Trump urges ICE to keep using traffic stops after deadly incidents

The Trump administration announced a temporary pause on most Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops following two fatal shootings within a week, but President Trump quickly reversed course by publicly urging ICE officers to resume the practice. In a social media post, Trump praised ICE officers and characterized traffic stops as one of the agency's most important crime-fighting tools, warning that abandoning the tactic would benefit criminals.

The temporary pause had been announced by Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, who described it as a short-term review to ensure officer safety and proper procedures rather than a permanent policy change. Homan indicated that ICE would continue making arrests using alternative tactics during the review period.

The review was prompted by two separate incidents. On Monday, 25-year-old Colombian national Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero was fatally shot during an ICE operation in Biddeford, Maine. The Department of Homeland Security initially told Maine Senator Angus King that an officer fired after Duran Guerrero attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon, though the department later stated only that he attempted to flee and an officer fired fearing for public safety. The officers involved were not wearing body cameras, and the FBI and Maine authorities are investigating.

Six days earlier, an ICE agent in Houston, Texas, fatally shot 52-year-old Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a vehicle stop. DHS claimed the officer fired after Salgado Araujo weaponized his vehicle, but witnesses and family members have disputed this account. The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that neither man was the intended target of the deportation operations that resulted in their deaths, and federal authorities have not publicly released evidence supporting claims that either posed a threat warranting deadly force.