BIDDEFORD –– Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain has called for an investigation into last week's shooting death of a resident by federal immigration agents.
On Tuesday, LaFountain read from a proclamation calling for the federal government to “reform the nation’s decades-old, broken and inhumane immigration system.”
LaFountain said he was asking for “justice and truth” for the killing of Johan Sebastián Guerrero, a Colombian national living in Biddeford.
“We’re not here to make a political point,” he said. “We’re here because Johan was a member of this community, our community.”
LaFountain’s proclamation was made during a special city council meeting where residents blasted the ongoing presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Biddeford and accused local officials of not doing enough to stop it.
“If there is nothing that these people can do then why are we here? What is the point of all this?” Kelsey Cummings, an Alfred Street resident, told the crowd of around 30 while gesturing to the council.
The shooting prompted a surge of outrage and grief among residents in Biddeford and throughout Maine.
During Tuesday’s meeting, residents noted that ICE agents have been operating in Biddeford since January.
Sam Bullock lives at the corner of Foss and Pool Streets, a block from where the shooting happened. Bullock said Guerrero was her neighbor.
“ICE has been very present in our community, and unfortunately for me, as a resident, what happened on Monday was an incredibly tragic inevitability,” Bullock said.
Bullock noted there is a school bus stop across the street from her house, and she has seen ICE agents taking advantage of that.
“I’ve seen my immigrant neighbors pull their kids out of school,” she said. “I’ve seen my immigrant neighbors pulled out of cars by ICE in front of the children who were at the bus stop. It has been horrific.”
Tophe Thorne of Presente! Maine, a Latino advocacy group, said the longer ICE was present, the greater the likelihood was that someone would be killed.
"And here we are ... standing here, proven right in the worst possible way,” Thorne said.
Matt Giles, a Granite Street resident, said “I felt so disillusioned and small,” when he heard the news.
“When my taxpayer dollars, when our taxpayer dollars sponsor the murder of any one member of our community, nobody’s rights are safe,” Giles said.
Some were unmoved by the city’s expression of sympathy and demanded action.
Sam Pecor, a Ward 7 resident and former city council candidate, called for recall elections if LaFountain and the council didn’t work harder to keep ICE out of the city.
“Statements and proclamations tell us what you believe, but they don’t make us safe,” Pecor said. “If this council chooses continued passivity I will organize, petition and work openly to replace those of you at the ballot box.”
Councilor Lisa Vadnais responded to criticisms that the council, and LaFountain in particular.
“His calm resolve may appear to some (that) he is doing nothing, and it may appear that we are doing nothing, but that is what leadership should look like,” Vadnais said. “Sometimes it’s not loud, full of answers, but there are things happening behind the scenes.”
