Trump presses ICE to keep traffic stops after deadly shootings
The president’s comments followed a temporary pause announced by his border czar after two fatal ICE vehicle-stop shootings in a week.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
President Donald Trump urged immigration officers to keep using traffic stops, one day after a senior administration official said ICE would temporarily pause most of them following two fatal shootings. The dispute underscores growing scrutiny of a tactic ICE says it has used more often during Trump’s deportation campaign.
In a social media post Wednesday, Trump praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and called traffic stops one of the agency’s most useful tools, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press. He wrote that ICE should not give up “THE TRAFFIC STOP” and told officers to be “judicious, fair and smart” as they return to their work.
Trump’s statement came after Tom Homan, his border czar, told Fox News on Tuesday that ICE was pausing most traffic stops for a short review. Homan said the move was not a permanent policy shift and that officers would continue making arrests through other methods while officials examined safety and procedure.
Two fatal shootings prompted review
The review followed the Monday killing of Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, during an ICE operation in Biddeford, Maine, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP. A makeshift memorial has appeared at the site where he was shot.
The Department of Homeland Security first told Maine Senator Angus King that an officer fired because Duran Guerrero tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. DHS later said publicly that Duran Guerrero had tried to flee and that an officer opened fire while fearing for public safety.
The officers involved in the Maine shooting were not wearing body cameras, according to the reporting. The FBI and Maine authorities are investigating.
Six days before the Maine shooting, an ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, during a vehicle stop in Houston. DHS said the officer fired after Salgado Araujo “weaponised” his vehicle, while witnesses and relatives have disputed that account, according to Al Jazeera.
DHS has described both men as undocumented immigrants but has acknowledged that neither was the intended target of the deportation operations in which they were killed. Federal authorities have not publicly released evidence showing that either man posed a threat that justified deadly force, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP.
Pressure grows over ICE tactics
The shootings have prompted protests in Maine, Houston and Boston and renewed criticism of ICE’s use of force and vehicle stops. The questions come as the agency seeks to expand its ranks under Trump.
The Associated Press, citing its own tally, reported that at least 10 people have died during federal immigration enforcement operations since Trump returned to office and began his deportation campaign in January 2025. AP reported that at least four of those deaths involved vehicles.
John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director under President Barack Obama, told AP that there have been roughly 18 traffic-stop shootings during Trump’s immigration crackdown. Maine Senator Susan Collins said Tuesday she had urged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to suspend “all nonurgent vehicle stops.”
ICE has said it has relied more on vehicle stops because more immigrants avoid arrest by staying inside their homes. The agency has blamed immigration advocates for advising immigrants not to open doors unless officers have a warrant signed by a judge, rather than the administrative warrants ICE typically uses.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.