ICE Pauses Most Vehicle Stops After Two Shootings but Keeps Them for Dangerous Targets

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was ordered on July 14 to temporarily stop conducting vehicle stops. The directive followed two deadly shootings involving ICE agents in Texas and Maine. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued the order after speaking with Sen.

Susan Collins, R-Maine. Collins urged Mullin to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops. A senior ICE official emailed deportation officers that vehicle stops are paused immediately. The email instructed personnel to prioritize other operational methods outside of vehicle stops.

In most cases during the pause, officers will stop targets on the street after they leave a house or office. ICE will still conduct vehicle stops for the most dangerous targets and when a local law enforcement officer trained under the 287(g) program is present. Multiple sources said the pause is temporary and that officers will receive new training on vehicle stops.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics. Border czar Tom Homan confirmed the pause in a Fox News interview. “It is not a policy change, it is a temporary pause,” Homan said.

He added that DHS will review the recent incidents to determine whether training can be improved. On July 13, 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Guerrero, a Colombian national, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine. Guerrero was not the target of the operation, and agents held a final order of removal for a different man.