BIDDEFORD, Maine — Members of Congress gathered for a shadow hearing Monday, Aug. 17, in Biddeford to scrutinize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of force and federal accountability following the July 13 fatal shooting of Colombian immigrant and father Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.
The hearing focused on the circumstances surrounding Durán Guerrero’s death while raising broader questions about ICE hiring, training, supervision and transparency. Unlike a criminal court proceeding, the hearing did not involve filed criminal charges or a judge.
Instead, members of Congress heard testimony from Durán Guerrero’s family, local officials, attorneys and immigrant-rights advocates about the circumstances surrounding his death, the federal response that followed and broader concerns regarding ICE hiring, training and supervision.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the hearing was intended to investigate Durán Guerrero’s death and seek answers about the federal immigration operation that resulted in the shooting.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said Durán Guerrero “should be alive today,” adding that his life was instead “tragically cut short.” Pingree also raised questions about what information ICE was using when agents encountered Durán Guerrero and the lack of answers provided following his death.
Durán Guerrero’s parents, who traveled from Colombia, testified about the personal consequences of losing their son, describing him as “responsible, kind and loving.”
They said their son had been traveling to work when he was killed and said they “feel a deep pain in our souls” when their 3-year-old granddaughter asks where her father is. The family also described Durán Guerrero as someone who worked hard for his family and said their hope had been to eventually be reunited.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills told the hearing she was “heartbroken,” “furious” and “outraged” by Durán Guerrero’s death and what she described as a broader “callous and unregulated show of force by federal agents in cities across this country.”
Mills said she would not comment on the specific facts of the shooting while an investigation by Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office remained underway, but expressed confidence that the office would conduct a thorough investigation and eventually report its findings to the public.
“The people of Maine, like people across this country, do not want to live in fear in their own communities,” Mills said. She added that residents do not want to see “peace-abiding neighbors struck down by federal agents” or people stopped because of “the color of their skin, their accent, their ethnic origin or their mere status as a foreign-born individual.”
Mills also pointed to previous reforms she had urged Congress to require for federal immigration enforcement, including prohibiting agents from wearing masks, requiring agents to identify themselves, mandating body-worn cameras, increasing professional training, allowing civil and criminal liability for abuses of power and requiring valid judicial warrants for arrests.
She criticized Congress for failing to adopt what she called meaningful oversight measures and pointed to reports that the Trump administration was considering equipping immigration agents with “electric shock gloves.”
“Yet another way to inflict fear and pain,” Mills said.
Following Durán Guerrero’s death, Mills said she had urged Maine’s congressional delegation to go beyond expressions of grief and instead require ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies to respect the rule of law and face greater accountability.
“Today I call on Congress to rein in ICE,” Mills said, warning that action was needed “before more families are robbed of a loved one.”
“This violence has to end,” Mills continued. “Before more gunshots shatter another windshield and steal another person’s life and fracture the freedom of all who seek peace, this has to end.”
Mills concluded by warning that continued violence threatened what she called the “fragile American dream that was memorialized on hopeful parchment” and said more fundamental action should follow if congressional oversight and reform proved insufficient.
“If ICE cannot be reined in and fundamentally reformed, then it is time to abolish it,” Mills said.
Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain described Durán Guerrero as part of the local community and testified that the shooting had affected immigrant residents far beyond the immediate incident.
“It has devastated our city,” LaFountain said, explaining that some residents were retreating from public life because they feared immigration enforcement.
LaFountain described families who were afraid to go to work or send their children to school. He recalled speaking with a mother living near the location where Durán Guerrero was killed who was considering not sending one of her children to kindergarten because she feared her children could return home without a parent.
Attorney Ben Gideon, who represents Durán Guerrero’s family, focused his testimony on what he described as a lack of federal transparency following the shooting.
Gideon said much of what the family currently knows about the agent involved has come from media reports rather than disclosures from the federal government.
“The government has attempted to conceal the identity of the shooter,” Gideon said, adding that federal authorities had not provided the family with information about when the agent was hired or details concerning the agent’s background.
