Homan Says ICE Agent In Fatal Maine Shooting 'Should Never Have Cleared Vetting'

Since the July 13 shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, the fallout has moved from the streets to the vetting files. White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union that the ICE agent involved in the killing should never have made it through the agency's screening process, if allegations against him hold up.

"If those are facts, I don't think he should ever have cleared vetting," Homan told host Dana Bash, according to CNN. He said an internal, administrative investigation is now running alongside the criminal probe into the shooting itself, and it's specifically examining how the vetting process handled the agent's background.

The agent has been identified by the Associated Press and the Boston Globe as David Brouillette, a 37-year-old Army veteran and former Department of Veterans Affairs police officer. DHS has not officially confirmed his identity. Neither this article nor DHS's public statements name him as anything other than a reported identification by outside outlets.

Two ex-wives have since gone public with abuse allegations. Lucinda Brouillette told NPR her ex-husband engaged in a "persistent pattern of abuse, intimidation, manipulation, fear and control," and said she believes he's "unequivocally" capable of this level of violence. Another ex-wife alleged stalking, harassment, and physical abuse of a daughter, according to the Associated Press. Court records cited by AP show requests for temporary protective orders, including one a judge granted against Brouillette. Newsweek reported that Brouillette denied the allegations in court filings. Nobody has been convicted of anything here, and the allegations, however serious, remain allegations in family court filings, not criminal findings.

Homan was careful to frame his comments around a conditional: IF the allegations are factual. He didn't confirm them himself. He also called the situation "a rare instance" rather than a pattern, and said flatly: "We will see. It's all being reviewed. We will see where it lies." That's a border czar declining to prejudge his own agency's investigation while still publicly conceding a serious system failure looks possible.

Here's the legitimate question Democrats are raising, and it's a fair one. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said Brouillette's alleged history "directly call[s] into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits," according to the Guardian. If a federal agent with documented protective order history and psychiatric red flags in family court records made it through ICE's hiring pipeline, that's not a partisan talking point. That's a hiring process either missing available records or ignoring them. Either explanation is bad.

The shooting itself happened during a vehicle stop. DHS said agents were surveilling the last known address of someone with a final removal order when Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national legally authorized to work in the U.S., attempted to flee in a vehicle. An officer opened fire, citing concern for public safety, according to DHS's account reported by Newsweek. Durán Guerrero was not the target of the operation. Security camera footage reviewed by Newsweek showed a white Kia moving erratically after gunfire, with witnesses reporting five shots.

None of the agents on scene were wearing body cameras, despite a yearslong federal push to expand their use, Newsweek reported. That's changing now. Acting ICE Director David Venturella has directed that at least one body camera be present on vehicle stops going forward, Homan said, and DHS has signed contracts worth over $30 million to purchase the cameras, according to NOTUS.

The Maine shooting came less than a week after ICE agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, during a vehicle stop in Houston. After both shootings, ICE briefly paused most vehicle stops to review the tactic. President Trump directed the agency to resume traffic enforcement within a day, according to NOTUS.

Homan said he doesn't "know specifically" the current administrative status of the agents involved in either shooting, but said ICE policy typically places them on administrative leave pending investigation.

What's unresolved: whether DHS's internal review will actually produce a public accounting of what vetting records existed on Brouillette and whether anyone with hiring authority saw them. Homan posed the two live questions himself: "Was that information not available? Did they not know?" Those answers haven't come yet, and no timeline for the review's completion has been announced.