ICE agent in deadly Biddeford shooting had history of anti-immigrant rhetoric, New York Times reports

BIDDEFORD, Maine (WMTW) - The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent involved in the fatal shooting of a Colombian man that happened in Maine nearly four months ago expressed anti-immigrant sentiments in emails sent to his family members, according to a report from The New York Times.

David Brouillette had been identified by The Associated Press as the ICE officer who shot and killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeford on July 13. Both Brouillette’s first ex-wife and his daughter told the AP that Brouillette told them he was the one who shot and killed Guerrero. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has declined to identify Brouillette as the ICE agent involved in the shooting.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Brouillette’s sister, Elizabeth Emen, shared a series of emails with The Times from 2021 in which Brouillette berated Emen and their relatives and criticized her for her longtime relationship with a Colombian man, with whom she had two children.

The report from The Times also goes into detail about Brouillette’s recruiting history, citing an anonymous source who said Brouillette was sped through the vetting process and that he was cleared to work for ICE in December 2025.

WMTW contacted Homeland Security with a request for comment about the report from The New York Times, but has yet to receive a reply.

Ben Gideon, an attorney representing Guerrero’s wife and his estate, has issued a statement in response to The Times’ report on Brouillette.

“David Brouillette is 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,” Gideon said in his statement. “Johan Sebastian’s death was not an inevitable accident. It was a natural and predictable choice of the policies of our government and its political leadership.”

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat who represents Maine’s 1st Congressional District, said that she demanded answers from Homeland Security about training and background checks in the days following Guerrero’s death, and that Wednesday’s report from The New York Times makes a full, independent investigation even more urgent.

“DHS must release Brouillette’s hiring, vetting, training, and deployment records and cooperate fully with independent investigators,” Pingree said in a statement. “Responsibility reaches beyond the officer who pulled the trigger. It extends to the leadership that armed and deployed him, and to an administration that put its deportation agenda ahead of human life. Every official responsible must be held accountable. Johan Sebastián’s family deserves justice, and I will keep fighting until they get it.”

Pingree and U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, have said Guerrero was not the target of the ICE operation that ultimately resulted in his death. King and Pingree also said that Guerrero, the father of a 3-year-old girl, had no criminal history.

In September, another attorney representing Guerrero’s family testified before members of Congress. The testimony was part of a public forum examining several deadly shootings involving federal immigration agents.