CONGRESSMAN FIELDS’ STATEMENT ON FATAL ICE SHOOTING IN BIDDEFORD, MAINE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Cleo Fields released the following statement after a 26-year-old man was shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Biddeford, Maine, the second fatal shooting involving ICE officers in less than a week:

"This morning, ICE agents shot and killed a 26-year-old man in Biddeford, Maine. He was authorized to work in this country. He had a Social Security number. He was somebody's son, somebody's neighbor. And now he's gone.

Just last week, it was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, shot and killed on his way to work. He wasn't even the man those agents were looking for.

Two shootings in one week. Two lives taken, and neither man was the target of an immigration enforcement operation.

I'll say it plainly: although neither victim was in this country illegally, an immigration violation is not a death sentence. It never has been, and it never should be. But when federal agents can shoot people in our streets with no body cameras, no accountability, and no answers, that's not law enforcement. That's lawlessness.

The families of these men deserve answers. The American people deserve a full, independent investigation into both killings. And Congress needs to demand that this administration get control of an agency that clearly has none.

I'm praying for these families, and for every community that now looks at their own government and feels afraid."

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