The Trump administration is reviewing its process for vetting U.S. immigration officers after reports that a man allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of an immigrant in Maine had a history of violent outbursts, a senior White House official said Sunday.
In an interview with The Washington Post earlier this month, Ashley Brouillette, said her former spouse, David Brouillette, told her in a phone call that he was the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Colombian immigrant Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.
Ashley Brouillette said her ex-husband had a pattern of violent outbursts, including throwing boiling hot water on her while she was holding their young daughter.
“If this person had that type of history, it would have been a vetting issue, and it should have been brought to the attention of those” who make such decisions, White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Homan did not confirm that David Brouillette shot Durán, but he said that the Department of Homeland Security is investigating whether the vetting process failed.
“When they hire somebody, they put them through a vetting process and look at all that stuff, so I know, based on that information, that that’s part of the ongoing investigation,” Homan said.
“Was that information not available? Did they not know? So there’s a separate administrative investigation on what happened here,” he added.
The Department of Homeland Security has not publicly released the name of the officer who shot Durán. The 25-year-old’s death led to mass protests in Maine.
Ashley Brouillette identified David Brouillette as the officer seen on video footage of the scene in Biddeford. The video does not show the shooting itself, but it does show two officers in the moments afterward.
She accused her ex-husband of pointing a gun at her and threatening her, among other instances of past violence. Ashley Brouillette also told The Post that he was diagnosed with several mental health disorders as a young adult. The Post could not independently verify those claims.
David Brouillette’s other ex-wife, Lucinda Brouillette, also has described a pattern of physical and mental abuse in court filings. In some filings, she said Brouillette had been medically discharged from the military in 2015 because of post-traumatic stress. The Post has not independently verified that claim.
In a statement to The Post, Lucinda Brouillette said that throughout her 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.”
The Post reported Friday that David Brouillette was found by a judge to have made statements in court last year that were not credible.
He said in an October court hearing related to child support payments that he was struggling to earn money because he had health issues and his driver’s license had been revoked, but a judge concluded in a Nov. 17 ruling that those claims were not credible.
The judge denied his request to terminate his child support payments to a former wife. Instead, the judge concluded that David Brouillette was “voluntarily underemployed.” David Brouillette did not respond to calls or emails for the story.
Ashley Brouillette said David Brouillette was hired by ICE in November, as the federal agency was rushing to put thousands of new officers on the streets. Former Department of Homeland Security officials have publicly questioned whether those new hires were properly vetted.
In the CNN interview, Homan said that ICE is also reviewing agent training and that agents are undergoing additional training.
“I know this specific case, as far as the vetting, is under review by internal affairs section, so we’ll see where it lies,” he said.
Durán, who had a work permit issued by the Trump administration, was shot shortly after leaving for work on July 13.
ICE has said that officers were in the area surveilling an address associated with an individual who has a final order of removal when they saw Durán leave and attempted to stop his vehicle. The agency has alleged that Durán tried to flee the officers and that an officer fired because he feared for public safety.
After the shooting, the office of Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said the officer would be placed on leave. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said at a news conference that none of the officers involved in the fatal shooting were wearing body cameras.
A spokesperson for King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told the senator that Durán was not the target of the ICE operation.