MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And Congresswoman Chellie Pingree is with us now. She is a Democrat. She represents Maine's 1st District - that includes Biddeford. Good morning, Congresswoman.
CHELLIE PINGREE: Hi. Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: Thank you for coming. So you've been posting about this, and I know you've been hearing from your constituents. What are they telling you?
PINGREE: Oh, people are extremely upset. They're also very sad for this family, the whole community in our state. People, you know, should not have to fear going to work in the morning and think that they will never see their 3-year-old child again. ICE has been conducting continual operations in our state. We know because my office in Portland has a steady stream of people who are looking for someone who's been detained or who are afraid to go to work because they are targeted by ICE. So these operations have been ongoing in our state.
MARTIN: What questions do you have at this point about this incident?
PINGREE: Oh, we have a long list of questions for Homeland Security. We want to make sure that Maine is allowed to be conducting its own independent investigation, that all of the evidence is kept, that we have complete information about why the officer chose to do this and also about how this agency is run. Congress is demanding (ph) more information about (ph) this overfunded, chaotic agency that I don't believe should even exist anymore and is conducting operations like this in states like Maine - very low crime rate. These people are our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers. People are just extremely upset in our state that this is going on and that ICE has such a significant presence.
MARTIN: So there's couple of things I just wanted to ask you to clarify, if you can. I mean, the statement from DHS says the victim was trying to get away in a vehicle when an officer shot them, quote-unquote, "fearing for public safety" - that's the quote. In other shootings, in previous shootings, DHS was talking about officers fearing for their own safety. What do you make of this difference in the way this is being described and justified?
PINGREE: Sure. It's clearly outrageous. I mean, the first thing that they were saying was that the officer feared for their safety. Twelve hours later, we get a statement that says this was about public safety and that the person was actually fleeing when they were shot. But there were four bullets fired through the windshield. So this officer fired through the windshield at someone who wasn't even the right person, may have been just heading out to work and just innocently, you know, on their way to work. We don't know their own immigration status or even if there was any justification for this. So there are deep concerns about this.
MARTIN: Do you know for a fact that this person - the person who was shot - was not the target of the surveillance?
PINGREE: Well, we visited the crime scene and we heard that neighbors were making this claim. We also know that Markwayne Mullin told that directly to Senator Angus King that they shot the wrong person. So I feel pretty confident that it was not the person they were seeking.
MARTIN: And there's - it's also been reported variously that the man's child were - was in the car at the time and that perhaps his wife was also in the car with them. Do you know whether that is true?
PINGREE: Well, we've heard multiple reports. I'm not clear whether the person was - whether the child and the wife were in the car. I also know that the crime scene was just, you know, like, less than a block away from where this individual lived, so the family may have gone to the scene. But there were multiple reports that said a 3-year-old child in their Bluey pajamas with a pink backpack was there, and also the wife witnessed this horrendous scene.
MARTIN: So you don't know whether they actually were in the car, but you have - but you understand, based from what bystanders told you that they witnessed, at least they saw their family member...
PINGREE: That's what I heard, that the child witnessed the father's deceased body.
MARTIN: That he was killed. So let's just - in the minute or so that we have left, I wanted to ask about your concerns about the investigation. In previous shootings like this, there has been some dispute over who controls the investigation. What we're hearing so far is that the FBI, along with the DHS inspector general, will control the investigation. Do you know, and do you have any way to assure, that local officials will have access to the investigative materials that - will they have the opportunity to do their own investigation? Do you have any means to ensure that that happens?
PINGREE: Well, it was certainly my No. 1 concern, and I believe the concern of the entire delegation. As you heard, our attorney general said they are opening an investigation. I know our governor's anxious to do this. And we will be pressing DHS to make sure that what happened in Minnesota, where they withheld information and destroyed evidence, does not happen in this situation. We need to have complete access to this. Congress does not trust that DHS will do a sufficient investigation, and certainly in Maine, people do not trust ICE and their operations in our state.
MARTIN: Except that we only have about 30 seconds here, but the - part of the whole conflict with - like, between the Congress and shutting down the government earlier was to ensure that there were certain controls placed on ICE operations. None of that occurred. So what levers do you actually have to ensure that local officials get access to this?
PINGREE: Well, each one of these incidents, I think, give us more leverage to say to our Republican colleagues, when are you going to shut down this agency? When are you going to block the horrendous amounts of funding that you've given them? They are lawless and operating in a way...
MARTIN: OK.
PINGREE: ...That isn't consistent with law enforcement. And we will continue...
MARTIN: OK.
PINGREE: ...To fight for that. And if we're in the majority, we will certainly take action.
MARTIN: That's Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. She's a Democrat from Maine. Congresswoman, thank you.
PINGREE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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