The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent David Brouillette, who has been identified by media reports as the federal agent who killed Joan Sebastian Guerrero on July 13 in Biddeford, Maine, has a “history of terrifying and violent behavior,” according to several family members. Boston.com reported that while Brouillette apparently does not have a criminal record, the Augusta District Court clerk’s office has hundreds of records in family court of allegations against him including physical and verbal abuse, stalking, and harassment. In 2021 a judge granted a temporary protective order for his teenage daughter and an ex-wife. At age 12 Brouillette attempted suicide twice and was hospitalized multiple times, according to several family members. Brouilette was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder. He served in Afghanistan as an Army human intelligence collector from May 2012 to February 2013. One family member is quoted in Boston.com saying, “Afghanistan destroyed him—trained him to be a killing monster, a machine. They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.”
This brings into question the vetting process and the lowering of standards during the aggressive hiring spree by ICE over the last year and a half. Experts warn that lower hiring standards will result in more mistakes, public distrust, and a higher turnover rate. The lowered hiring standards by ICE have pushed state and local law enforcement, which lost officers to ICE’s recruitment blitz, to also lower their hiring standards to backfill vacancies. Congressional Democrats have already released DHS internal documents which confirm the dismantling of the training standards and the elimination of entire areas of instruction.
