A federal immigration officer has fatally shot a motorist in Maine, the second time in a week that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used deadly force.
It is at least the ninth such killing since US President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown.
Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed as a 26-year-old native of Colombia.
Senator Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers who were pursuing him for deportation in Biddeford, a coastal city of about 23,000 people about 24 kilometres south-west of Portland, Maine.
"He was in a vehicle, pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was 'weaponised' the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent," Mr King said.
The Maine attorney-general's office, which is investigating with the FBI and other agencies, said initial statements suggested the motorist drove towards the agent.
The man was the target of an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal, the office said, and the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.
Messages seeking comment were left for ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a "pop, pop, pop" sound and saw a small car "turned 90 degrees to the curb" with an SUV behind it.
