‘There Must Be Independent Investigations,’ House Democrats Argue After ICE Killings in Maine and Texas

“Trump’s DHS has lost the trust of the American people and can no longer be considered a reliable source of fact.”

A woman holding a “How Many More?” sign visits a memorial a day after a federal immigration agent shot and killed Johan Sebastián Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.
(Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Jul 15, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


Nearly all Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday demanded independent investigations into federal immigration agents’ recent fatal shootings of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas.

The men killed—immigrants from Colombia and Mexico—apparently weren’t even the targets of the operations that claimed their lives earlier this month, Democrats stressed in their letter to the leaders at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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“Both of these incidents have created enormous fear and outrage in the community, and raise serious questions about the safety of community members, regardless of immigration status,” the nearly 200 members of Congress wrote to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE acting Director David Venturella.



The letter was led by Democrats from both states, Congresswomen Chellie Pingree (Maine) and Sylvia Garcia (Texas), as well as ranking members on key House panels: Reps. Bennie Thompson (Miss.) of the Committee on Homeland Security, Jamie Raskin (Md.) of the Judiciary Committee, and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.

“DHS agents have shot at least 22 people just since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. Six of these shootings have been fatal, resulting in the death of US citizens and individuals with no criminal records,” wrote the lawmakers—who have also drawn attention to the dozens of immigrants who have died at ICE detention centers under this administration.

“In several of these cases, DHS and its component agencies made unsubstantiated allegations about individuals its agents have shot and even killed, including Renée Good, Alex Pretti, Ruben Ray Martinez, Marimar Martinez, and Julio Sosa-Celis,” they highlighted. “DHS claimed that the shooting victims were attacking law enforcement officers, attempting to ‘weaponize’ their vehicles, and even called them domestic terrorists.”

The Democrats emphasized that “in each case, evidence later emerged that contradicted these claims, showing that DHS representatives made false statements and DHS agents acted inappropriately, resulting in several cases against DHS’s victims to be dismissed with prejudice. As such, Trump’s DHS has lost the trust of the American people and can no longer be considered a reliable source of fact.”

“We are calling for immediate independent investigations into both of these deaths, without interference. We are also calling on ICE to stop any removal proceedings against the witnesses to Mr. Salgado Araujo’s killing for the duration of the investigation,” they wrote, pointing to reported attempts by the administration to deport his brother, Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, as well as two employees, Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego and Daniel Tirado Pantoja.

Those three witnesses to the killing in Texas “should have no threat of retaliation or deportation to provide their testimony,” the lawmakers argued. “Similarly, DHS must not interfere with any investigations into the death of Mr. Guerrero. Far too many people, Americans and noncitizens alike, are dead as a result of DHS’s reckless actions.”

The House Democrats aren’t alone in their demand. The Fair Immigration Reform Movement, faith leaders, and labor advocates held a Wednesday press conference to call for “independent investigations and real accountability” after the deaths in Texas and Maine, as well as Florida.

The 28-year-old man who officials say died Tuesday after being hit by a tractor-trailer while fleeing federal immigration agents at a gas station in St. Augustine has not yet been publicly identified, but like the other two cases, he had been in a vehicle. Despite the rising death toll, Trump said Wednesday that he wants ICE to keep pulling over cars.



“No one can be guaranteed safety from this rogue agency, which has terrorized our community since long before the current administration, but is now capturing and even widening a net of Americans in their ruthless execution of the mass deportation agenda,” said Lizeth Chacon, executive director of Workers Defense Action Fund, one of the groups demanding an independent probe.

“To end this brutal campaign for good, we must abolish ICE and offer a pathway to citizenship for all,” Chacon declared. “The officers responsible for the killing of Mr. Lorenzo must be held accountable. We can and must dismantle this agency because ICE’s next victim could be any of us. Mr. Lorenzo could be any of us.”

Rev. Jodi Hayashida, an organizer from Multifaith Justice Maine, said Wednesday that “the most important fact about ICE is that it is simply the latest vehicle in this nation’s long-standing practice of racialized state-sanctioned violence and terror, that this paramilitary force accountable to nearly no one and funded by billions of dollars pulled from our housing and healthcare does not provide the safety or security it promises. It is a threat to the well-being of all people.”

“We know that death is an inevitable consequence of the existence of ICE, modifications to practices and policies are not enough,” Hayashida added. “In the very short term ICE must not be allowed to investigate itself. We demand a full, transparent accounting of every single death, and then we demand that Congress stop funding this violence and remove ICE from our communities altogether.”

Collins Won’t Say She Regrets Funding ICE After Killing in Maine

“Maine does not need a senator who signs the checks and hopes for the best from Donald Trump,” said one Democratic US Senate candidate.

US Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) attends a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)

Julia Conley
Jul 15, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Two days after a federal immigration agent fatally shot 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, the state’s Republican senator, who voted earlier this year to fund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement without requiring reforms, refused to say she regrets the vote.

Prem Thakker of Zeteo News approached Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins at the Capitol on Wednesday with a polite but direct question.

“Hi senator, how are you?” Thakker began. “I was wondering, do you regret giving ICE more money, given the killings, including the one in your state?”

Collins, who was waiting for an elevator with an aide, did not reply, while her staffer asked what outlet Thakker was with before saying the senator had to leave.

As Collins approached the elevator, Thakker repeated the question: “No regrets?”



The senator did not directly answer the question, but suggested she stood by her vote in April to provide ICE and Customs and Border Protection with $70 billion for the next three years—without agreeing to guardrails Democrats had demanded following the killings of at least four people since the beginning of 2026 and the deaths of dozens of people in ICE detention and during deportation operations in 2025.

She referred to “money I got for body-worn cameras and training”—but as Thakker pointed out, that money didn’t stop agents from killing Guerrero on Monday morning.

“They didn’t wear cameras though, did they, Senator?” asked Thakker as the elevator doors closed.

Guerrero, who reportedly had legal status in the US and was married with a 3-year-old daughter, was killed in his vehicle Monday morning. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said ICE had been “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal,” and details that have emerged since the shooting suggest Guerrero was not the person agents were looking for.

DHS said Guerrero “attempted to flee the scene” and bullet holes were seen in the windshield of Guerrero’s car. ICE agents are trained never to shoot into a moving car, but they have in several recent cases, including the killings of protester Renee Good in Minneapolis in January and immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston last week.

Fleeing a scene is also not considered grounds for the use of force, according to the Department of Justice.

Nirav Shah, who is running to be the Democratic US Senate candidate in Maine, noted that Collins’ call for ICE to suspend its use of vehicle stops was ineffectual, with President Donald Trump ordering the stops to continue on Wednesday.

“That is the entire measure of her influence in Washington,” said Shah. “Sen. Susan Collins can’t stop Trump, and she’s too weak to stand up to him—period.”

“Susan Collins funds ICE and has given them a blank check,” he added. “Maine does not need a senator who signs the checks and hopes for the best from Donald Trump. It needs one who will end ICE’s rampage and abolish it.”

Democratic US Senate candidate Troy Jackson also condemned Collins for helping Trump enact his “deadly, racist, and authoritarian agenda.”

“Mainers won’t forget,” he said.