{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6835", "Pingree, Homeland Democrats Host Hearing on ICE\u2019s Deadly Use of Force in Biddeford", "2026-08-17", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Chellie Pingree", "P000597", "pingree.house.gov", "pingree", "https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Today, U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), and Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, hosted a Democratic shadow hearing examining Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s (ICE) use of force and abuse of power following the tragic killing of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero in Biddeford.\n\nThe hearing, titled \u201cSeeking Justice in Biddeford: Oversight of ICE\u2019s Use of Force in the Death of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero,\u201d brought Members of Congress to Maine to hear directly from the Dur\u00e1n Guerrero family\u2019s legal representation, local officials, and immigrant rights advocates about the investigation, the need for accountability, and the effects of ICE operations on communities across the state.\n\nClick here to watch the full hearing.\n\n\u201cJohan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero should be alive today. His family deserves answers, and the people of Biddeford deserve to know how an ICE operation in their community ended in an innocent man\u2019s death. Today\u2019s testimony laid bare the devastating human cost of allowing ICE to operate with impunity in our communities and underscored the urgent need for transparency and accountability,\u201d said Pingree. \u201cAs demonstrated today by their absence and utter ambivalence to the terror ICE is inflicting across the country, Republicans refuse to hold this Administration accountable for the atrocities committed using Americans\u2019 tax dollars. My Democratic colleagues and I will keep fighting for the truth, for justice for Johan and his loved ones, and for safeguards to ensure no other family has to endure a tragedy like this.\u201d\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s hearing made clear that the Dur\u00e1n family deserves accountability and justice for Johan\u2019s Sebastian\u2019s death. ICE cannot continue using reckless and deadly force without consequence,\u201d said Ranking Member Thompson. \u201cCongress must hold this agency accountable before another family is forced to endure this kind of tragedy.\u201d\n\n\"While Republicans continue to fund, greenlight, and cover up for ICE, Democrats are shining a light on the truth. And the truth is these are not protectors. This is a masked, secret police force that has terrorized children, trampled on our Constitution, and wielded violence as a political weapon,\u201d said Democratic Whip Katherine Clark. \u201cWe will continue fighting to secure justice for Johan, for his family, and for every American who has been targeted by this unhinged administration.\"\n\n\"We must hold the line against the Trump administration's reckless, unaccountable immigration enforcement. The killing of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero is not an isolated incident. It fits a pattern of ICE agents operating with impunity in communities across the country, from Louisiana to Maine. Democrats are stepping up when Republicans in Congress have failed to act, demanding the transparency and accountability that ICE and the Trump administration have refused to provide. The rule of law must still mean something in America, and that means no person, whether a mother detained without warning, a student punished for speaking out, or a man killed by the very agents meant to protect and serve, should be denied justice. Congress has a constitutional duty to conduct oversight, and we intend to fulfill it until ICE is held accountable,\" said Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (LA-02).\n\nWitnesses included Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain; Ben Gideon, legal representative for the Dur\u00e1n Guerrero family; Sue Roche, Executive Director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project; Mufalo Chitam, Executive Director of the Maine Immigrants\u2019 Rights Coalition; and Crystal Cron, Executive Director of Presente! Maine.\n\n\u201cA federal force came into my city, exercised one of the most extraordinary powers the government possesses\u2014the use of deadly force\u2014and left the consequences for Johan's family and our small community to carry,\u201d said Mayor Liam LaFountain. \u201cAn arrest can be challenged. A removal order can be reviewed. A death, however, cannot be reversed\u2014not by Congress, not by a court, not by this Committee. That is why the safeguards around deadly force should be the strongest we have. And yet in Biddeford on the morning of July 13, they were the weakest.Biddeford is a city of 23,000 people. We were left to absorb the aftermath of that federal law-enforcement operation without federal support.\u201d\n\n\u201c[...] What happened in Biddeford, Maine, in the early morning hours of July 13, was the result of intentional policies and decisions\u2014at the highest levels of our government-that treat the killing of innocent people as acceptable collateral damage,\u201d said Gideon. \u201cWe know it's not an unintended, random occurrence, because it keeps happening, over and over again, in Minnesota, and Houston, and now in Biddeford. We know it's not an unintended, random occurrence because there is no remorse, no apology or even the slightest concern shown to those whose lives have been destroyed. And we know it's not an unintended, random occurrence because there has been no effort to investigate the causes of what happened, or to change anything to stop it from happening again.\u201d\n\n\u201cPeople come for our mountains, coast, and small towns. But people stay because of something deeper: community. Maine is a place where neighbors shovel each other's driveways, bring food when a family is struggling, and check in on each other,\u201d said Chitam. \u201cFor immigrant families, that is part of what makes Maine home.VAnd on July 13, something about that sense of home was shattered. Before Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Guerrero was killed in Biddeford, people feared what an encounter with ICE could mean. After July 13, their reality became all too clear\u2014an encounter could mean they may never return home. A father left for an ordinary day and did not come home.\u201d\n\n\u201cJohan's death is not an isolated tragedy. It is part of a system that has inflicted fear, separation, detention, and death on immigrant communities. The responsibility for his death, and the many deaths by immigration police and in ICE detention this year, is a collective one,\u201d said Cron. \u201cMaine people have been clear about what is needed. ICE out of Maine, ICE out from everywhere. The abolishment of ICE and all immigration policing is one of many steps toward repair. It is not the last. Today, Presente! Maine is calling on Congress to pass Congresswoman Ramirez and Congresswoman Clarke's Melt ICE Act to end DHS's funding to detain and monitor immigrants and reinvest those funds into services that support life. We ask you to mourn and grieve Johan Sebasti\u00e1n's life by abolishing ICE and ending all funding for immigration policing. Our healing and future depend on it.\"\n\n\u201cJohan Sebasti\u00e1n\u2019s death is a devastating tragedy, felt by his family, the Biddeford community, and all of Maine. It is also not an isolated incident, and it was not an accident. It is the direct and foreseeable result of deliberate federal policy choices, rooted in racism and dehumanization,\u201d said Roche. \u201cICE is an imminent public safety threat and must get out of our communities now. The billions of dollars that have been appropriated to immigration enforcement are wholly unjustifiable. Congress should take all steps to defund and dismantle ICE and put those taxpayer dollars towards the public good.\u201d", 1, "2026-08-19T05:29:02Z", "2026-08-19T05:30:24Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6835"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.723870936781168, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}