ICE agents shoot and kill driver who witnesses say 'tried to stop'

A federal immigration officer has fatally shot a motorist in Maine, the second time in a week that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used deadly force.

It is at least the ninth such killing since US President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown.

Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed as a 26-year-old native of Colombia.

Senator Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers who were pursuing him for deportation in Biddeford, a coastal city of about 23,000 people about 24 kilometres south-west of Portland, Maine.

"He was in a vehicle, pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was 'weaponised' the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent," Mr King said.

The Maine attorney-general's office, which is investigating with the FBI and other agencies, said initial statements suggested the motorist drove towards the agent.

The man was the target of an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal, the office said, and the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.

Messages seeking comment were left for ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a "pop, pop, pop" sound and saw a small car "turned 90 degrees to the curb" with an SUV behind it.

The driver was wounded, and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it again, Mr Boucher said.

"His face was bloody. His head was bloody," Mr Boucher said, getting choked up.

"I clearly heard the victim say, 'I tried to stop' — clearly heard him say that."

Mr Boucher said he saw an ICE officer bring a medical bag to where the man was lying before an ambulance and fire truck arrived.

At one point, Mr Boucher said, the agent who shot the man walked close to him.

"I was emotional, and I just let him have it, and he looked at me and said, 'He tried to run me over,' or something to that effect," Mr Boucher said.

"I don't remember his exact words."

Man authorised to work in the US, advocates say

Two advocacy groups, the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente!, said the man who was killed was authorised to work in the US and had a Social Security number.

After the shooting, his family contacted the Immigrants' Rights Coalition, but they were not ready to speak publicly about the shooting, said the group's executive director, Mufalo Chitam.

Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.

"I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband's dead body on the ground," Ms Hayes said.

"I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she's never going to see her father again."

The Colombian Embassy says it is in contact with US authorities.

Security video, but no body-worn camera footage

Cory Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the scene, said security cameras at the business captured footage of the man's car rolling into the intersection after shots were fired.

Other images from the scene showed the car going in circles and bullet holes in its windshield.

He said Maine State Police asked him not to release the footage publicly.

The agents involved in the shooting did not have body-worn cameras, Mr King said.

"The question is, what did he do with his vehicle? he said.

"Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?

"That's what this investigation is all about, and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible."

Anti-ICE protesters gather near scene

Dozens of demonstrators critical of ICE and Mr Trump's ongoing immigration crackdown gathered in Biddeford within hours of the shooting.

Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that said "Stop Killing Us" and directed it toward police working at the scene.

"Sadly, it's something we're seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I'm mad about it," said Ms Goodman, who was wearing a shirt that said, "ICE is best when crushed."

Police blocked access to the shooting scene, which is in a neighbourhood of mostly multi-family homes, churches and businesses.

Recent uptick in immigration crackdown

The killing is at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since Mr Trump returned to office 18 months ago.

On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.

The shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda, arresting more than 10,000 people during five days at the end of June.

The administration's enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota, following which the administration has now turned over evidence previously withheld.

The material includes videos from agents' body cameras, other digital evidence and Good's bullet-damaged car.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Ms Good in her vehicle on January 7, and Border Patrol agents fatally shot Mr Pretti on a street during protests on January 24.

Both were US citizens.

Operation 'Catch of the Day'

"More than anything else, I want to know, 'Why are you in Maine?'" Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine said.

Hundreds of ICE arrests have been made in Maine since Mr Trump's return to office.

ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which prompted several protests.

The Homeland Security Department named the operation "Catch of the Day", an apparent play on Maine's seafood industry.

ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Mr Trump's second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the University of California, Berkeley Deportation Data Project.

About 45 per cent of those arrested had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Mr Trump took office, about 69 per cent of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data shows.

AP/Reuters