Story perspectives

Vance Faces Backlash Over ICE Remarks in Maine Campaign

8/27/2026

Summary

Story summary

U.S. Vice President JD Vance campaigned in Maine for former Governor Paul LePage, drawing criticism for ICE shooting remarks.
Vance told Mainers worried about 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero’s killing to have a little perspective.
Senator Susan Collins faced criticism for voting to fund ICE before Guerrero’s death.
Governor Josh Shapiro appointed USCIS acting director Jennifer Higgins as senior adviser, calling her a U.S. President Donald Trump czar.

History

Historical Context

President Bill Clinton’s 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act gave ICE broad enforcement powers, raising its budget to $1.5 billion and generating 2.3 million violations that year. Decades later, Vice President JD Vance’s Maine campaign and Senator Susan Collins’s ICE funding vote revive the Act’s partisan disputes, pressuring officials such as Governor Josh Shapiro to consider former Trump-era ICE leaders.

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Story summary

U.S. Vice President JD Vance campaigned in Maine for former Governor Paul LePage, drawing criticism for ICE shooting remarks.
Vance told Mainers worried about 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero’s killing to have a little perspective.
Senator Susan Collins faced criticism for voting to fund ICE before Guerrero’s death.
Governor Josh Shapiro appointed USCIS acting director Jennifer Higgins as senior adviser, calling her a U.S. President Donald Trump czar.

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