Nationwide suspension follows shootings in Texas and Maine
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been told to halt most vehicle stops nationwide immediately, following a pair of fatal shootings in Texas and Maine involving ICE agents.
The suspension will apply to most circumstances except cases involving serious criminal targets, according to US media reports citing unnamed law enforcement sources.
It marks a significant tactical shift for the agency, which has faced criticism in the past year over allegations of excessive use of force and scrutiny over deaths that have occurred during its operations.
White House border tsar Tom Homan says the move is not a policy change, but “a temporary pause” and that deportations will continue.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to comment, telling the BBC: “We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets.”
“We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics.”
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Homan, who is an adviser to Trump, said that agents already have extensive vehicle-stop training.
Fatal shooting in Maine
The shooting took place in Biddeford, Maine, about 24 km (15 miles) south of Portland.
Immigration advocates have said the man was authorised to work in the US and had a social security number.
He has not yet been officially named, but local lawmakers and neighbours identified him as Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine, two migrant advocacy groups, issued a joint statement calling his death “devastating, enraging, and unacceptable”.
In a separate incident early on Tuesday, a person fleeing from federal immigration agents in St. Augustine, Florida, was struck and killed by a tractor trailer, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
ICE shooting in Texas under investigation
Less than a week earlier, another man – a Mexican national who had been living in the US for decades – was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Houston, Texas.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was stopped at 07:00 local time (12:00 GMT) while driving to work and was killed shortly afterwards.
DHS said last Thursday the stop was initiated because they saw “a white van with an individual who resembled the target” of an operation. They have said the officer shot in self-defence and that Araujo was not the man ICE was looking for.
Passengers in the van and the victim’s family have disputed the department’s account and the agency’s legal watchdog has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting.
Both shootings in Maine and Texas have sparked protests.
Previous deaths during ICE operations
They come after demonstrations took place across the country earlier this year following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Both US citizens, they were protesting when they were fatally shot in confrontations with ICE agents in January.
In March, US President Donald Trump replaced Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary with Markwayne Mullin, a senator from Oklahoma. Former border patrol chief Gregory Bovino was replaced soon afterwards.
Trump launched a campaign of deportations shortly after his return to the White House.
At least seven people have been killed in immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, according to Reuters.
Source: BBC
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