An ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian national in Maine this week, and the Associated Press immediately started digging through the officer's personal life rather than reporting the facts of the encounter — the same playbook the establishment press runs every time immigration law gets enforced.
On Monday, federal agents were conducting targeted surveillance in Biddeford on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal. ICE says the driver attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. The man killed was 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national. Sen. Angus King's office confirmed that Durán Guerrero was not the intended target of the warrant.
Rather than investigate the circumstances of the shooting, the AP went straight for the officer. David Brouillette, 37, was identified not by the government — which refused to name him — but by his ex-wife, who then handed the press a trove of family court records and allegations of abusive behavior dating back years. The Philadelphia Inquirer framed Brouillette's past as evidence that DHS failed to vet recruits during a hiring spree under Trump's immigration crackdown. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution led with relatives calling him a man who "never should have been given a badge and gun." The Portland Press Herald, to its credit, stuck closer to the facts of the case and included witness corroboration of the identification.
Ashley Brouillette told the Press Herald her ex-husband called her after the shooting asking her to vouch for his character, which she refused to do. She said she previously reported concerns about his mental health to his military superiors. Court records obtained by the AP detail allegations of physical and verbal abuse raised by his second ex-wife. Brouillette has no criminal record in Maine.
ICE spokesperson Lauren Bis responded to inquiries by saying the agency "will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers" and noted the officer in question has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required use-of-force training.
The AP's framing is the story here. A man with a final order of removal was encountered during a targeted enforcement operation. He attempted to flee. An officer fired. Those are the facts that matter to the public. Instead, the AP spent its resources excavating a decade of family disputes and psychiatric history — none of which has been adjudicated in criminal court — to paint a target on the back of every officer enforcing immigration law. The Inquirer explicitly tied the officer's background to Trump's hiring policies, making the political agenda plain.
At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since the crackdown began, according to the Inquirer. Each case deserves factual reporting. What it doesn't deserve is the press acting as opposition researchers for the open-borders lobby.
The question the AP won't ask: why is a Colombian national with a final order of removal living in coastal Maine with a partner and young daughter while ICE has to hunt him down? That's the story ordinary Americans care about. The officer's divorce records aren't.
