ICE Changes Traffic Stop Policy After Fatal Shootings
Following recent mass shootings in both Texas and Maine, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reportedly directed agents nationwide to halt most vehicle stops immediately.
This new directive, however, does not apply to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is responsible for criminal probes. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers can still engage in vehicle stops when collaborating with local law enforcement to apprehend serious crime suspects with active judicial warrants.
Anonymous sources have indicated that there will be significant temporary policy adjustments within ICE aimed at providing additional training for officers involved in traffic stops.
Despite this, agents are still conducting vehicle stops targeting individuals with severe violent criminal backgrounds—identified as high-priority suspects.
The policy shift follows two fatal shootings involving federal officers during traffic encounters just last week. One incident involved the shooting of a Mexican national, who was reportedly killed by an ICE agent while trying to evade arrest. The agency has asserted that the agent acted in “self-defense,” stating that the individual attempted to run over a law enforcement officer after bringing a weapon into his vehicle.
The deceased has been named Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
In a separate incident in Biddeford, Maine, another immigration officer fatally shot an illegal alien while pursuing him for deportation under a final removal order.
Senator Angus King from Maine has mentioned that Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin would provide further clarification on the events.
“He was in the car—he was pulled out in the car. And those words… [DHS] The secretary used had her vehicle ‘weaponized’ and was shot and killed by ICE agents,” King stated.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office is currently investigating the incident alongside other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The agent involved has been placed on administrative leave.
Immigrant rights organizations have identified the individual who was killed as a “26-year-old Colombian national.”
