Biddeford resident Monica Davis was helping a friend move on a Monday morning in July when she saw a girl racing down the road saying, “They’ve just killed someone, ICE just killed someone in the street.”
That was how Davis, who lives a few blocks from Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero’s family, found out that he had been killed by federal immigration agents.
“I will just never forget that moment of discovering that it had happened right here in the center of town, right next to our home,” she said on Tuesday, holding a sign reading “ICE OUT” at a protest outside U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ Biddeford office.
“Using your voice, it’s a rare chance that we have in this world to be able to speak up for the things that we believe,” Davis added. “So I’m going to be just absolutely blasting my resistance to the ICE and Trump regime at every single opportunity that I get.”
Davis was among more than 150 people who lined Main Street on Tuesday, echoing calls for accountability and criticizing Collins for supporting an additional $70 billion in funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in congressional Republicans’ latest budget resolution.
The group also took time to remember Guerrero and the dozens of others who have died in detention or were shot by immigration agents nationally since President Donald Trump’s enforcement surge began.
Alessia Gaspar Da Silva, whose husband, Marcos, was taken by ICE in January and still remains in custody, spoke about the harsh conditions her husband has faced in detention, including being fed once every 30 hours, denied medical care, and relocated to different states without her knowledge.
“He’s been gone for seven months. It feels like a lifetime,” she said.
Da Silva told the crowd she has repeatedly reached out to Collins’ office. In response, she said she received a newsletter, listing the senator’s accomplishments.
“Collins has not done anything,” Da Silva said. “She has no accountability. No transparency. No transparency for the people that are … being terrorized.”
Democratic Maine lawmakers, including Sen. Henry Ingwersen from York County, and Reps. Ellie Sato from Gorham and Marc Malon from Biddeford attended, urging the crowd to vote this November.
“Susan’s vote to fund ICE with no strings attached was shameful. And we, as voters across this city, across this district, and across Maine, need to make this very clear to her,” Ingwersen said.
“Turn that anger into getting out to the polls, and we can start then to turn this around.”
Mainers from across the state joined Biddeford locals outside Collins’ office. Pam Ericson, a teacher at Lewiston Public Schools and Bath resident, said she attended the protest because of the fear ICE agents have caused in the community where she works.
“Something like that could have happened in Lewiston. The whole community is afraid,” she said.
“I work with kids who just came to the United States, and they don’t come to school. I have to give them rides, their families won’t go to work,” she added. “It’s very scary.”
Congress to hold field hearing on Biddeford ICE killing
The demonstration, which was organized by the Maine People’s Alliance and Center for Popular Democracy, was held the same day that U.S. Chellie Pingree announced that members of Congress will be holding a field hearing in Biddeford next week on ICE’s use of force in the case.
Pingree, along with U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, and U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts will hear from representatives for the Guerrero family, local officials, community advocates, and others who will speak to the state of the investigation and the impact ICE’s operations have had on Maine.
Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain said in a statement Tuesday that he hopes that Republican members of Congress would also participate “because this is an issue that deserves serious attention and oversight from across the political spectrum.”
“Johan’s family and the people of Biddeford deserve a full and independent understanding of what occurred,” LaFountain said. “Federal authority must come with federal accountability, and Congress has an important role to play in providing that oversight when the exercise of federal authority results in the death of a member of our community.”
Attorney Ben Gideon, who represents the victim’s family, told Maine Public that the family is actively complying with the Maine Attorney General’s investigation but that no federal investigators have reached out.
The hearing, which is open to the public, will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, August 17, at Biddeford High School’s Little Theater.
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