The Department of Homeland Security says every ICE arrest team will now include at least one officer wearing a body camera, a policy change announced days after an immigration agent fatally shot a Colombian man here who was not the target of the operation.
The man killed was identified by family representatives and the Colombian Embassy as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 25, who was authorized to work in the United States and held a Social Security number. A neighbor told reporters he was married and had a daughter around two or three years old. ICE agents had been conducting surveillance at an address linked to a different person with a final removal order when the shooting occurred Monday, and none of the agents involved were wearing body cameras.
Maine Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the driver allegedly tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against agents nearby. Maine’s attorney general has opened a state investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is leading a separate federal review with assistance from the FBI. The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome.
The Maine shooting came six days after an ICE agent fatally shot a Mexican man during an arrest attempt in Houston, in which an officer was also seriously injured. Agents in that case were not wearing body cameras either. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, who represents the Houston area, has said Acting ICE Director David Venturella assured her all field agents would have camera access by the end of July.
A camera rollout DHS blames on shutdowns
In a statement, DHS called nationwide body camera coverage a top priority and pointed to what it described as a rise in assaults against immigration officers. The agency said the incomplete rollout stemmed from a monthslong lapse in DHS funding during this year’s partial government shutdown, even though Congress approved $20 million in additional body camera funding as part of the deal that ended it in April.
That explanation has drawn skepticism from researchers who study immigration enforcement. David Hernández, who studies the issue at Mount Holyoke College, told USA Today the shutdown explanation does not hold up given how long the funding had already been available before the Maine and Houston shootings.
Shortly after the Houston shooting, DHS said cameras had reached more than half of ICE’s field offices, with the rest expected to receive them within 60 days. The policy announced this week formalizes that every arrest team, not just individual offices, will have camera coverage going forward.
The shootings have drawn condemnation from immigrant rights groups. Project Relief Maine, an advocacy organization in contact with Durán Guerrero’s family, said in a statement that the community is committed to supporting his loved ones through what it called an unimaginable time. Federal officials, meanwhile, maintain that agents face growing danger in the field and argue cameras will also protect officers from what the agency has called unfounded criticism.
Both state investigations remain ongoing, with no timeline yet for their conclusions. Lawmakers on both sides say they will be watching closely to see whether the new camera policy is fully implemented on schedule.
Thursday’s policy echoes a similar pledge made in February, after a pair of fatal shootings by immigration agents in Minneapolis prompted then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to promise a rapid nationwide camera rollout as funding became available. That earlier commitment moved slowly over the following months, and it was only after the back-to-back Houston and Biddeford shootings that DHS moved to make camera coverage mandatory for every arrest team rather than a funding-dependent goal.
Democratic lawmakers, including members of Maine’s congressional delegation, have said they intend to press DHS for regular updates on the rollout’s progress. The agency has not said whether it will publish office-by-office data confirming when each ICE unit reaches full camera coverage.
