Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said Tuesday she will press Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt all non-urgent Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle stops after a man was shot and killed during an immigration enforcement operation Monday, sparking outrage across the state.
“While the investigation of the Biddeford shooting is not yet complete, it raises sufficient critical questions that I spoke with DHS Secretary Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops,” Collins said in a statement posted on social media.
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The man, a 26-year-old Colombian national, was shot after he allegedly drove his vehicle toward an ICE officer during the operation, according to DHS. The victim was not the target of the arrest warrant being served, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said, citing information provided by Mullin.
At the same time, a former senior Trump administration official told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday morning that ICE officers and agents nationwide had been instructed to stop conducting vehicle stops, effective immediately.
The shooting has also become a flashpoint in Maine’s Senate race following the withdrawal of Democratic nominee Graham Platner, whose campaign was mired in scandal. Collins, the Republican nominee, is vying to hold her seat for a sixth term. State Sen. Troy Jackson and former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah, two of the Democratic candidates, attended an anti-ICE protest in Biddeford, where the shooting occurred, and both called for abolishing ICE.
Jackson joined demonstrators outside Collins’s Biddeford office as protesters chanted, “Vote her out!”
“We certainly don’t have to give them $70 billion to go around doing what they did here today and what they’ve done in Minnesota,” Jackson said of ICE.
“You don’t get a free pass because you say you’re law enforcement,” he added. “That’s why it’s so important that whoever gets a seat is someone who is actually going to abolish ICE.”
Meanwhile, Collins defended ICE, while also adding that they should work to “improve their performance.”
MAN KILLED BY ICE IN MAINE WAS NOT TARGET OF WARRANT, SEN. ANGUS KING SAYS
“There’s no doubt that ICE needs to improve its performance, but those who are calling for ICE to be abolished are ignoring absolutely vital safety work that ICE does,” she said.
The Biddeford shooting follows another fatal confrontation involving ICE last week in Texas, where an agent shot and killed 52-year-old Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo after he allegedly attempted to run over federal law enforcement officers with his vehicle, according to DHS.
