Maine: Democrat Pingree Blocks Republicans From ICE Shooting Hearing, Triggering Biddeford Mayor’s Criticism

By Ted Cohen/Maine Wire

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree is refusing to invite GOP lawmakers to a hearing into the recent killing by ICE agents of a southern Maine immigrant.

The Democrat congresswoman’s partisan approach is angering Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain, who said he had hoped the hearing would be non-political.

"I expressed my hope that members from both parties would be invited to participate because this is an issue that deserves serious attention and oversight from across the political spectrum," LaFountain said in a statement.

Pingree said she planned a hearing Monday in Biddeford next week on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents' use of force following last month's deadly shooting in the Maine city.

But it's a Democrat-only affair.

Columbian national Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, 25, was shot and killed by an ICE officer on July 13 while he was in his car.

ICE officials later acknowledged that Guerrero wasn't even the suspect they were looking for.

LaFountain, expected to testify at the so-called hearing, seemed to raise the specter that Pingree is more interested in scoring political points than getting at the bottom of the killing.

LaFountain has been trying to keep the lid on his city, which is at a boiling point over the ICE shooting - whether federal-immigration authorities are damned or praised.

To his credit the mayor has refused to cash in politically on the fallout, unlike Pingree who has been and is exploiting the dead immigrant's legacy to every political advantage she can find.

Taking her lead, the Democrat members of the Homeland Security Committee issued a press release promoting their one-sided hearing.

“At the forum, entitled ‘Seeking Justice in Biddeford: Oversight of ICE’s Use of Force in the Death of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero,’ members of Congress will hear from representatives for the Durán Guerrero family, local officials, community advocates, and others who can speak to the state of the investigation and the impact ICE’s operations have had on Maine,” the Democrat said in a press release.

“Members and witnesses will hold a press conference immediately following the hearing,” they said, pointing out there will be no Republicans included in the publicity.

Pingree said the hearing will also be livestreamed on her YouTube channel.

She's also limiting press coverage to only “credentialed” journalists, who must RSVP before attending.

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