The Human Rights Watch organization called for a “timely, transparent and exhaustive” investigation into the death of Colombian Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maine.
“This week, another family and community faces the devastating loss of a loved one in another fatal shooting by ICE,” Tanya Greene, director of HRW’s United States program, said in a statement.
Durán Guerrero’s 3-year-old daughter and partner, 26, were accompanying him when he was shot.
ICE confirmed that the Colombian was not the reason for the operation that its agents were carrying out in the community of Biddeford, in southern Maine, in search of an immigrant with a deportation order.
However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleged that the agents fired for public safety. As they explained, Guerrero’s car was leaving in the same direction as the person they were looking for, so when “trying to flee” they proceeded to shoot.
The civil rights organization, LatinoJustice, classified the death as an “atrocity against human rights” and called for a “transparent” investigation into what happened.
The death of the Colombian, with a work permit in the US and Social Security, was recorded a week after the Mexican Lorenzo Salgado also died at the hands of ICE in Texas when he was on his way to work in his car with his brothers.
These two deaths bring to 11 the total of fatal shootings carried out by DHS agents since the beginning of the current administration, five of them inside vehicles, according to the lawyer organization.
“Murders like that of Durán Guerrero demonstrate that DHS has no respect for the lives of immigrants, and especially Latino immigrants,” said Rex Chen, immigrant rights legal advisor at LatinoJustice.
Furthermore, he stated that the Trump Government has acted with impunity in the face of violations committed against numerous people living in the United States in the name of immigration control.
According to Chen, looking Latino has become an excuse to “run over, injure, shoot and kill people.”
It is estimated that about 30,000 Latinos live in the state of Maine, which represents approximately 2% of the state population, LatinoJustice noted.
They raise more than $100,000 for funeral expenses
Relatives of Colombian Johan Sebastian Durán Guerrero, murdered on Monday in Maine by an agent of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), started a fundraiser to cover legal expenses, funeral services and the repatriation of the body.
The Gofundme account has already raised $100,796 in just one day, in 1,800 donations.
“With a broken heart, we are raising funds to help his family cover legal expenses, funeral services and the repatriation of his body to Colombia, where his parents are waiting to give him a Christian burial,” the message indicates.
After Durán’s death, his partner and his 3-year-old daughter, who accompanied him at the time of the shooting, “face a future of pain and uncertainty,” he says.
Durán, 26, who according to his family worked two jobs, died at the hands of an ICE agent who was carrying out an operation in search of an immigrant with a deportation order, as part of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration campaign.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under which ICE operates, alleged that the agents fired for public safety.
As they explained, Durán’s car was leaving in the same direction as the person they were looking for, so when he “tried to flee”, they alleged, they proceeded to shoot him.
Near the place of his death in Biddeford, southern Maine, neighbors have placed flowers and messages of solidarity on the fence of a park, but also of repudiation of ICE.
The signs can read “ICE, out of our neighborhoods”, “murder is against the law” or “a man was lynched here on Monday,” according to CNN.
The money raised will be given to Durán’s sister, the main support, who will be responsible for managing and distributing the funds to cover her family’s expenses and needs.
Through the page, it has been asked that the family’s privacy be respected.
Petro condemns the “murder” of ICE
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, condemned the death of 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán during an operation by agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) in the state of Maine and assured that they killed him “because they believed him to be an inferior being without rights.”
“What has happened in Maine is a murder of a Colombian, Latin American in the hands of the US Government,” the president noted in a message on the social network X.
Petro indicated that he expects the “quickest” legal action from the Colombian foreign service in the United States so that the murderers “pay for their murder.” “I expect a message from President Donald Trump to Colombia about what happened,” he added.
The Colombian president also mentioned that he is a “victim of the State due to the persecution and exclusion against a civilian population group for ethnic and cultural reasons”, a practice that, he recalled, has been “prohibited since the time of the Nuremberg tribunal throughout the planet.”
Durán Guerrero, a native of Bucaramanga, capital of the department of Santander (northeast), had emigrated to the United States in search of job opportunities and resided in the city of Biddeford.
The young man died last Monday during an operation by immigration agents that has generated protests and calls for an independent investigation.
In an interview with the Colombian media Blu Radio, the young man’s father, Omar Durán, assured that his son had a work permit and met the requirements demanded by the US immigration authorities.
“He had his work permit (…) He was doing the paperwork that they asked of him, he was showing up there as they asked,” he stated.
The Colombian Embassy in the United States regretted the death of the countryman and assured that it is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family.
Likewise, he reported that he requested information and clarifications from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about the circumstances under which the Colombian’s death occurred.
ICE maintains that one of its agents opened fire after Durán Guerrero attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon against agency officials during the operation.
However, witnesses and videos broadcast by local media have cast doubt on that version, showing the car moving uncontrollably after the shots were fired.
The case is being investigated by Maine Police, the state Department of Public Safety and the FBI.
