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Trump reverses ICE pause
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement should continue vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, seeming to contradict a new policy to halt them.
“we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”
Trump wrote, “we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” on social media, as the AP reported that Trump administration officials told ICE officers to suspend most vehicle stops after an ICE officer shot and killed a driver on Monday in Maine and another ICE officer shot and killed a motorist in Houston a week earlier.
The AP said the Maine shooting involved an officer who was “fearing for public safety” when he shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone believed to be in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal.
In Houston, the AP reported that Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas Rangers would work “alongside federal officials to get to the bottom of exactly what happened,” after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by an ICE agent while driving a van on July 7.
The NBC News report said senior leaders at ICE were surprised when Trump overturned the Department of Homeland Security’s suspension of ICE vehicle stops, according to a senior DHS official.
Officials, lawmakers, and disputes
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said people illegally in the country would be “arrested and deported wherever they are,” while the Hill reported Mullin did not address whether immigration agents will halt traffic stops in response to Trump’s call to continue them.
The Hill quoted Mullin writing on X that “Our #1 goal is to keep our officers safe and get criminals OFF our streets,” and it said Mullin stayed mum on whether the practice would change.
In Maine, AP quoted Mary Hayes saying, “There wasn’t any threat to the public until they started shooting at a car in the street at 7 in the morning,” as residents cast doubt on DHS’s account of the shooting.
In Houston, the AP reported that attorneys for three other men inside the vehicle said their clients dispute the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the shooting, and it quoted Abbott saying, “I fully expect our immigration laws to be enforced, but it’s proven that immigration laws can be enforced and stopping illegal immigration from coming across our border can be achieved without shooting people.”
What comes next for enforcement
The AP said there have been at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign, and it reported that at least four involved people in vehicles.
“to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops”
The AP also reported that Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine urged Department of Homeland Security leaders “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops,” saying that two shootings in a week “raise very serious questions” and warrant a halt in that approach for the time being.
NBC News reported that the guidance had been reversed after Trump’s Truth Social post, and it said Mullin told reporters the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.
In Minnesota, the AP reported that Ramsey County authorities are suing the Trump administration for not cooperating with their investigation into the January arrest of a U.S. citizen by immigration agents, with Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher saying, “I don’t think there’s a question that there was a law broken.”
The Guardian reported that both men killed in Houston and Maine were unarmed and that in both cases the agents involved wore no body camera to record what had happened, while it said civil rights groups called both shootings extrajudicial killings.
