Senators demand ICE answers and body cameras after deadly shootings in Maine and Houston

By — Rebecca Santana, Associated Press Rebecca Santana, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/senators-demand-ice-answers-and-body-cameras-after-deadly-shootings-in-maine-and-houston Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Senators demand ICE answers and body cameras after deadly shootings in Maine and Houston Nation Jul 20, 2026 3:10 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of Democratic U.S. senators and the Independent senator from Maine pushed for more details Monday from Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the agency's vetting practices for new agents and how officers conduct vehicle pursuits, even as they demanded that body cameras be swiftly rolled out to all officers. The demands came in a letter spearheaded by Maine's Independent Sen. Angus King, signed by 38 Democratic senators and sent to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The demands follow two deadly shootings in which ICE officers shot and killed immigrants in Houston and Maine. The Associated Press reported last week that the ICE officer in Maine who opened fire and killed a man from Colombia had a history of violent behavior toward family members that was detailed in family court records. His first ex-wife, Ashley Brouillette, told AP he was physically violent with her, including once throwing boiling water at her while she was holding their child. His second ex-wife, Lucinda Brouillette, sent a statement over the weekend alleging "a persistent pattern of abuse, intimidation, manipulation, fear, and control." "Throughout our marriage and in the years that followed, I have feared for a long time that his anger, aggression, and escalating behavior would eventually result in severe, life threatening violence, and I often believed I would be the one on the receiving end of it," she wrote. Hundreds of pages of family court documents describe their turbulent marriage, and the years after. Lucinda Brouillette told the court he had stalked and harassed her and physically and verbally abused his daughter, according to multiple requests for temporary protection orders. Brouillette tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair, and during another outburst, he dragged his daughter around the house as she cried, she said. "Dave needs counseling or something for his PTSD & depression," she wrote in an application for a temporary protective order on behalf of his teenage daughter which a judge granted in 2021. READ MORE: Lawmakers demand answers after 'bombshell' report of ICE officer shooting in Maine In court filings, David Brouillette said that his second ex-wife had slandered him. Multiple family members told the AP the government should have never given him a gun, badge and the authority to patrol city streets as the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation agenda. The senators' letter on Monday listed new measures to increase accountability at the agen