Research/Study
Right-wing media respond to fatal ICE shooting in Maine by defending ICE vehicle stops and celebrating or downplaying the killing
Asmongold: “Good. Finally, they're shooting them.”
Written by Isabella Sherk & Torri Lonergan
Research contributions from Gideon Taaffe
Published
Right-wing media figures are excusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement's culpability for a recent fatal shooting in Maine -- and some are justifying, downplaying, or celebrating the death of ICE’s victim. The agency has faced widespread backlash since agents carried out two deadly shootings during vehicle stops in less than a week.
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Recent fatal ICE shootings have drawn widespread scrutiny
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- On July 13, a man identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero was shot and killed during an ICE operation in Maine. This came less than a week after an ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas. According to ABC News, officials said Guerrero had a work permit and was “not the intended target of the operation.” In a statement, ICE claimed that an “illegal alien” in a vehicle had “attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon." The officer involved was reportedly “a newly sworn-in ICE officer.” [ABC News, 7/14/26; PBS News, 7/10/26]
- The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly issued statements that have turned out to be false about shootings involving its officers and has had to retract and change statements after the release of video or witness evidence. As The New York Times reported, “In other recent incidents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have also claimed that motorists have ‘weaponized’ their vehicles, which has sometimes been contradicted by video analysis and witness accounts.” DHS’ initial statement about the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti earlier this year, for example, was contradicted by video footage and an internal DHS review, and the agency acknowledged that federal immigration agents appeared to have lied about the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis. DHS' statements about the shootings of Renee Good and Marimar Martinez were also contradicted by video evidence. [Media Matters, 2/11/26; The New York Times, 7/14/26; ABC News, 1/31/26; PBS News, 2/12/26]
- In response to the recent shootings of Guerrero and Araujo, ICE reportedly ordered all agents to cease vehicle stops. Following backlash from right-wing media, President Donald Trump intervened and reversed the decision. ICE has a history of violent and deadly traffic stops. Nearly all of the U.S. citizens killed by ICE during Trump's second term were shot while in their cars, and ICE has injured others during traffic stops as well, including disabled U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman. [The Daily Wire, 7/14/26; The Wall Street Journal, 7/15/26; The New York Times, 7/14/26; MPR News, 4/19/26]
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Right-wing media figures justified, minimized, and celebrated ICE shooting and killing Guerrero
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- Right-wing Twitch streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as Asmongold, reacted to the Maine shooting: “Good. Finally, they're shooting them.” Hoyt said, “Try and drive your car at a police officer, they should shoot you in the fucking head. That's what I think. That's where I'm at. Get them out of here. Vehicle's a weapon. That's right. That's right, bro. Like, you — like, deport them all. Exactly.” [Twitch, Zackrawrr, 7/13/26; Media Matters, 12/11/25]
- The Alex Jones Network’s Harrison Smith said he doesn't “feel that bad" about ICE killing Guerrero because “I do want people with the fear of ICE in their hearts.” He explained, “You don’t want to get shot by ICE, you better go home, all right? I think the main takeaway here is for all immigrants, you are in danger, OK? I'm not saying you should be. I’m not saying it’s a good thing you’re in danger. I’m just — you just clearly are.” He continued, “You better go home now, where nobody will be hunting you down. Go back to your home countries, where ICE will no longer care about you or have any reason to try to get you at all, OK? Go home. You need to go home now. I don't feel that bad, to be honest with you." [The Alex Jones Network, War Room, 7/13/26]
- Fox host Jesse Watters brushed off the shooting, saying, “Can we grow up? I mean, there's going to be fatalities in law enforcement situations, especially when there's foreign fugitives who are resisting and running away.” He argued, “I'd say Trump's almost batting a thousand if you calculate this,” and asked, “What are we talking about here? The guy’s trying to make an arrest, and this guy’s driving all around like crazy. What is he doing? It's pretty stupid. Why is he here anyway? Shouldn't be here." [Fox News, The Five, 7/14/26, 7/14/26]
- Podcaster Tim Pool expressed outrage over CNN calling Guerrero a “victim,” saying, “You don't have to call him a perpetrator, but you also don't have to call him a victim.” He complained, “Now you're going to get a bunch of lefties being like, ICE just killed an innocent man.” He continued, “I don't want anybody to die, but if you’re a criminal fleeing the police, anything that happens afterwards is your criminal culpability. Ergo, this man who died is criminally responsible for his own death." [YouTube, Timcast IRL, 7/13/26]
