Statement to the University community regarding Biddeford shooting

Dear UNE Community,

Over the last several days, the world’s attention has turned to Biddeford following the shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Just days earlier, ICE agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston, Texas. Together, these two incidents have reignited a national conversation about ICE’s use of force, and I know they are weighing heavily on many UNE students, faculty, professional staff, and alumni, both locally and globally.

The UNE community is richly diverse across many dimensions, including political perspectives. As a matter of policy, my colleagues and I in University leadership generally refrain from issuing statements on contemporary political issues and events, even those about which we hold strong personal views. We do this because a university president’s statement inevitably risks amplifying some perspectives over others, which can undermine the institution’s role in fostering a robust marketplace of ideas in which a wide array of ideas can be fairly discussed and debated.

But there are exceptions to this general rule, notably when an event directly touches our university community. This fatal shooting in downtown Biddeford, just a few miles from one of our Maine campuses, represents such an exception. 

Although many details of the shooting are not yet known to the public, what has been revealed should alarm all Nor’easters, and indeed all Americans. A local neighbor, who appears to have been simply going about his day, was killed by ICE agents. The shooting follows a pattern that has become all too familiar across our country: agents, without body cameras, provocatively entering communities and using deadly force even when there was no imminent threat to the public. I join Maine’s federal delegation, along with state and local authorities, in calling for a thorough and transparent investigation into this tragedy. 

Regardless of one’s policy perspective around border enforcement and immigration policy, deadly violence by any branch of law enforcement must always be a last resort, used only following maximum restraint, not a reflexive first step. 

UNE is a community that celebrates our diversity, including our students, professional staff, and faculty from around the globe. Biddeford itself has long been a community of immigrants and is stronger because of it. I encourage all Nor’easters to support one another during this difficult time, to make your voices heard by policymakers, and to reach out to the immigrants within the UNE community and beyond to offer support. 

In addition to supporting one another during this difficult time, I also want to remind you of professional support available to you:

Students: UNE’s on-call counseling service is available 24/7. Call (207) 602-2549 and press 6.

Faculty and professional staff: Support is available through the Employee Assistance Program at https://www.une.edu/hr/benefits/employee-assistance-program. 

Sincerely,

James D. Herbert

President