Trump reverses ICE pause, orders resumption of traffic stops after fatal shootings
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s border czar Tom Homan maintains the initial halt was a safety review, while Senator Susan Collins calls for a broader suspension of non-urgent stops.
President Donald Trump has directed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to resume traffic stops, reversing a temporary suspension implemented by his administration just one day prior. The directive follows two fatal shootings during ICE operations in Maine and Texas within a seven-day period, incidents that have sparked protests in Biddeford, Houston, and Boston.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump praised ICE officers for doing a “GREAT job” and argued that abandoning traffic stops would play “into the criminal’s hands.” He described the tactic as one of the agency’s most effective tools for his mass deportation campaign, urging agents to be “judicious, fair and smart” as they return to the practice.
The initial pause was announced on Tuesday by Tom Homan, the border czar within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Speaking on Fox News, Homan stated the suspension was a short-term safety review rather than a policy change, noting that officers would continue making arrests using other tactics while the review was underway.
The review was prompted by the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Colombian national Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Maine on Monday. The DHS initially told Maine Senator Angus King that an officer fired after Duran Guerrero attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon, but later clarified that he had tried to flee and the officer acted due to fear for public safety. The officers involved were not wearing body cameras, and the FBI and Maine authorities are investigating.
Six days earlier, an ICE agent in Houston fatally shot 52-year-old Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. While the DHS claimed the officer fired after Salgado Araujo “weaponised” his vehicle, witnesses and family members have disputed this account. The department has acknowledged that neither man was the intended target of the deportation operations.
Maine Senator Susan Collins has urged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to suspend “all nonurgent vehicle stops” following the back-to-back shootings. ICE has stated it has increasingly relied on vehicle stops as more immigrants avoid arrest by refusing to open their doors to administrative warrants, a strategy the agency blames on advice from immigration advocates.
Federal authorities have not publicly released evidence to support claims that either victim posed a threat warranting the use of deadly force. According to a tally by The Associated Press, at least 10 people have been killed during federal immigration enforcement operations since Trump launched his deportation campaign in January 2025, with at least four deaths involving vehicles.
