Statement in support of Johan Sebastian Guerrero’s family and the Biddeford Community

The death of Johan Sebastian Guerrero after being shot by an ICE agent in downtown Biddeford on Monday, July 13, is horrifying.

MDF and MDF’s Maine Downtown Center (MDC) stand in grief with and in support of Johan’s family and our MDC Nationally Accredited Main Street Community Member, Biddeford. Heart of Biddeford

MDF and MDC hold in our hearts Johan’s family and loved ones, and all in the Biddeford community and Maine who are feeling fear, sadness, anger, or uncertainty.

MDF and MDC join the growing call for a full, transparent, and independent accounting of what happened.

In the words of Delilah Poupore, Executive Director, Heart of Biddeford, “Biddeford has always been shaped by people who came here to build a better life. More than a century ago, immigrants helped build this city. When fear threatened to divide our community (including when the Ku Klux Klan sought to intimidate Biddeford’s immigrant neighborhoods in 1924), our neighbors chose one another instead.”

Erin Barnes, the Executive Director of Main Street America, said in a statement of support, “Main Streets have always been places where newcomers build businesses, create jobs, and invest in their communities. When fear keeps people from participating fully in civic and economic life, our downtowns – and our communities – are diminished.”

We believe that Maine, and Biddeford specifically, are welcoming safe places, and that our iconic Main Street communities like Biddeford are engines of economic hope and prosperity for everyone. In Maine, neighbors stand with and help neighbors. We are focusing that spirit of healing and hope on Johan’s wife, daughter, and family, on the Biddeford community, and all who are impacted now and moving forward.