Democrats demand training info on ICE agent who killed immigrant in Maine – AOL

Two senior Democrats in Congress are pressing the Department of Homeland Security for records tied to the ICE officer involved in the fatal shooting of a Colombian immigrant in Maine, raising fresh questions about how the agency trains and screens officers during a period of rapid hiring.

According to a letter obtained by CBS News, Rep. Robert Garcia of California and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut want detailed information about the background, vetting, and training of the officer connected to the July 13 shooting in Biddeford, Maine. The lawmakers serve as top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee and the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

The case centers on 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian immigrant who was shot and killed during what officials described as an attempted vehicle stop. The incident came less than a week after another ICE officer fatally shot Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, intensifying scrutiny of enforcement tactics used in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The Associated Press identified the Maine shooter as David Brouillette, citing family interviews that described a history of alleged violent behavior and mental health struggles. AP also reported that Brouillette had told relatives he joined ICE last year. DHS has not publicly confirmed the officer’s name.

In their July 30 letter, Garcia and Blumenthal asked officials at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers whether Brouillette went through a shortened ICE training pathway created last year as the administration pushed to expand its deportation workforce. That abbreviated program drew criticism, and ICE said in June that it would end the condensed curriculum and require added training for those who had taken it.

The lawmakers specifically asked whether the officer completed only a four-week online onboarding course, whether a background check was performed before or during training, and what records exist regarding his instruction, performance testing, and the investigation into the Maine shooting.

The request also broadens beyond one case. Garcia and Blumenthal are seeking more information on ICE’s overall training procedures, pointing to earlier testimony from a former ICE instructor turned whistleblower, who said the agency’s preparation standards under the Trump administration were “deficient, defective, and broken.”

“The dangers inherent in the deployment of untrained and unqualified officers and agents to the streets demand oversight, accountability, and reform,” the lawmakers wrote.

DHS has said Durán Guerrero attempted to drive away during the July 13 encounter and that an officer fired out of concern for public safety. The department has not released more detailed findings publicly.

Even Trump border adviser Tom Homan has signaled concern over reports about the officer’s past, saying on CNN that if those accounts are accurate, “I don’t think he should ever have cleared vetting.”

Both the Maine and Texas shootings happened during attempted traffic stops. In each case, the person killed was accused of being in the country illegally, but DHS has acknowledged neither individual was the original target of the ICE operation underway at the time.

In Houston, Salgado Araujo — a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for 35 years — was shot while driving his work van. ICE said he used the van as a weapon, prompting an officer to fire in self-defense. Other men inside the vehicle disputed that version of events.

The back-to-back shootings briefly pushed ICE to pause vehicle stops, but that halt was later reversed after intervention from President Trump.

For lawmakers, the immediate issue is whether accelerated recruiting and compressed training standards may have put underprepared officers in the field. Their records request suggests Congress is now examining not only the individual officer in Maine, but the broader systems ICE used to hire, screen, and arm personnel during a controversial expansion of immigration enforcement.