What’s going on: Yesterday, ICE officers in Maine shot and killed Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old man originally from Colombia, while he was driving. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said that Guerrero was not the target of the agency's operation. This comes less than a week after ICE agents in Houston shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was also not the target of their operation. Homeland Security claims that Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle,” though –– as has been the case in at least one other ICE-related death this year –– eyewitnesses dispute their account. That’s to say nothing of the abuse reported by detainees in ICE custody –– including alleged sexual assault and medical neglect that resulted in at least one death.
A pattern of behavior: ICE operations dominated headlines this winter, especially after Renée Good and Alex Pretti were killed. But news quelled after Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin as Department of Homeland Security Secretary. So far, Mullin has operated a quieter (but arguably more aggressive) department. The New York Times reports that ICE arrested more than 6,000 people over three days last week, after the agency doubled its daily numbers in late June. Some groups, like pregnant and postpartum women as well as the 1.3 million immigrants whose protected status is now up in the air, are especially vulnerable. Meanwhile, ICE just got another cash infusion from Congress that will last through 2028.
