WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has temporarily ordered officers to avoid, in most cases, making vehicle stops in the wake of two deadly shootings.
The tactical shift comes a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, and a week after an ICE officer fatally shot another man in Houston. Both men were driving at the time of the shootings, and the incidents have renewed criticism over the agency’s immigration enforcement tactics.
Multiple news outlets and a former federal immigration official said early Tuesday that the order allows for exceptions if officers are executing a criminal warrant and working with partner law enforcement agencies. The directive, later confirmed by a top official, is a temporary pause while ICE officers receive more training on vehicle stops.
An ICE spokesperson said that the agency wouldn’t discuss law enforcement tactics but that “we are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets.”
But on Fox News on Tuesday afternoon, Tom Homan, a top White House immigration official, said the decision to halt most vehicle stops was made by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and top ICE leadership. But he emphasized that “it’s not a policy change, it’s a temporary pause” while officials review the incidents and decide whether training could be improved.
Homan said the pause won’t affect ICE arrests. He said officers could, in some instances, make an arrest before someone gets into their vehicle or after they arrive at their destination.
“I think it’s going to be a short pause,” he said. “I’m confident that ICE is well trained in vehicle stops and you’re going to see us keep moving forward.”
Reacting to ICE’s policy change, Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) said in a statement that training won’t solve the agency’s deeply ingrained issues.
“Immigration enforcement shouldn’t be heavily militarized and chasing people through our streets,” he said. “The American people deserve competent leadership and law enforcement that is transparent, accountable, and worthy of the public’s trust.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she had urged Mullin to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops” in the wake of the Biddeford shooting.
“I am encouraged that the Department has agreed to do so,” she wrote on X.
Hundreds of people protested in Biddeford on Tuesday over the killing Monday of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian. Protests similarly broke out in Houston last week after the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old from Mexico.
The Department of Homeland Security alleged that the men killed in both incidents resisted arrest and that the officers fired their weapons defensively as the men attempted to flee. Neither man was the intended target of the ICE officers.
Local officials in Houston and Biddeford are calling for independent investigations into the shootings. In both instances, the officers involved were not wearing body cameras.
Homeland Security said the officer who shot Durán Guerrero was “fearing for public safety.” The agency said Salgado Araujo had “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.”
Durán Guerrero’s shooting marked at least the ninth such death since President Trump began his immigration crackdown. In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting an assassination “at the hands of the U.S. government.”
Durán Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter. Advocacy groups said he was authorized to work in the U.S.
Daniel Boucher, who lives near where Durán Guerrero was shot, said he “clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”
The two shootings come as immigration arrests have surged again amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportation agenda. Over five days at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.