U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s employee vetting process is under review as part of the investigation into the fatal shooting in Biddeford on July 13, White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday.
In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Homan said if allegations of domestic abuse are true, the officer involved “should not have cleared vetting.”
Host Dana Bash pointed to court documents and allegations by two ex-wives of David Brouillette describing a history of domestic abuse and violence. Though Homeland Security has not officially released the name of the shooter, DHS officials confirmed Brouillette’s involvement with the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero to NBC News. Maine Morning Star has not independently verified the connection to the shooting, though one of the ex-wives did recount the abuse allegations.
Court documents show that one of Brouillette’s ex-wives filed several requests for protection from harassment and protection from abuse orders against him, for herself and on behalf of their minor child. Most of those were denied, though a judge did him to temporarily relinquish his firearms. In several requests, she alleged that he showed up at her workplace, was constantly calling and texting her and smashed her phone. In other requests, she said that he threatened her life with his gun, and that he was verbally abusive towards their eldest daughter.
Brouillette has denied these allegations and also filed several requests for protection against his ex-wife, including on behalf of their children.
Investigations and interviews with relatives by the Portland Press Herald, AP, Boston Globe, NBC News and others detail a history of violence.
“When they hire somebody they put them through a vetting process and they look at all that stuff,” Homan said. “I know based on that information, that’s part of the ongoing investigation. Did the vetting process fail? Was that information not available? Did they not know?”
“If this person had that type of history,” he said, “it would have been a vetting issue and it should have been brought to the attention of those who make those decisions.”
In an effort to meet the Trump administration’s deportation goals, DHS launched an aggressive campaign to recruit more enforcement agents, including waiving age limits and promising signing bonuses of up to $50,000. In January the agency announced it had hired more than 12,000 new officers in less than a year.
Homan additionally noted that ICE’s training protocols are also being investigated.
Bash asked about the pause in vehicle-related enforcement stops issued by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin following the shooting, which President Donald Trump overturned one day later.
“While the pause was in place, you did say it was done for the safety of the officers and whether something could have been done…whether more needed to be looked at,” Bash said, asking Homan how all of that got accomplished during the day-long pause.
Homan said protocols around vehicle-related stops are still being reviewed. However, during the pause he said ICE Acting Director David Venturella “did make some immediate changes,” primarily requiring at least one body camera on the site of all vehicle stops.
“So we have everything on video, so whether the officer does something right or does something wrong… It’s on video,” Homan said.
The lack of body cameras worn by the officers involved in the Biddeford shooting and elsewhere is something the Trump administration and Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, have blamed on Democrats because of the recent partial government shutdown. Earlier this year, Democrats refused to sign on to DHS funding without substantial immigration enforcement reforms, including body camera requirements. However, independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and Senate Democrats said the department had sufficient time and resources to acquire body cameras, pointing to the $175 billion allocated by Congress to the agency in the past year.
“While DHS has previously acknowledged that body-worn cameras promote public trust and increase officer and public safety, accountability, and transparency, the Department has clearly not prioritized acquiring cameras,” the senators wrote in a July 19 letter.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office is separately conducting an investigation into the fatal shooting of the Columbian national and father, who according to officials was not the target of the enforcement order. In addition to seeking justice for Guerrero, Biddeford residents have called on their state and city leaders to take stronger action to protect the community, which they say has been threatened by ICE for months.
Kaitlyn Budion contributed reporting to this story.
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