Citing media reports, Gideon described allegations of prior erratic and violent behavior by the agent, including allegedly threatening to kill one of his former wives and throwing boiling water on her while she was holding their 3-year-old daughter.
Gideon also raised concerns about allegedly false information provided on employment applications and said the agent had previously been denied a position with a small-town Maine police department.
Gideon argued the allegations raised questions beyond the actions of a single agent, stating the issue “goes beyond the conduct of one individual rogue agent” and implicates those responsible for “screening, hiring, training and supervising” federal immigration personnel.
Gideon also discussed the use of deadly force against people inside moving vehicles.
“There’s only one very narrow circumstance in which it’s lawful to shoot somebody in a motor vehicle,” Gideon said, explaining that an officer must face an imminent risk of severe bodily injury or death when the shot is fired.
Gideon said five shots were fired during the encounter and argued each shot would need to be independently evaluated under that legal standard. He also maintained that avoiding danger by moving out of the vehicle’s path may eliminate the legal justification for firing.
Gideon said initial explanations suggested agents fired to prevent Durán Guerrero’s vehicle from leaving the scene, while a later explanation asserted that the vehicle had been “weaponized.”
The attorney disputed those explanations based on evidence that the family had reviewed and also questioned whether agents had a lawful basis to stop Durán Guerrero in the first place.
LaFountain later contrasted the reported circumstances surrounding the federal agent’s hiring with the standards used by the Biddeford Police Department.
Based on what had been publicly reported about the agent, LaFountain said the individual “would never have been hired or considered by the Biddeford Police Department.”
LaFountain said local police applicants undergo extensive screening, including a roughly 40- to 50-page background dossier, interviews with family members, reviews of financial records, multiple interviews and polygraph examinations.
He also said all Biddeford police officers have worn body cameras for nearly a decade, describing the equipment as a means of providing accountability to both officers and the public.
Community advocates testified that the consequences of Durán Guerrero’s death extended throughout Maine’s immigrant population.
Mufalo Chitam, an immigrant-rights advocate, described Durán Guerrero as a father who “left for an ordinary day and did not come home.”
Chitam said immigrant families had already feared encounters with ICE before July 13, but Durán Guerrero’s death changed what residents believed those encounters could mean.
The organization’s immigrant defense hotline received 128 calls during the week of Durán Guerrero’s death, according to Chitam. Callers questioned whether it was safe to leave their homes and what would happen to their children if they were detained or harmed.
“The arrest may take minutes, but the disruption takes months,” Chitam said.
Chitam also said her organization’s analysis found that 79% of people apprehended by ICE in Maine during 2024 and 2025 did not have criminal convictions, questioning the use of expanded enforcement in the name of public safety.
Crystal Cron, founding director of Presente! Maine, described Durán Guerrero as loving and hardworking and said he frequently worked six or seven days a week.
“Johan Sebastián’s death was preventable,” Cron said.
Cron testified that Durán Guerrero came to the United States hoping to build a dignified life with his family. She connected his death to broader concerns facing migrant workers in Maine, including workers in seafood processing, agriculture, construction and hospitality who she said contribute substantially to the state’s economy while also experiencing fear of detention and deportation.
The hearing also addressed constitutional protections and the civil nature of immigration proceedings, with witnesses emphasizing that immigration status does not eliminate a person’s legal rights.
Members of Congress questioned witnesses about due process, warrant requirements, legal representation and the distinction between civil immigration violations and criminal offenses.
At the end of his testimony, Gideon asked Congress on behalf of the Durán Guerrero family to subpoena witnesses and documents concerning the shooting.
He specifically called for an investigation into what policies allowed the agent involved to be hired, who was responsible for that decision and what he characterized as a broader pattern involving federal agents firing into motor vehicles.
Witnesses throughout the hearing also called for stronger safeguards governing federal immigration operations and greater cooperation with local and state officials.
Because the proceeding was a congressional shadow hearing rather than a criminal court case, no judge issued a ruling and no criminal disposition was reached.
Members of Congress said the testimony would contribute to their continuing oversight efforts, with Thompson emphasizing the need to establish the facts surrounding Durán Guerrero’s death and determine what changes may be necessary to prevent similar incidents.
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