- Newsmax host Greg Kelly compared ICE officers killing people to plane crashes: “It just happens.” Kelly said, “It may have been a bad shooting. That doesn’t mean you don’t have ICE. Bad shootings will happen from time to time. It’s — it just happens. Planes will crash.” As a comparison, Kelly added, “Schools – we need schools. Teachers hook up with students. Sometimes. I don’t like it. We arrest them. But we still need schools. We still need ICE.” He dismissed the fatal shooting in Maine, saying that “people get shot. But when it’s an illegal, and it’s law enforcement” there are protests. Kelly complained, “You may have heard that Markwayne Mullin from Department of Homeland Security has ordered ICE officers, for the time being, not to make apprehensions of individuals while they’re in their car. That’s — they got to fix that real fast. They got to do their training or retraining or whatever it is they have to do. Because that’s where you often find illegals.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 7/14/26]
- Kelly also asked, “Why didn’t he stop?” and claimed, “The ICE officers tried to save him.” Kelly reported, “They were pursuing an illegal, and a legal actually got in the way.” He added, “The latest word I have is that he was here legally. OK, legally. But what he may have been doing there didn’t look legal. When law enforcement tells you to stop, you stop. He may have. We don’t have all of the information.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 7/14/26]
- Fox News correspondent Christina Coleman blamed Guerrero for being shot and killed, saying, “Why are they fleeing the scene? Why are they driving off and putting our law enforcement in danger here? Maybe if they stop doing that, they wouldn't get hurt. But that seems to be the case.” She complained, “It's disgusting and it’s shameful and it’s disrespectful that you have the anti-ICE protesters. They're determined to jump to conclusions here. You literally have DHS — this is a government organization — saying what happened.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 7/13/26]
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Right-wing media defended ICE vehicle stops
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- On Fox News, former acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey worried about ICE temporarily suspending vehicle stops after multiple deadly shootings, saying that “if it in any way … implies one of these agents did something wrong, I think that could be a problem.” He also suggested ICE suspending traffic stops could embolden “some of these quote-unquote ‘protesters’ that are really — their goal is really to subvert ICE in all its roles — it might embolden them to even be more active in resisting and fighting against ICE.” He continued, “We were talking before the break about places that have, you know, eliminated pursuit policies — police departments — and how that actually increases more violence and more danger. So, hopefully it's temporary, because, you know, they’re going to have to get people in vehicles. That's just the way things are.” [Fox News, America Reports, 7/14/26]
- White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes complained that ICE is pausing traffic stops: “So where are they actually going to pick up the illegals then?" He said, “ICE has apparently killed two more people in their traffic stops,” and complained, “If you can't get the illegals at the job sites, at their houses, in their cars, if you can't pick them up on the street when you're doing patrols, where are you going to get them? How are you going to get them? The answer is you're not. You're not. ICE is not going to be deporting massive amounts of illegals anytime soon." [Rumble, America First, 7/14/26]
- On Newsmax, Lidia Curanaj asked, “When are criminals going to learn that when you f around, you're going to find out the hard way?” She complained, “A vehicle is now a safe haven for an illegal alien. If you or I drive over the speed limit, say, just, what? 10 miles, cops can pull us over. But a person who is in this country illegally, perhaps even convicted of killing, raping, and robbing, all they have to do is jump in their car and an ICE agent can't do anything about it.” She criticized the Trump administration for “bending the knee to the left,” arguing that “eliminating … one of the tools that ICE agents use to protect us, it doesn't solve a problem. It creates an even bigger one.” [Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 7/15/26]
- Fox host Johnny “Joey” Jones defended ICE’s tactics, saying, “We're not going to change what the protect-and-defend folks can do based on what the defrauded-this-country folks might have done.” Jones said, “If you stick to the facts of it, you've got two people involved in that incident that tragically resulted in death. One defrauded this country, came here illegally. The other swore to protect and defend and uphold an oath and put his life on the line.” He continued, “We have to keep enforcing this policy. American people voted for it resoundingly. President Trump has mandated it. Not just the worst, but mass deportations.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/15/26]
- Newsmax host Bob Brooks said vehicle stops are “key to mass deportations." Brooks asked, “If illegal aliens are allowed to shield themselves from deportation using cars, well, I got to ask this question — why should any Americans continue to follow traffic laws?” He complained, “The administration seems to be bending the knee. It's confusing. The radical left now has veto power over interior enforcement.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 7/14/26]
- Fox host Lawrence Jones: “I've heard a lot of dumb commentary, like, Why don't they just shoot at the wheel of the tire? I’m sorry, that's not policing.” Co-host Johnny “Joey” Jones called such commentary “dangerous rhetoric,” saying, “They are shooting when their life is in imminent danger and in that moment is not when you go, Hey, the vehicle might have run over me, but let me shoot the tires so there's not a riot or a protest.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/15/26]