{"id":226081,"date":"2026-09-30T14:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T14:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/three-deaths-three-states-24-hours-one-day-in-ices-quiet-but-gruesome-surge-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T14:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T14:54:19","slug":"three-deaths-three-states-24-hours-one-day-in-ices-quiet-but-gruesome-surge-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/three-deaths-three-states-24-hours-one-day-in-ices-quiet-but-gruesome-surge-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Three deaths, three states, 24 hours: one day in ICE\u2019s quiet but \u2018gruesome\u2019 surge – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

These men in Maine, Georgia and Florida shared no ties \u2013 until they became casualties in the latest phase of Trump\u2019s anti-immigration campaign
Gone in 90 seconds: an \u2018invisibilized\u2019 ICE is arresting more people than ever<\/a>
I<\/span>t was 7am on 13 July this year. A warm, sunny morning, as residents of Biddeford, Maine<\/a>, left their homes, got into their cars and began their commute. Joan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero came out of the apartment he lived in with his partner and daughter and drove off in his white car. Minutes later, neighbors heard three pops. Dur\u00e1n Guerrero was dead<\/a>.
More than 1,200 miles (1,900km) away in Ocilla, Georgia<\/a>, Jes\u00fas Manuel Arenas-Silva was shuffled on to a bus. Private sector guards and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE<\/a>) officials were beginning the process of transferring him and several other immigrants from one detention center to another nearly two hours away. Ten minutes into the ride, he became unconscious. Doctors at a nearby hospital pronounced him dead<\/a>.
Less than 24 hours later, Juan Jairo Coronilla Dur\u00e1n, pulled up to a gas station near a busy highway in St Augustine, Florida<\/a>, as the sun was rising in the bright sky. Soon after, he would lie dead on the road nearby, hit by<\/a> a semitruck when running away from immigration officers.
There were no ties between Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, Arenas-Silva and Coronilla Dur\u00e1n, but within those 24 hours, the three men suddenly became connected as casualties in the latest phase<\/a> of Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s aggressive anti-immigration campaign.
Twenty-four hours. Three states. Three people dead. Countless lives changed in seconds.
The men in Maine and Florida were not even ICE\u2019s intended targets for arrest \u2013 they became \u201ccollaterals<\/a>\u201d, as agency officials call them.
\u201cThree people dying in one day is an amplification of what we\u2019ve already seen,\u201d said Andrew Free, a former immigration attorney and investigative journalist who has for years extensively worked on ICE-related death cases. \u201cThe choices that the Trump regime has made since January 2025 have had the consequence of increasing the numbers of people who die in the field and in custody.\u201d
Throughout 2025 and into early 2026, federal immigration officials descended on cities including Los Angeles<\/a>, Chicago<\/a> and Minneapolis<\/a>. They swaggered in militarized gear and brandished their weapons and crowd-control sprays<\/a>, while engaging in raids and arrests<\/a> in a high-profile attempt<\/a> to show that Trump\u2019s promise of \u201cmass deportations<\/a>\u201d would be fulfilled.
An explosion of protests and public backlash<\/a> grew, reaching a climax after the January 2026 fatal shootings<\/a> of two US citizens<\/a> in Minneapolis as they protested against what local leaders called \u201can invasion\u201d by federal immigration officials<\/a>.
Since then the flashy immigration enforcement mass operations have all but disappeared<\/a>. Throughout the rest of 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has switched strategy: more low-key<\/a> arrest operations by small groups of officers and more 287(g) collaborations<\/a> with local and state police and sheriffs deputized to make immigration arrests. Also, quicker processing<\/a> with less representation<\/a> in immigration courts and White House-directed collaboration<\/a> to target undocumented children are fueling enforcement that is quieter but just as ruthless.
A summer surge of enforcement means arrests are at a record<\/a> high, with the majority now being people with no criminal history. And deaths<\/a> keep ticking up<\/a> \u201ceven though ICE\u2019s current tactics have been less visible than the chaos in Minneapolis at the start of the year\u201d, said Austin Kocher, an assistant research professor at Syracuse University and an immigration data and policy expert, in his Substack<\/a> posts. At least 31 people have died in 2026 during interactions with immigration officials. Four people have been shot, 25 have died in detention and at least two people, including Coronilla Dur\u00e1n, have died while fleeing officials.
The 24 hours between the mornings of 13 and 14 July stand out as exceptionally deadly.
When contacted for comment, a DHS spokesperson sent along the three previous statements they had issued when the deaths originally happened in Maine, Georgia and Florida<\/a>.
Much remains unclear about the three deaths in that period, but some crucial details are still known.
On the Monday morning of 13 July when Dur\u00e1n Guerrero left his home in Biddeford, a city in southern Maine, ICE officer David Brouillette and other officers were reportedly looking for a different person<\/a>, whose last known address was where Dur\u00e1n Guerrero had just exited.
