Trump urges ICE to maintain vehicle stops despite recent fatal shootings
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President Donald Trump called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep conducting traffic stops, a stance that appears to conflict with a newly announced policy to pause such stops after several recent deaths.
President Donald Trump said on his social-media platform that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should continue conducting traffic stops, arguing that the practice is essential for removing criminals he claims entered the United States under the prior administration. He wrote that ICE is "doing a great job" and warned that abandoning vehicle stops would "play right into the criminal’s hands."
The remarks come as ICE has faced scrutiny following a series of fatal incidents involving officers and drivers. An ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver in Maine on Monday, and a week earlier a motorist was killed in Houston. A third death occurred in Florida when a 28-year-old man was struck by a tractor-trailer while fleeing immigration officers.
Critics have highlighted the dangers of shooting at moving vehicles, noting expert warnings that such tactics pose significant risks. Since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge, at least ten people have died in related operations, including four in vehicle encounters. U.S. Senator Susan Collins has urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt non-urgent vehicle stops.
John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE director during the Obama era, estimated that roughly 18 traffic-stop shootings have occurred during the current administration’s immigration crackdown.