A New York Times investigation published on Wednesday, November 11, has put the hiring and vetting of a rookie U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer at the centre of the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old Colombian man during a vehicle stop in Biddeford, Maine, last summer. The Times reported that David Brouillette, the officer whose family says he fired the fatal shots, started field work after a fast-tracked preliminary screening, carried a gun while a contractor's full background investigation was still unfinished, and in 2021 wrote family emails deriding his sister's Colombian-born partner as a “non citizen.”
Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot on July 13, 2026, in Biddeford, a city in York County in southern Maine. The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that the vehicle tried to flee and that the officer fired out of fear for public safety. The Times reported that evidence confirming that account has yet to emerge, and no official evidence supporting it has been released.
Source: The New York Times via Immigration Analytics
ICE has declined to confirm that Brouillette fired the shots or to describe his current job status. According to the Times, his former wife and daughter told the paper that he said he did fire. That distinction matters: the identification of Brouillette as the shooter rests, in the public record so far, on his family's account and the Times' reporting, not on an ICE confirmation.
The family's lawyer, Sean P. Murphy, told the Times that Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the United States and was not an ICE target. Federal agents had reportedly been watching a home to find someone else who had a deportation order, according to ABC News reporting cited in follow-up coverage.
What the Times found in the hiring file
According to the Times, Brouillette, 38, is an Army veteran who held at least seven jobs between 2015 and 2025. Court records show he twice made false statements in filings, the paper reported, including a 2019 claim that he had worked for the Hallowell police; the Hallowell chief told the Times he had applied but was never hired.
He applied to ICE in the fall of 2025 and was cleared to start on December 1, during the agency's hiring surge. The Times reported that he skipped the agency's full training course in Georgia, following a shortened pathway, and that his full background report, prepared by a contractor, had still not been reviewed seven months later, on the day of the shooting. The Times said it could find no employer or family member the government had contacted about him before the shooting.
Follow-up coverage of the Times report, including the Portland Press Herald's earlier identification of Brouillette as the officer involved, also reported prior allegations of physical abuse and a history of mental-health treatment raised by relatives. Those are allegations reported by family members and in court records; they have not been tested in a completed public proceeding, and Brouillette's own response to the full Times account has not been published.
The 2021 emails, and why investigators care
In 2021, four years before he joined ICE, Brouillette sent angry emails to his sister, Elizabeth Emen, over her relationship with a Colombian-born man, with whom she has two children. The Times published excerpts in which he called the man a “non citizen” and said he should go back to his own country. His mother, Susan Bedard, texted the Times that her son was dangerous and should not have weapons, adding: “Believe his victims, not him.”
Experts quoted by the Times said bias evidence of that kind could matter legally. A state prosecution of a federal officer would face Supremacy Clause immunity, the doctrine rooted in the Supreme Court's 1890 decision in In re Neagle, under which federal officers cannot be punished under state law for acts authorized by federal law that were necessary and proper to their duties. Courts applying the rule, such as the Second Circuit in New York v. Tanella (2004), ask whether the officer honestly and reasonably believed the force was needed — and evidence of personal hostility goes directly to whether a claimed fear was honest.
DHS response and the wider hiring surge
DHS told the Times that “any claims of substandard training or vetting are FALSE” and that officers are trained to use the minimum force necessary. ICE has declined to confirm Brouillette's role or status. The department announced on January 3, 2026, that its recruiting drive had brought in 12,000 new officers and agents, a 120 percent increase in ICE manpower.
Source: The Washington Post via Immigration Analytics
This week, after The Washington Post identified at least 19 recent hires with misconduct or criminal red flags, DHS told the Post that some officers work on “temporary status” while a full background check is pending. Critics of the surge argue that a process built for speed means some officers make arrests — and carry weapons — before the agency has finished checking who they are. DHS disputes that its standards were lowered.
Two investigations, and a December deadline
Maine Attorney General Aaron M. Frey opened an investigation immediately after the shooting, and the DHS Office of Inspector General has said it is also investigating the use of deadly force, according to the Times. Three people briefed on the matter told the Times that federal cooperation with Frey's office has been more limited. Frey's term ends in December, and Murphy said investigators told him decisions would come before then.
The politics around the case have moved as well. Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, asked ICE after the shooting to stop all non-urgent vehicle stops, the Times reported. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said there will be “zero change” in immigration policy after the midterms, but House committees that change hands in January will be able to demand the hiring records the agency has so far withheld from the press.
Vehicle stops are one of the most common points of contact between immigration officers and the public, including immigrant workers and truck drivers on U.S. highways. How ICE vets and trains the officers making those stops is now the subject of a state investigation, a federal watchdog review and a coming congressional oversight fight.
What happens next
The next step is Maine's charging decision, expected before Frey leaves office in December, according to the family's lawyer. The inspector general's findings on the Biddeford shooting are also awaited, as is a figure DHS has not released: how many ICE officers were armed and working before their background investigations were closed. Civil suits have been filed on behalf of Durán Guerrero's family. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the attorney general's office or DHS issues its next statement.