A memorial on July 15 honours Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian immigrant who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine [Ryan Murphy/AFP]By Al Jazeera Staff and The Associated PressPublished On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026
Reports have emerged that David Brouillette, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who shot and killed Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in the United States, was hired despite a troubling history of violent behaviour.
On Thursday, The Associated Press and CBS News published reports from Brouillette’s relatives that he struggled with mental health issues from an early age. They questioned his fitness to work as an ICE agent.
“I don’t understand how he keeps getting these jobs where there are firearms involved. He’s a danger to society. He’s a danger to people and to himself,” ex-wife Ashley Brouillette told CBS News. “And I just don’t understand how he keeps getting away with it.”
The reports have drawn new attention to the hiring practices at federal immigration agencies, which have faced criticism for loosening their standards to expand their ranks.
President Donald Trump has pledged to undertake the largest deportation campaign in US history, and agencies like ICE have conducted a hiring spree to meet the White House’s demands.
In January, ICE reported it had increased its manpower by 120 percent, swelling its workforce with 12,000 new hires.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, however, pointed to those statistics as evidence that the Trump administration prioritised expansion over public safety.
“The Trump administration rushed 12,000 agents onto our streets without ensuring they were fit to carry a badge and a gun,” Schumer said.
“Republicans gave this rogue agency vast power and no accountability.”
Brouillette is accused of the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Duran Guerrero near his home in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. That incident came just several days after the shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent in Houston, Texas, on July 7.
At least 10 people have been killed in incidents involving ICE agents since Trump began his immigration crackdown, which has been criticised for pursuing aggressive methods and violating civil liberties.
Brouillette’s ex-wife divorced him in 2009 after he allegedly became physically abusive after she became pregnant with their daughter.
In one incident recounted by Ashley and confirmed by her mother, Brouillette threw boiling water at her while she was holding their child.
Democrats were quick to cite the reports about Brouillette’s behaviour as evidence that greater oversight was needed over ICE and its sister agencies.
“This bombshell is absolutely appalling — exactly the intolerable danger that we feared as a result of arrest quotas and inadequate training,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a statement to The Associated Press following the report.
“This agent clearly should never have had a gun — let alone one provided to him by the United States government. And now a man is dead. I’m going to continue demanding answers and accountability,” he added.
