Under a blazing summer sun on Friday, July 17, hundreds of people gathered in downtown Biddeford to mourn the death of Johan Sebastián Guerrero, demand accountability for the fatal shooting of the Colombian immigrant by a federal immigration agent, and call for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The demonstration drew participants from across Maine and neighboring states. Families, faith leaders, elected officials, labor advocates, students, and immigrant rights supporters filled the park carrying signs reading “Justice for Johan,” “Immigrants Belong,” and “Abolish ICE.”
Throughout the rally, the crowd responded to speakers with chants of “No Justice! No Peace!” and “Abolish ICE!” A heavy police presence surrounded the event, with several downtown streets closed to traffic while officers monitored the peaceful gathering. An animal control officer was also present as part of the city’s public safety response.
Rachel Flehinger of Activate Maine served as moderator, keeping the crowd energized while emphasizing safety and unity. “When our fist goes up, everybody gets quiet,” Flehinger reminded participants. “That means somebody needs help, and we support our own. And our own means everybody.”
The rally followed the fatal shooting of Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian immigrant, husband, and father of a three-year-old daughter, during an encounter with an ICE agent earlier this month. Speakers repeatedly described his death as a tragedy that demands transparency, accountability, and an independent investigation.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) received one of the loudest ovations of the afternoon as he renewed his longstanding call to abolish ICE. “Johan Guerrero should be alive today,” Markey said. “He should be with us today.”
Calling Biddeford a city built by immigrants, Markey said generations of newcomers have strengthened communities throughout New England. “These immigrants are here to help their families and to help the community,” he said. “What happened here is absolutely unconscionable. It is wrong, and it must stop.”
Markey also urged Congress to abolish ICE and end qualified immunity for federal agents, arguing that families deserve meaningful avenues for accountability when deadly force is used.
“The revolution begins here in Biddeford,” he said. “We want ICE out of Biddeford, ICE out of Maine, ICE out of Boston, ICE out of our country.”
The crowd answered with prolonged applause and chants of “Abolish ICE.”
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U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) focused her remarks on the human cost of immigration enforcement and the stories her office hears from immigrant families throughout the state.
“No one should get in their car, ready to go to work, drive out their driveway and not know if they will be shot dead and never see their partner or their three-year-old daughter again,” Pingree said. “That should never happen in the United States of America, certainly not in Maine.”
Pingree questioned why ICE agents were operating in Biddeford and criticized what she described as reckless enforcement practices. “We need ICE out of our state,” she said. “This is a lawless, reckless, overfunded agency that continues to do damage across our country.”
She recounted helping immigrants detained in federal facilities and described families searching for loved ones who had been transferred across the country.
“These are our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers,” Pingree said. “They are helping Maine businesses survive and thrive.”
Ryan Fecteau, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, connected Guerrero’s death to Biddeford’s long history of opposing intolerance.
“A young man, a father, a husband, a brother, a son, was shot dead in our streets by a federal agent working on behalf of our government,” Fecteau said. “That is wrong. That is disgusting. And we will not sit back silently anymore.”
Fecteau read excerpts from a 1924 letter written by Biddeford’s mayor opposing a planned Ku Klux Klan march into the city, arguing that today’s resistance against fear and division reflects the same values.
“I share the same sentiment today,” he said. “To the members of ICE who think they should come here: Do not cross that bridge. Do not come to our city. Do not come to our state.”
One of the afternoon’s most emotional speeches came from Fernanda McLaughlin, a Colombian immigrant and community advocate from South Portland.
Speaking both as an immigrant and as the mother of a young son, McLaughlin described Guerrero’s death as deeply personal for Maine’s Colombian community. “Johan Sebastián’s parents are in Colombia waiting for their son to come back dead,” she said. “One more time a child is separated from his father. One more time a wife is separated from her husband.”
McLaughlin said the tragedy left many immigrant families questioning their safety. “Our community is traumatized,” she said. “We are left with the same questions: Why? How? Who will be held accountable?”
Calling for a full independent investigation, she added, “This is not just about immigration. It’s about whether we value human life in Maine.”
Civil and human rights advocate Faisal Khan, founder of the Carolina Peace Center, encouraged participants to continue organizing in the weeks following the rally. “We are rising up,” Khan said. “We are speaking out. We are showing up.” He urged residents to remain engaged and continue demanding accountability while supporting Guerrero’s family and immigrant communities across Maine.
The demonstration also attracted supporters from outside New England. Matt Gordon, a military veteran and social media advocate from Syracuse, New York, said he drove several hours because he believes what happens to immigrant families in one community affects the nation as a whole.
Biddeford, Maine, Photo | Éloge Willy Kaneza
“The United States of America is one big community,” Gordon told Amjambo Africa. “What happens to one of our neighbors in Biddeford affects our neighbors in Syracuse, Washington, D.C., and everywhere else.”
He said showing up in person sends an important message. “People need to see that it’s okay to get out of your house and stand in solidarity with your neighbors,” Gordon said. “The USA is made better by our immigrant communities. We’re made richer by our immigrant communities.”
The momentum continued the following day, Saturday, July 18, as over a thousand protesters flooded Portland’s Monument Square to demand justice for Guerrero. Demonstrators also honored Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was killed by ICE agents in Houston, Texas, just days prior.
Organized as part of a nationwide “National Day of Action” under the banner “Stop ICE Terror,” the Portland event was spearheaded by local advocacy groups including Presente! Maine and the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition. The rally featured passionate speeches, a march through downtown, and urgent calls for systemic immigration reform, an immediate end to militarized enforcement tactics, and the complete abolishment of ICE.
Safiya Khalid, a community organizer from Lewiston, emphasized the broader systemic issues driving the protests.
“Johan’s death did not happen in isolation. It exposed the reality that immigrant communities had been living with for months,” Khalid said. “It was a result of an immigration system that has increasingly become punitive, increasingly militarized and increasingly disconnected from the humanity of the people it touches.”
