

The majority of people ICE has detained across the U.S. do not have criminal records, which was also the case during ICE’s large-scale operation in Maine in January. Federal authorities detained many asylum seekers and other immigrants who were legally allowed to be in the country.

Jackson stood at the edge of the crowd, holding a sign that said “Abolish ICE.” He’s been advocating to get rid of the federal agency for a long time, he said. 

“You don’t get a free pass because you say you’re law enforcement, which these guys aren’t,” Jackson said. 

Bellows, who rejected federal immigration authorities’ request for undercover license plates during the January surge said the Office of the Attorney General can conduct an investigation to hold the federal agency accountable. 

“That will not be easy,” she said. “But I trust that leaders in this state have the conviction and the courage to do so, and that is what must happen.”

What Mainers are saying

Reacting within hours, people traveled from across Maine to join the protest, including Amy Strum of Bridgeton, who immediately got in her car and drove an hour when she heard the news. 

A leader of the Lake Region chapter of Indivisible, the grassroots activist group, Strum said, “I was shocked but I wasn’t surprised. ICE has been escalating their operations here in Maine quietly.”

Attendees raised signs that read: “ICE, Trump’s army of thugs, are not welcome in Maine,” and “This is the government our founders warned us about,” while chanting “Solidarity forever!” and “No more hate, no more fear, immigrants are welcome here.” 

“We want everyone in the country to know this young man’s name,” said Biddeford resident Amy Phalon, “just like they knew the names of the wonderfully brave white people who have been shot by ICE.”