ICE Reverses Plan to Halt Vehicle Stops After Trump Complains

In a stunning reversal, President Donald Trump on Wednesday overturned a policy decision by the Department of Homeland Security that ordered most Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to stop conducting traffic stops in light of deadly shootings in Maine and Texas. 

The decision, confirmed by a White House official, came roughly 24 hours after ICE agents had been informed of the pause on vehicle stops, and soon after Trump praised such stops as one of ICE agents’ “most important and effective Crime Fighting tools” in a social media post.

“I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming!” Trump added. Shortly afterwards, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reposted Trump’s Truth Social post, while adding that getting criminals off the street remained ICE’s top priority. 

The decision by DHS to halt traffic stops was intended to apply specifically to agents under Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that detains and ultimately deports undocumented immigrants. An internal email obtained by TIME also shows that exceptions would be made when agents need to execute a criminal warrant on a target who is inside of a vehicle. 

The policy guidance initially came after Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine publicly urged Mullin to pause all “non-violent traffic stops” in the wake of a shooting in Biddeford, Maine that involved ICE agents. That episode had resulted in the death of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national who was not the target of a warrant. The investigation into the shooting is still ongoing. 

In a statement, Collins continued her call to halt the traffic stops, especially in light of the events in her state and Texas. “In certain emergency situations, I understand traffic stops are warranted, but to have them routinely done when we have had two recent shootings that are under investigation calls for a halt in that approach for now, ” Collins said. 

A similar incident is also under investigation in Houston, where ICE agents pursued and fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo through the passenger window last Tuesday. DHS claimed in a statement that Araujo had rammed an ICE enforcement vehicle and attempted to run over an ICE agent. 

The back-to-back incidents signal a return of an aggressive deportation operation nationwide after a disastrous operation in Minnesota earlier this year prompted a seismic personnel shuffle and some moderate reforms: The training period for ICE agents, which had been shortened to 42 days under Kristi Noem’s leadership, was extended back to 72 days starting on July 1, and Congress gave ICE $20 million to equip its agents with body-worn cameras.