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ICE pauses vehicle stops
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement instructed officers to immediately suspend most vehicle stops during enforcement operations nationwide after fatal shootings in Texas and Maine, with the directive applying to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, according to CBS News and BBC.
“ICE to temporarily halt conducting vehicle stops, sources say ICE officers will receive new training on vehicle stops, sources said”
CBS News reported that border czar Tom Homan said, "It's not a policy change. It's a temporary pause," while the BBC said the suspension would apply to most circumstances except cases involving serious criminal targets.
In Biddeford, Maine, ICE tried to stop a 26-year-old Colombian national, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, around 7 a.m. ET Monday, and the Department of Homeland Security said an officer discharged his weapon after the vehicle attempted to flee.
The BBC said the shooting took place in Biddeford, Maine, about 24 km (15 miles) south of Portland, and described the officer as firing when he "fearing for public safety" opened fire on the man when he attempted to flee the scene.
NPR added that the pause followed two deadly shootings in less than a week, and said Maine Sen. Angus King’s office told NPR the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the policy shift.
Calls for investigations
Maine Sen. Susan Collins urged DHS to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops, and NPR reported she wrote, "I spoke with DHS Secretary Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops," after the Biddeford shooting.
NPR also reported that DHS told NPR it will not "disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics," while NPR said the agents were not wearing body cameras in both the Maine and Houston incidents.
In Houston, NPR said Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot after agents attempted to pull him over, and it noted passengers in the van disputed the department’s account.
Paul Hunker, former chief counsel of ICE in Dallas, told NPR that the standards for deadly force are clear and said, "I was an attorney for the officers — the person has to pose an imminent threat of harm to use deadly force," while NPR said DHS policy says deadly force cannot be used solely to prevent someone from fleeing.
The BBC reported that immigration advocates said the man in Maine was authorised to work in the US and had a social security number, and it said the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente! issued a joint statement calling his death "devastating, enraging, and unacceptable."
What comes next
The policy shift is described as temporary, with CBS News saying it is a pause while Enforcement and Removal Operations officers receive additional training on vehicle-stop tactics, and ABC News reporting that ICE officers will receive new training on vehicle stops.
ABC News said a senior ICE official wrote in an email reviewed by ABC News that the vehicle stops are paused "immediately," and that all personnel are instructed to prioritize other existing operational methods outside of vehicle stops.
The Guardian reported that the suspension would be temporary until ICE officers receive "new training" on vehicle stops, and it said both cases led to public outcry with communities, lawmakers and civil liberties groups calling for independent investigations.
In Maine, the BBC said the officer’s threat was not specified by DHS, while NPR said there hasn’t been video evidence to back up DHS’s claims and that none of the federal immigration agents were wearing body cameras.
Reuters sources cited by CNBC said the suspension was tied to the two fatal shootings, and CNBC reported that the number of people shot dead during immigration enforcement operations since January 2025 reached at least seven after the Maine and Houston killings.
