I live 20 minutes from the corner of Pool and Hill streets. On July 13, a federal officer shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero there, a 26-year-old father, authorized to work in this country. His 3-year-old daughter was with him. It was the second time in a week that immigration officers killed someone.
I am not writing in rage, though rage would be justified. I am writing in exhaustion. I cannot understand how my government kills a man in front of his child and the machinery of accountability barely stirs. In a functioning democracy, the state does not take a life without consequence. An officer placed on leave “per standard protocol” is not a consequence. It is a procedure.
Maine is watching Sens. Collins and King and Rep. Pingree. We need an investigation that is genuinely independent and public, mandatory body cameras for every federal immigration officer and real legal limits on how ICE operates in our communities.
A little girl in Bluey pajamas lost her father on a Biddeford street. If that does not move our government to act, I no longer know what will.
Ryan Miller
Portland
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