Dem lawmakers demand answers in fatal ICE shooting
Trending
WASHINGTON -- Democratic members of Congress are demanding answers about Homeland Security's vetting and training of immigration enforcement agents after it was disclosed that the ICE officer involved in a deadly shooting this week in Maine had a history of mental health issues and violent behavior.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that David Brouillette, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine, is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to several of his close relatives.
The AP reached out to congressional leaders and several key lawmakers of both major political parties for response.
The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Brouillette's history of violence and mental health issues and the death in Biddeford, Maine, "directly call into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits."
"This senseless tragedy must be investigated and the officer responsible should be taken off our streets and face justice for his actions," Thompson said in a statement to the AP.
Brouillette didn't respond to text messages or an email seeking comment, but three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and a daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who led a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year as Democrats tried to impose restraints on immigration enforcement operations, said the consequences of failing to put guardrails on ICE are now being measured in lives.
President Donald Trump's administration "rushed 12,000 agents onto our streets without ensuring they were fit to carry a badge and a gun -- and Republicans gave this rogue agency vast power and no accountability," Schumer said in a statement.