The federal agents who fatally shot two men during immigration operations in Maine and Houston within the span of a week were not wearing body cameras, an absence that has intensified calls for accountability.
In Biddeford, Maine, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian man identified by a neighbor, on Monday during an operation, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Sen. Angus King, who has called for an investigation, said the agents had not been equipped with cameras. “We’ve been told that body cameras would be widely distributed,” he said, adding that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin had told him the devices were “on order.”
The shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national killed during a traffic stop in Houston last week, drew similar scrutiny. None of the officers involved wore a camera, and no video of the moment of the shooting has emerged.
The gap in key evidence has renewed long-standing calls for immigration officers to be equipped with cameras. A federal judge examining immigration enforcement tactics last year told a Border Patrol official that “cameras are your friends” that can capture threats officers may face.
Last week a DHS spokesperson blamed the lack of body cameras for the Houston officers on interruptions in agency funding caused by Democratic lawmakers. The spokesperson said cameras have reached “more than half the field offices,” with the rest to follow “in the next 60 days.” The department cited a more than 1,300% increase in assaults on its officers.
DHS did not immediately to respond to questions about whether the agents involved in the Maine shooting had been issued body cameras.
