Third Person Dies Fleeing ICE in a Week as Agency's Vehicle-Stop Pause Takes Effect

Since ICE agents shot and killed Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine on Monday, July 13, a third death connected to federal immigration enforcement has occurred, and the agency's new nationwide pause on most vehicle stops is now in effect.

On Tuesday, July 14, a 28-year-old Mexican citizen was one of four people in a vehicle stopped by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents in a gas station parking lot in St. Augustine, Florida, according to the Department of Homeland Security's account to Fox News Digital. All four fled on foot. One ran across a busy road and was struck by a tractor-trailer, dying at the scene. The Florida Highway Patrol said the 64-year-old truck driver stopped immediately and tried to render aid. FHP is investigating the crash itself, not the ICE encounter.

That death came just hours after the Trump administration told ICE agents to temporarily halt most vehicle stops nationwide, according to Fox News. The order followed the Maine shooting and an earlier fatal shooting last week in Houston, where DHS says Lorenzo Salgado Araujo tried to use his van as a weapon against an agent, a claim passengers in the vehicle have disputed, according to NPR.

What DHS Has and Hasn't Confirmed

Maine Sen. Angus King's office confirmed to NPR that DHS has agreed to pause non-urgent vehicle stops. King told the Maine press corps he spoke directly with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem the night of the Biddeford shooting and secured a commitment that the investigation would be "full, fair and transparent." King said Duran Guerrero, 26, had an outstanding order to leave the country, and that DHS described him as having "weaponized" his vehicle before an agent opened fire.

The problem King and others have flagged is straightforward: there is no video. The agents in Biddeford were not wearing body cameras, a fact confirmed by both NPR and the Bangor Daily News. DHS told NPR it will not "disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics," and it's unclear exactly what the vehicle-stop pause looks like in practice, or how long it will last.

Paul Hunker, former chief counsel of ICE in Dallas, told NPR the legal standard for deadly force is clear: an officer has to reasonably believe the person poses an imminent threat of harm. DHS's own policy states deadly force cannot be used solely to prevent someone from fleeing unless that person poses a significant threat of death or serious injury to the agent or others. Whether that standard was met in Houston or Biddeford is exactly what investigators need to determine, and without body camera footage in Maine, that determination rests heavily on the agents' own accounts.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican up for reelection in 2026, told reporters she called DHS Secretary Noem the night of the shooting and personally urged her to "cease all non-urgent vehicle stops," according to both NPR and the Bangor Daily News. Collins, along with the rest of Maine's congressional delegation, sent DHS's inspector general a formal request for a timeline of events, an evaluation of the tactics and use-of-force decision, and clarification on why no body cameras or audio evidence exists. She said plainly that ICE "needs to improve its performance."

The Political Fight in Maine

The Bangor Daily News reports the shooting has become a flashpoint in Maine's Senate race, where seven Democrats are vying to replace Graham Platner as the nominee against Collins ahead of a July 25 nominating convention. Platner dropped out last week after a sexual assault allegation he denies but which, according to PBS, many former allies described as credible.

Democratic candidate Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine CDC, directly tied Collins to the shooting because she chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which approved roughly $70 billion in ICE and Border Patrol funding. "She's got power, but she didn't use it to rein in a rogue agency, and instead gave them a blank check to kill," Shah said outside Collins' office, according to PBS. He called for ICE to be abolished.

Collins did vote to fund ICE at that level, and critics have a legitimate point that oversight of an agency now tied to at least 11 deaths since January 2025, per the Bangor Daily News, is a real question for anyone who controls its purse strings. But Collins didn't sit on her hands after Biddeford. She called DHS leadership directly, got a commitment to halt non-urgent stops, and joined a bipartisan letter demanding an inspector general review. Whether that response is adequate is a fair political argument. Whether she "enabled lawlessness," as Shah put it, is a conclusion the facts so far don't establish.

Sarah Saldaña, a former ICE acting director under President Obama, told NPR the vehicle-stop pause is "a good start." Hunker agreed the shift reduces risk, noting ICE has historically preferred to take custody of people already in jail rather than conduct roadside stops, precisely because of the danger vehicle pursuits pose to everyone nearby.

None of the three deaths in the past week, in Houston, Biddeford, and St. Augustine, have produced body camera footage or an independent forensic account beyond agency statements. The FBI is leading the Biddeford investigation. No charges have been filed against any agent in any of the three incidents, and no findings have been released. Whether the pause on vehicle stops holds once the immediate political pressure fades remains to be seen. So too whether DHS will require body cameras going forward, something it has not committed to as of this writing.