The fatal shooting of a Colombian man by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Maine has become a rallying point for critics of President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement policies. Human rights groups say the 26-year-old victim was authorized to work in the United States, while federal authorities maintain the officer fired out of concern for public safety when the driver attempted to flee. The incident marks at least the ninth death linked to federal immigration enforcement since Trump intensified his crackdown. Main Developments The shooting occurred Monday in Biddeford, a coastal city about 24 kilometers southwest of Portland, Maine. Department of Homeland Security officials said agents were conducting surveillance at an address linked to someone who had received a final order of removal. According to DHS, agents attempted to stop a vehicle leaving the address. The department stated the driver tried to flee and that, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. Maine Senator Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had told him the officer fired after the driver allegedly attempted to use the vehicle as a weapon against agents. Read also: Why Qatar's three-day mourning reveals Gulf solidarity amid loss King added that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras and that they had been in Biddeford to arrest someone other than the man who was shot. The brief DHS statement did not mention a weapon or confirm whether the person killed was the individual agents had originally sought to arrest. Maine's attorney general, whose office is conducting a separate investigation, said preliminary evidence suggests the driver was attempting to flee in the direction of the agent when the shooting occurred. The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave. Colombia's embassy said it was in contact with American authorities and was providing consular assistance to the victim's family. The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and advocacy group Presente! confirmed the man had authorization to work in the US. The DHS Office of Inspector General and the FBI are both investigating. Al Jazeera has contacted DHS seeking clarification about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Background ICE, the largest federal law enforcement agency within DHS, has long been responsible for enforcing immigration laws and carrying out deportations. But since Trump returned to office, the administration has adopted a far more visible and aggressive enforcement posture. Civil rights groups and immigrant advocates have condemned operations involving masked federal agents, unmarked vehicles, large workplace raids, and arrests outside immigration courts and public spaces. Critics say the tactics spread fear throughout immigrant communities. Tensions escalated earlier this year in Minneapolis, where residents described the city as being under siege as federal immigration agents intensified operations that began last December. The crackdown drew nationwide attention after two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, were killed in January during separate immigration enforcement actions, triggering large demonstrations and widespread international condemnation. Gregory Bovino, the senior Border Patrol official who led the federal operation in Minneapolis, drew widespread attention for posting videos from enforcement actions on social media. Footage of Bovino walking through protests in a long military-style coat while directing officers prompted criticism, with some commentators likening the imagery to fascist aesthetics. Following the unrest in Minneapolis, Bovino was reassigned, and data shows there was a temporary slowdown in arrests. According to the Deportation Data Project, daily ICE arrests fell to about 1,057 in February. But that decline proved short-lived. ICE arrested approximately 10,000 people during a five-day period at the end of June, according to The New York Times, or about 2,000 per day. At the same time, the number of people held in ICE detention facilities climbed to roughly 39,000 during June, The Associated Press reported. Why It Matters The Maine shooting is at least the ninth death linked to federal immigration enforcement since Trump intensified his immigration crackdown, though not every death occurred during an ICE operation. In one case, Customs and Border Protection agents shot dead a man who opened fire on a Border Patrol facility in Texas. In another, an off-duty ICE officer fatally shot a man in California. Among the highest-profile incidents were the deaths of US citizens. On July 7, an ICE officer shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston after federal agents in unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was driving members of his construction crew to a job site. Araujo did not have legal permission to live in the US at the time of his killing but had applied for residency. He had no criminal record. As immigration arrests cont