ICE agent in fatal Biddeford shooting had expedited training, held anti-immigrant views, NYT reports

The immigration agent who allegedly shot and killed a Biddeford man was fast-tracked through training and had expressed anti-immigrant views, according to new reporting from The New York Times.

Media reports identified David Brouillette as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in July. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not officially released the agent’s name. Guerrero, who was from Colombia, was not the intended target of the ICE operation and had a pending asylum case and a valid work permit, according to his family and lawyer. 

The Times obtained a series of emails that Brouillette, a former U.S. Army sergeant, sent in 2021 criticizing his sister’s relationship with a Colombian man, with whom she had two children.

“He can takes his non citizen ass back to his country and enjoy his third world luxuries,” Brouillette wrote in an email riddled with typos. He continued that the man’s “bloodline knows nothing about what it takes to earn and then CHERISH the freedom America offers.”

The reporting also revealed new details about Brouillette’s ICE training, citing anonymous sources who were briefed on his work history with the agency.

Brouillette applied at ICE in the fall of 2025 and was cleared to start on Dec. 1 after being fast-tracked through preliminary vetting, according to the sources. That was amid a hiring surge after President Donald Trump’s administration called for doubling the number of deportation officers. 

Brouillette skipped ICE’s full training course in Georgia, in line with ICE’s practice of recruits with some law enforcement experience completing a shorter online training program, and his background check was done by an outside contractor. However, officials still hadn’t checked his background for red flags that could result in his termination at the time of the Biddeford shooting, an anonymous source with knowledge of his hiring told the Times. 

Brouillette declined to speak with the Times. He has not responded to Maine Morning Star’s repeated attempts to contact him through phone or email. When Maine Morning Star asked ICE in July about Brouillette’s alleged involvement, an unnamed spokesperson said, “The ICE officer in question has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required training,” but declined to share a name.  

The 911 calls made after ICE fatally shot Biddeford man

The new revelations about Brouillette’s background come after earlier reporting revealed complaints of domestic abuse. 

Court documents show that one of Brouillette’s ex-wives filed several requests for protection from harassment and protection from abuse orders against him, for herself and on behalf of their minor child. Most of those were denied, though a judge required him to temporarily relinquish his firearms. Brouillette also filed several requests for protection against an ex-wife, including on behalf of their children.

Benjamin Gideon, attorney for Guerrero’s wife, Karolina Rojas Alvarez, and estate, called Brouillette “the poster child for what happens when our government chooses to recruit agents to carry out a campaign of hate against immigrants, hires those agents without adequate screening and places them on the street without basic training.”

“Johan Sebastián’s death was not an inevitable accident,” Gideon said in a statement Wednesday. “It was a natural and predictable choices of the policies of our government and its political leadership.”

The federal government has yet to tell Guerrero’s family anything about a federal investigation, according to Gideon. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine said the latest reporting makes the need for a full, independent investigation even more urgent.

“Who authorized his deployment? What would a thorough review have revealed?” Pingree questioned in a statement. “An agency whistleblower has already warned the DHS Inspector General of an ‘unprecedented lowering of standards.’ How many other agents are carrying guns in our communities without completed vetting?”

The state has its own investigation underway. Another lawyer for Guerrero’s family, Sean Murphy, told the Times that investigators said Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, who terms out at the end of the year, plans to announce any decisions in the case before he leaves office.

Maine Morning Star’s requests for records of communications between federal agencies and the state attorney general’s office and the coroner’s report have been denied as they remain confidential while the investigation is ongoing.