White House reverses DHS pause on ICE traffic stops after recent fatal shootings
The administration rescinded a Department of Homeland Security directive that had temporarily halted ICE traffic stops, a move made shortly after two unarmed men were killed during such operations.
The White House on Wednesday overturned a Department of Homeland Security memo that had ordered a temporary suspension of ICE traffic stops nationwide. The pause had been issued after two unarmed men, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine, were fatally shot by ICE agents during vehicle stops earlier in the week. Both incidents occurred without body-camera footage and the agents involved said the men were not the intended targets.
President Donald Trump posted on his social-media platform that the traffic-stop tactic is a “most important and effective crime-fighting tool” and warned that abandoning it would aid criminals. He did not reference the recent killings in his statement.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told the Guardian that the department’s primary objective is officer safety and removing criminals from the streets, adding that illegal immigrants will be arrested and deported. The department also announced a $2,600 incentive for undocumented individuals who voluntarily leave the United States.
Prior to its reversal, DHS officials described the halt as a temporary measure pending a review of procedures and possible retraining of agents. A DHS spokesperson said the agency continually evaluates its tactics to protect officers and the public.
Civil-rights groups have characterized the two shootings as extrajudicial. Lauren Bonds of the National Police Accountability Project cited video evidence from the Maine incident as an “extrajudicial public execution,” while Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights described a pattern of state violence intended to intimidate communities. The White House has not indicated any change to ICE’s broader enforcement policies.