Trump directs ICE to resume most traffic stops after DHS had ordered a pause following two fatal shootings

President Donald Trump on Wednesday overturned a Department of Homeland Security policy that had ordered most Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to halt routine traffic stops. The directive had been issued after two fatal shootings involving agents and applied specifically to Enforcement and Removal Operations personnel.

Exceptions remained for cases involving criminal warrants on targets inside vehicles.

Trump stated in a social media post that traffic stops rank among ICE agents’ most important and effective crime-fighting tools. , be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. ” Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin reposted the message shortly afterward and stated that getting criminals off the street remains ICE’s top priority.

The policy had followed a public call from Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine to pause non-violent traffic stops after a shooting in Biddeford. In that incident ICE agents killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national who was not the target of a warrant.

The investigation into the Biddeford shooting remains ongoing. A similar incident is under investigation in Houston, where ICE agents pursued and fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo through the passenger window last Tuesday. DHS stated that Araujo had rammed an ICE enforcement vehicle and attempted to run over an agent.

Passengers in the Houston vehicle and the victim’s family have disputed that account, according to BBC reporting. The back-to-back incidents occurred as ICE renewed an aggressive deportation operation. The training period for agents was extended back to 72 days starting July 1, and Congress gave ICE $20 million to equip agents with body-worn cameras.

Immigration arrests surged to more than 10,000 people in five days in late June. White House Border Czar Tom Homan said in a May Fox News interview that the administration was on track to deploy 10,000 additional agents, with about 7,000 already on board.