President Donald Trump said ICE "cannot give up" traffic stops, after the agency ordered a pause following two recent deadly shootings.Show Caption
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump overturned an order that suspended most immigration-related traffic stops, one day after his administration announced a pause following the deadly shootings of two people by federal agents, a White House official confirmed.The move reversed a memo issued on July 14 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which ordered agents to scale back traffic stops and instead prioritize other tactics in the field, according to a White House official not authorized to speak publicly on the matter."We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!" Trump said in a social media post.Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to USA TODAY's requests for comment.The heads of DHS and ICE ordered the temporary halt after federal officers shot and killed two people during traffic stops in a span of six days. On Monday, July 13, an ICE agent shot and killed a Colombian man in a residential area of Biddeford, Maine. On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot a Mexican national during a stop in Houston, Texas.Both shootings ignited protests and raised questions over the tactics of federal agents carrying out the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign. In both cases, ICE agents shot a motorist who was not the target of immigration enforcement operations, officials said. None of the agents involved were wearing body cameras.In a Fox News interview, White House border czar Tom Homan described the pause in traffic stops as a “short-term review to make sure ICE agents are safe and doing the right thing.”“It's not a policy change, it's a temporary pause,” he added.Traffic stops have steadily become a major immigration enforcement tool for federal agents during Trump's second term in office. That’s coincided with a surge in the number of incidents in which agents have opened fire on drivers. Since the start of last year, immigration agents have shot more than 20 people, most of whom were inside a vehicle.The agency has drawn criticism from policing and use-of-force experts who described their tactics as overly aggressive and in sharp contrast with well-established policing standards, suggesting ICE agents lack sufficient training on how to conduct traffic stops.Officials have made similar critiques. After the shooting in Biddeford, Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins said the incident raised "sufficient critical questions" that led her to urge Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to suspend all non-urgent traffic stops."I am encouraged that the Department has agreed to do so," Collins later wrote on X.Speaking with Fox News, Homan said federal agents are facing a record number of vehicle ramming attacks. He also said ICE agents recieve extensive training on traffic stops."I asked ICE to give me the training curriculum for the academy, and there's an extensive vehicle stop training," Homan said. "I think ICE is going to continue doing record arrests, record removals. I wouldn't even call this a bump in the road."Contributing: Reuters
