ICE Agents Fatally Shot Johan Sebastián in Biddeford, Maine
On July 13, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and killed Johan Sebastián, 25 years old, in Biddeford, Maine. Two days later, Gov. Janet Mills visited the makeshift memorial residents had built in his honor, and within minutes she was surrounded by neighbors demanding answers.
The scene at the memorial captured a tension running through the state. One man asked through her car window, “What do you feel about ICE in Maine? It’s a simple question.” Another shouted, “He’s dead because you won’t get ICE out of Maine.” Mills told those who followed her, “I’m just here to pay my respects.”
Mills Sent Congress a Letter Demanding Reform or Abolition
Hours before visiting the memorial, Mills had already sent a letter to Maine’s congressional delegation calling for Congress to reform ICE, or abolish it entirely. She wrote that the agency had expanded its funding and staffing and placed agents in the field:
“Without rigorous, and necessary, training.”
Gov. Janet Mills, letter to Maine’s congressional delegation, July 15, 2026
Mills also repeated a request she had made earlier this year: that all federal immigration agents be required to wear body cameras and be subject to civil and criminal liability for abuses of power.
A Brief Federal Pause on Traffic Stops Was Reversed Within Days
After Sebastián’s death, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would pause immigration-related traffic stops. President Trump reversed that directive on July 14, ordering agents to resume stops. Mills called the pause “not even a half measure to what should be happening to meet this moment.”
Maine has passed several laws aimed at limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Those laws cannot stop federal agents from performing their lawful duties under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. That gap leaves Mills with few tools short of congressional action.
What You Can Do Now
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Call Maine’s U.S. Senators. Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King can be reached through the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Tell them you support Gov. Mills’ request for mandatory ICE body cameras and civil and criminal liability for agent abuses. Name Johan Sebastián specifically.
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Contact your own U.S. representative. The House Judiciary Committee holds jurisdiction over immigration enforcement policy. Call the main switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and ask your rep to support ICE oversight legislation, including mandatory body cameras.
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Submit a public comment to DHS. The Department of Homeland Security accepts public comments on enforcement policies at regulations.gov. Search “ICE” to find open comment periods and submit your concerns about accountability gaps and use-of-force training requirements.
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Contact the Maine Governor’s office directly. Call (207) 287-3531 and urge Mills to continue pressing Maine’s delegation and to publicly support legislation that would require federal body cameras on ICE agents operating in the state.
Update, July 20, 2026: A second fatal ICE shooting this month killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, in Houston, Texas, also during a traffic stop in which Araujo was not the intended target of the operation. As in the Maine case, none of the officers involved wore body cameras, despite Congress allocating $20 million specifically for ICE body camera deployment. The DHS secretary recommended a pause on vehicular stops after both shootings; President Trump overruled that recommendation.
Ashley Brouillette, the ex-wife of ICE officer David Brouillette, identified by PBS as the agent involved in the Maine shooting, told the Associated Press she believes Duran Guerrero was murdered. She said Brouillette called her after the incident and acknowledged killing him, and she attributed his conduct to a PTSD episode. Multiple family members also told the AP that Brouillette had a documented history of violence and should not have received a federal badge or firearm.
Former acting ICE Director John Sandweg told PBS NewsHour on July 20 that traffic stops were historically rare in ICE operations and never received the training emphasis standard at other law enforcement agencies. White House Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters there is “always room for improvement” in ICE training but announced no specific changes. Sandweg said the pattern of shootings, not any single incident, represents the core problem facing the agency.
(https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/deadly-shootings-by-ice-officers-renew-scrutiny-of-recruitment-and-training), citing John Sandweg, former acting ICE director]
Update, July 24, 2026: Ashley Brouillette, the ex-wife of ICE officer David Brouillette, refused his request to publicly vouch for his character after he shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero at a traffic stop in Maine. She has since spoken publicly about violence she says she endured during their marriage and described what she characterized as his racism, which she believes may have motivated the shooting.
Intercept contributor Karl Loftus reported that ICE officers present at the Maine shooting were wearing body cameras that were not activated during the incident. Mexican officials confirmed that Juan Coronilla Durán, who died in Florida after fleeing into traffic to avoid ICE agents, entered the United States legally on a tourist visa and was visiting family.
Democrats sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding new restrictions on ICE following fatal shootings in Maine and Texas. An attempt by Democrats to add enforcement guardrails to a sweeping House immigration bill was blocked. ACLU senior policy counsel Naureen Shah told The Intercept Briefing that the Trump administration has directed $240 billion to ICE and Border Patrol, a sum she said exceeds the military budgets of most countries.
Update, August 8, 2026: ICE Acting Director David J. Venturella said Saturday the agency is “on track to equip every officer and agent in the field with body-worn cameras by the end of August,” according to the Associated Press. Neither the July shooting of Johan Sebastián in Maine nor a separate fatal shooting of a Houston man days later was captured on body camera.
The rollout arrives alongside scrutiny of ICE’s footage release policy, which authorizes the release of body camera video after a serious injury or death only when doing so is in the “best interests of the agency.” Venturella defended the provision as consistent with federal law and said it is designed to protect ongoing investigations and privacy.
Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University in Canada, told the AP that selective release policies are not unusual in law enforcement but are rarely written so plainly into official policy. ICE’s sister agency, Customs and Border Protection, has not released footage of the January fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis; CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told lawmakers it would be made public “when it’s appropriate.”
Sources
Maine Morning Star: Mills Calls Congress to Reform ICE or Abolish It After Biddeford Shooting