Senators demand ICE answers and body cameras after 2 fatal shootings in Maine and Houston

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.

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 agency, including transparency about whether ICE considers records from family court of domestic violence or abuse when vetting new recruits.

"We remain supportive of removing dangerous convicted criminals from our communities, but this goal can and must be achieved without endangering these very communities in the process. By no stretch could either of the victims in Texas and Maine be characterized as ‘the worst of the worst,’ making these tragic deaths even more egregious," the senators wrote. “The American people deserve clarity and accountability.”

They said ICE should immediately start wearing uniforms or vests that clearly identify them as “ICE” instead of the more generic “POLICE” or “POLICE ICE.” Civil rights groups and advocates have often criticized ICE for not wearing uniforms or clear identification on their ballistics vests identifying them as deportation officers.

Senators also demanded to know what changes were being made to how officers conduct traffic stops and vehicle pursuits.

The shootings in Maine and Houston both involved ICE officers shooting at people who were in vehicles at the time. In the wake of the Maine shooting, Homeland Security temporarily stopped officers from conducting vehicle stops except in specific situations. But just a day later, after fierce criticism from some MAGA supporters, President Donald Trump said on social media that traffic stops should continue.

Homeland Security said last week that it was adding new training in crowd-control measures, high-risk vehicle stops, live-fire exercises and medical training, in response to what they called coordinated attacks against their officers and ICE facilities.

Blood is seen on the pavement near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan expressed concern after a Chinese navy destroyer conducted live-fire drills off a remote Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday during its joint exercise with Russia, officials said Tuesday.

The Chinese Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer conducted a live-fire exercise off Japan's southernmost island of Okinotori, hours after the Japanese navy spotted it operating alongside two other Chinese warships and a Russian frigate, the Japanese Joint Staff said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that his government conveyed concerns that the live-fire drills posed a potential safety threat to nearby vessels. He noted that ships near the area received a notice from the Chinese warships just before the drills started.

“We will continue to watch China-Russia operations around Japan with concern, while doing utmost for the warning and surveillance of the Japanese airspace and territorial waters,” Kihara said.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, in a speech Monday in Britain, said the action underscored “the deepening military cooperation between China and Russia,” as he also noted China’s ballistic missile launch from a submarine earlier this month, and at least 10 joint flights conducted by Chinese and Russian bombers around Japan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian accused Japan of playing up external threats to justify its military buildup. “Japan’s so-called concern is actually groundless, and China has firmly refuted it,” he said at a regular briefing in Beijing.

Japan has been alarmed by China’s rapid expansion of operations in the Pacific, especially since two Chinese aircraft carriers were spotted last year almost simultaneously operating near another southern Japanese island, Iwo Jima, for the first time, fueling Tokyo’s concern about Beijing’s military activity far beyond its borders.

Japan is also deeply concerned about growing joint military operations by China and Russia around Japan in recent years.

Sunday's live-fire drills by the Chinese destroyer were conducted 180 kilometers (110 miles) southwest of the island and within Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone, an area beyond its immediate territorial waters where the country has rights over natural resources.

Lin disputed Japan’s claim to an EEZ around Okinotori, saying it is a rock not an island. “Japan’s claim to an EEZ based on Okinotori-shima violates international law,” he said. The word “shima” means island in Japanese.

China has said previously that it wrapped up joint naval exercises with Russia on July 13 and that some of the participating ships were conducting joint patrols in the Pacific. It wasn’t clear why patrols would include live firing, as claimed by Japan.

The live-fire exercises were held off the port city of Qingdao on China’s east coast, the country's official Xinhua News Agency said. The area is far from the uninhabited Okinotori, which sits in the Philippine Sea.

China-Russia military cooperation plays an important role in safeguarding the two nations’ sovereignty and security and upholding international and regional peace and stability, China's Defense Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin said in remarks posted online late last week.

“We hope that relevant parties can view China-Russia military cooperation objectively and rationally, and stop making groundless speculation and cease smearing and hyping,” he said.

Japan's Joint Staff said it was the first time it disclosed the detection of Chinese live-fire drills in the Japanese EEZ, though the action did not violate international law.

The Joint Staff said the fleet of the same four Chinese and Russian warships had earlier sailed southward between the main Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyako.

Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.

FILE -Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara speaks during a press conference in Tokyo Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Keisuke Hosojima/Kyodo News via AP, File)

In this photo provided by Japan Joint Staff, a Chinese Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer sails off Kumejima island, southern Japan, on July 16, 2026. (Japan Joint Staff via AP)