This article was originally published in Common Dreams under Creative Commons 3.0 license. Read the original article. Contact: editor@commondreams.org

By Jake Johnson

Democratic US Senate candidate Troy Jackson on Tuesday castigated his Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, for voting to funnel tens of millions of dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement just over a month before one of the agency’s officers killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.

“Senator Collins paid for the bullets at [President] Donald Trump’s command. Now she wants credit for not pulling the trigger,” Jackson said in his closing remarks at the third debate of the critical US Senate contest. The debate was held three months to the day after ICE agent David Brouillette shot and killed Durán Guerrero—a father and Colombian national who had been authorized to work in the US—during a traffic stop.

See Also: Anthropic AI Misuse Report: Yemen-Based Weapons Group Used Claude AI to Develop Missile Guidance Software and Rockets

Jackson pointed to Collins’ June vote in favor of a $70 billion funding package that included nearly $40 billion for ICE, whose agents Trump has unleashed on American cities with deadly consequences. According to a CBS News review, federal immigration agents have killed at least nine people and injured over a dozen more in roughly 30 shootings so far during Trump’s second White House term.

Days after the shooting in Biddeford, Collins—who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee—declined to say she regretted supporting the additional ICE funding, which had few meaningful guardrails.

During Tuesday’s debate, Collins admitted that “far too many ICE officers were hired and deployed without adequate vetting and training” and touted funding she secured for body cameras and “deescalation training” for immigration agents. (Collins voted against a Democratic amendment to the $70 billion funding package that would have required federal immigration agents to wear body cameras and make footage “accessible to Congress.”)

Jackson said marginal reforms aren’t enough to rein in “a rogue agency that’s doing Trump’s bidding.”

“I do believe it’s important to get rid of it and take that money and prioritize it into existing law enforcement,” said Jackson. “So, no, I’m not going to stand up for ICE, and I don’t think Senator Collins should either.”

[Wc/VP]

Suggested Reading: