President Donald Trump's border chief, Tom Homan, spoke out about an ICE agent tied to a deadly shooting in Maine. Homan said the agent should never have passed his background check. That is, if abuse claims against the agent turn out to be true.

The shooting happened on July 13 in Biddeford, Maine. It killed Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a 25-year-old man. Officials are now looking into two things. They want to know about the shooting. They also want to know if ICE's hiring process failed.

This case matters far beyond Maine. It raises hard questions about how ICE checks and hires its agents. That matters now more than ever. ICE is growing its work all over the country. That growth reaches Texas border towns too. Lawmakers want more say. Families want answers.

Homan spoke during a TV interview. He said the claims against the agent, if true, would be a big problem. It would mean ICE failed to screen new hires the right way.

News outlets have named the agent as David Brouillette. DHS has not confirmed his name in public.

A reporter asked Homan a hard question. Should someone with those claims work for ICE? Homan did not hold back.

"No, if those ... are facts ... I don't think he should ever have cleared vetting," Homan said.

Homan said the review team wants to know one thing. Did they know about the agent's past before ICE hired him? If they did, why did it not stop the hire?

"When they hire somebody, they put them through a vetting process and look at all that stuff. So I know, based on that information, that's part of the ongoing investigation," Homan said. "How ... did the vetting process fail? Was that information not available? Did they not know?"

Homan also said the review is checking something else. Did the people who hired the agent even see that in time?

"If that was factual, he would have an almost impossible time to pass vetting," Homan said.

The case became a big story fast. Two women who used to be married to Brouillette spoke out. They said he was abusive during their marriages.

One of them, Lucinda Brouillette, made a strong claim. She said her ex-husband showed a "persistent pattern of abuse, intimidation, manipulation, fear and control" while they were married.

She also spoke about the deadly shooting. "If you were to ask me whether I believe David Brouillette is capable of this level of violence, my answer is unequivocally yes," she said.

Homan would not talk about the abuse claims in detail. The case is still open. But he said again that the claims, if true, should have stopped the hire.

"If this person had that type of history, it would have been a vetting issue, and it should have been brought to the attention of those who make those decisions," Homan said. "We will see. It's all being reviewed. We will see where it lies."

Democrats in Congress are also raising concerns. Bennie Thompson is a congressman from Mississippi. He is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee. He said the claims about the agent's past "directly call into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits."

The Maine case is not the only ICE shooting under review. Earlier this month, an ICE agent shot and killed a man from Mexico. His name was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. It happened during ICE work in Texas. No body camera caught that shooting. No body camera caught the one in Maine either.

After both shootings, Homan made a new rule. ICE agents must now wear body cameras during traffic stops.

The Texas case has its own twist. Harris County DA Sean Teare shared new lab results. A white substance from the van in that shooting was tested. It was not a drug at all. An FBI search warrant had said the substance looked like methamphetamine. But Salgado Araujo's family says it was really a salt drink mix. Construction workers use this mix to stay cool in the Texas heat.

Both cases remain open. No one has said when they will end.