Wife remembers Colombian killed by ICE as dedicated father; 'I wish he would tell me: "Calm down, my skinny one, I'm here"'

Karolina Rojas, the wife of Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who died this week after being shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Maine, has remembered him as a devoted father and a man with big dreams. "He was a sensible, hardworking man, dedicated to his family, always dreamed big, had many dreams to fulfill, and spread his joy to others. From the moment we met, we were never apart," she stated during a press conference with pro-immigrant organizations in Maine.

Rojas spoke tearfully about her husband, recalling their meeting, their relationship, and their love for their three-year-old daughter, Dulce. "I feel so unprotected. I wish I could run into his arms and he would say, 'Calm down, my skinny one, I'm here,'" she declared, accompanied by the victim's sister and the family's lawyer, Benjamin Gideon. Durán Guerrero was killed on Monday in Biddeford, southern Maine, when he was shot while driving his car with Rojas and their daughter, according to witnesses.

ICE asserted that the Colombian was not the target of the operation, which was searching for an immigrant with a deportation order. Lorenzo Salgado, a Mexican man fatally shot by another agent in Houston, was also not the intended target. Durán Guerrero, who immigrated to the United States three years ago, worked as a delivery driver and cleaned at a veterinary clinic.

The family's lawyer noted that Durán Guerrero had "not been accused of any crime" during his years in the U.S. and that his immigration status was regulated. "On Monday, he left home for work as he did every morning, and at that moment, he was killed by federal agents," the lawyer said. He added that it was a quiet morning with "no reports of emergencies" that ended up being "destroyed by the actions of federal agents." The lawyer denounced Durán Guerrero as a victim of government policies, calling such tragedies "collateral damage" from operations, alluding to the immigration policies of the Trump administration.

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Me siento tan desprotegida, quisiera salir corriendo a los brazos de él y dijera 'tranquila, mi flaca, acá estoy'.