Brouillette, 37, had recently been hired by ICE amid the immigration agency\u2019s push to<\/a> increase arrests by bringing on more officials. With a blond-brown beard, baseball cap, sunglasses and a green tactical vest marked \u201cPOLICE ICE\u201d over a navy T-shirt, Brouillette sat in a federal vehicle and watched the streets.
As Dur\u00e1n Guerrero got into his white car and drove away, Brouillette and the officers spotted him, gave chase and attempted to stop the car.
The next few moments are still unclear, but neighbors suddenly heard<\/a> the \u201cpops\u201d of gunfire in the quiet neighborhood. Brouillette had fatally shot Dur\u00e1n Guerrero.
A statement from the DHS at the time said that the ICE officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but that Dur\u00e1n Guerrero \u201cattempted to flee\u201d. The DHS added the official fired at Dur\u00e1n Guerrero \u201cfearing<\/a> for public safety\u201d.
It has not been verified whether Dur\u00e1n Guerrero drove his vehicle in the way that the DHS stated.
Surveillance footage<\/a> obtained by the Associated Press appears to show a white car slowly driving in circles at an intersection. The footage was recorded after the shooting, with Dur\u00e1n Guerrero either dead or dying at the wheel.
The video then shows one of ICE\u2019s vehicles ramming into the white car to stop it. Two officers open the driver\u2019s door and Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s body slumps on to the asphalt. Two more ICE officers rush over.
\u201cHe had blood on his head, blood on his face. It was gruesome, just gruesome,\u201d a neighbor told<\/a> Maine Public Radio. \u201cI believe it was [Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s] wife that was sitting on the curb across the street, just crying hysterically.\u201d
The Colombian man was 25, with a dazzling smile that lit up his face below closely cropped dark hair. He lived with his partner, Karolina Rojas, and their three-year-old daughter, and he had authorization to live and work in the US. He was a food delivery driver and is remembered by his neighbors as a good man and hard worker.
\u201cMy son was a person who left his country to make a future for his family,\u201d Omar Dur\u00e1n, <\/strong>Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s father, told BluRadio<\/a>, a Colombian news outlet.
Brouillette, the ICE officer, was hired<\/a> by the agency after years of employment instability, according to reporting from the Associated Press<\/a>, the Portland Press Herald<\/a> and other outlets<\/a>. He was recruited even though family members have made allegations of a history of violent behavior, including accusations of domestic violence and threats.
Attempts to reach Brouillette for comment were not successful.
About ICE\u2019s recruitment policies, the DHS said: \u201cThe ICE Office of Professional Responsibility diligently applies the proper personnel vetting regulations, including guidelines for national security, and evaluates all available information for every applicant based on these factors.\u201d The ICE office of professional responsibility internally investigates<\/a> any alleged misconduct.
The DHS has still not publicly confirmed Brouillette\u2019s identity as the official who shot Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, nor commented on his alleged personal history. The agency has criticized<\/a> the media for publishing his name, saying it put officers and their families in danger.
Meanwhile, in Georgia<\/a>, just after 7am on 13 July, Arenas-Silva sat in an ICE transport bus, surrounded by other ICE detainees.
The Venezuelan man had been held for a few days at the Irwin county detention center, a privately owned facility operating under contract with ICE. He and the other detainees were being transferred to the Folkston D Ray facility, another privately run detention center in the state.
Arenas-Silva, 45, had a myriad of physical and mental health conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, anxiety and depression, according to a preliminary death investigation report released<\/a> by ICE. He relied on several medications to survive, his family and the ICE report said. He had been in the US since 2021 and an immigration judge ordered his removal in April 2026, a DHS spokesperson said.
Days before his death, ICE arrived at Arenas-Silva\u2019s home to arrest him.
\u201cWe implored ICE not to take him due to his medical needs, but they didn\u2019t listen to our pleas,\u201d Sonimar Arenas<\/a>, his sister, later said.
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While cuffing Arenas-Silva, the ICE officials only allowed him to take one of his medications with him, according to Sonimar. In a phone call from ICE detention, Arenas-Silva told his sister that ICE had not yet given him the medication he needed, according to a statement she later released.
The preliminary ICE death report confirms Arenas-Silva did not have all of his necessary medication on 10 July during his medical intake screening at the Irwin facility. A nurse noted that the only medication he arrived with was for anxiety, the ICE report says. That same nurse later confirmed he had other active medical prescriptions he never received.
Three days later, Arenas-Silva was shuffled on to the transport bus, where staff saw him interact with other detainees at 7.34am. But about 10 minutes later, Irwin detention center staff saw Arenas-Silva was unconscious. As staff dialed 911, the bus began driving to a nearby hospital, the report said.
Fifteen minutes later, Arenas-Silva arrived at the emergency room, \u201cunresponsive and pulseless\u201d, the ICE report says. The medical staff worked on Arenas-Silva, but at 8.31am he was pronounced dead.
\u201cWhile in custody, Arenas-Silva received medical care and was seen by medical professionals,\u201d a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout their stay.
\u201cAt no time during detention is a detained noncitizen denied emergency care,\u201d the statement added.
In Florida, Coronilla Dur\u00e1n, a 28-year-old Mexican tourist, had been enjoying a few weeks traveling in the US. Before 14 July, he had reportedly been in Atlanta, Georgia, and then traveled to St Augustine, the northern Florida city with beaches on the Atlantic Ocean.
Coronilla Dur\u00e1n and his wife, who had been married for 10 years, lived in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato with their then seven-month-old daughter and a seven-year-old son, according to reporting<\/a> by the Miami Herald.
He was visiting friends and relatives in the US, while his wife was at home in Mexico. On the fateful July morning, Coronilla Dur\u00e1n and three other men pulled up to a convenience store at a gas station just before 7am. It is unclear who exactly he was with when he arrived there, next to a busy highway.
Details of exactly what unfolded next remain unclear, but a number of federal immigration officials spotted the men and approached them. For unknown reasons, Coronilla Dur\u00e1n and the three others took off running.
As Coronilla Dur\u00e1n ran away from the federal officials, he continued to look back to see if they were giving chase. He ran into the busy highway, at first avoiding vehicles speeding by, witnesses told the Miami Herald.
But when Coronilla Dur\u00e1n arrived at the grassy median, he lost his footing, slipped and fell. He stood up, looked back at the immigration officials and continued to run into the next lane of traffic.
According to a bystander<\/a>, as Coronilla Dur\u00e1n began to cross the other highway lanes, he lost his footing again and fell in front of a tractor-trailer. The witness said he immediately knew Coronilla Dur\u00e1n had been hit.
\u201cThe tractor trailer immediately stopped and attempted to render aid to the victim,\u201d a statement by Florida highway patrol said.
The DHS has still not formally identified Coronilla Dur\u00e1n as the victim and only said homeland security officials \u201cconducted an operation near St Johns, Florida. Florida Highway Patrol and HSI are investigating an incident resulting in the death of a Mexican national. We will provide an update when available.\u201d Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is part of ICE<\/a>.
All three men\u2019s deaths are still under investigation by local and federal officials.
Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s parents traveled to the US from Colombia to collect his body. His killing in Maine led to protests<\/a>, especially since another deadly ICE shooting had taken place<\/a> a few days earlier in Houston, Texas.
Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s death, and the subsequent reporting of allegations about Brouillette\u2019s personal history, led to calls for ICE to improve its hiring<\/a> practices<\/a> and to equip officers with body cameras<\/a>. ICE officials were briefly instructed<\/a> to stop pulling over vehicles.
The FBI referred all questions about the case to the Maine<\/a> attorney general\u2019s office and the DHS inspector general\u2019s office. The Maine attorney general\u2019s office said it could not comment further because it was still investigating the shooting death. The DHS inspector general\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Georgia bureau of investigation (GBI), a state-level agency, was asked by local county officials to investigate Arenas-Silva\u2019s death, according to a statement provided to the Guardian. A GBI spokesperson confirmed the investigation is open and active.
Arenas-Silva\u2019s sister continues to press for answers: \u201cI am 100% certain that he did not receive proper care,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cI will seek justice for him and for everyone else who goes through this, so that other families do not have to endure what we are going through. No one deserves this.\u201d
In Florida, Coronilla Dur\u00e1n\u2019s wife flew into the US days after her husband\u2019s death to make arrangements with a funeral home. The Mexican government was assisting<\/a> the family in transporting his body back to Mexico to be buried.
\u201cThe Florida Highway Patrol Traffic Homicide Investigation is currently ongoing,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cThere are no updates currently regarding that case.\u201d
Free, the legal expert on ICE-related deaths, fears that ICE involved deaths are going to continue rising. Just over a week ago, an ICE official shot<\/a> another person \u2013 this time in Austin, Texas. The man survived<\/a>, but the shooting appears to have taken place during an attempted<\/a> vehicle stop.
\u201cSometime soon, we\u2019re going to have four people die in a 24-hour period. And then it\u2019s going to be five,\u201d Free said. \u201cWhat happens when we get there? What\u2019s the red line? For policymakers, for states, for companies \u2013 at what time does this become indefensible or unsustainable?\u201d
In Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s case in Maine, one detail stood out to community members.
As neighbors gathered at the intersection watching the federal and local officials attempt first aid on Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, they noticed a small girl nearby, wearing a pink backpack<\/a> and crying. It was the couple\u2019s daughter, who would never see her father alive again. Though, it turned out, she might have escaped an even worse fate.
Her mother recently collected some items from investigators and was told the girl\u2019s car seat, from Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s car, would not be returned. A bullet had pierced it during the shooting.<\/p>\n

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