Washington, United States. President Donald Trump said federal immigration agents would not end vehicle stops, reversing the implication of a temporary suspension announced after ICE agents fatally shot two men in Texas and Maine.
“We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.
Temporary suspension
Trump administration officials said on Tuesday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had ordered officers to suspend most vehicle stops nationwide following the two shootings, which occurred six days apart.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, described the suspension as temporary in an interview with Fox News Channel.
“It’s not a policy change, it’s a temporary pause,” Homan said. He said the review would ensure ICE agents were safe and acting appropriately, while officers would use other options to make arrests.
Fatal shootings
An ICE agent on Monday killed a Colombian driver in Biddeford, Maine, about 15 miles south of Portland. An ICE officer in Houston fatally shot a Mexican national on July 7 while attempting to stop his vehicle.
The shootings prompted protests in Maine, Houston and Boston and raised questions about ICE agents’ lack of body cameras.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, described both men as “illegal aliens” but acknowledged that neither was the intended target of the deportation operations that resulted in their deaths.
Federal authorities have not provided evidence supporting assertions that either man posed a threat to ICE agents or the public that justified the use of lethal force.
Enforcement operations
At least seven people have been shot dead during federal immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, when Trump launched mass deportations after returning to office on promises of an immigration crackdown.