Trump urges ICE to maintain vehicle stops despite recent fatal shootings

President Donald Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement should continue conducting traffic stops, arguing that the practice is essential for removing criminals he says entered the country under the previous administration. In a post on his social-media platform, Trump praised ICE’s performance and warned that abandoning traffic stops would benefit criminals.

The comments come after a series of fatal incidents involving ICE officers and motorists, including the shooting death of a Colombian driver in Maine and a motorist in Houston, as well as a separate incident in Florida where a man was killed after being struck by a tractor-trailer while fleeing officers. The recent killings have intensified scrutiny of ICE’s enforcement tactics, which were also criticized following earlier deaths in Minnesota.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt all non-urgent vehicle stops, citing the growing number of fatalities linked to immigration operations. Former ICE acting director John Sandweg estimated that roughly 18 traffic-stop shootings have occurred during the current administration’s immigration enforcement surge.