Trump Reverses ICE Halt on Traffic Stops After Fatal Shootings

On Tuesday, ICE suspended the use of traffic stops to detain immigrants after two fatal shootings by ICE agents, according to media reports. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) instructed ICE officers not to stop moving vehicles to arrest or question the occupants inside. The policy change came after an ICE officer fatally shot Colombian driver Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine on Monday and another motorist in Houston last week.

In Houston, the men in Salgado’s van told their attorney no officer was ever in the vehicle’s path and that shots came from its sides. In Maine, Durán’s wife and young daughter, who was wearing pyjamas, reportedly witnessed the aftermath after he told agents he had tried to stop the car.

Civil rights groups have called both shootings extrajudicial killings. Lauren Bonds of the National Police Accountability Project said bystander footage from Maine showed “another extrajudicial public execution” and urged Congress to freeze ICE’s funding and narrow its jurisdiction. Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights went further, calling the pattern “state violence with the direct intent of terrorizing communities through fear, intimidation, and deadly violence”.

Trump instead said that attempt to hold ICE accountable should be blamed on “Radical Left Dumocrats”. “I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job,” he posted. “Keep those Crime Stat Records coming!”