Trump reverses ICE traffic stop suspension
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Protesters gather in memory of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Photo: Jacob Lujan/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
President Trump said ICE should continue using traffic stops to arrest immigrants after a recent directive suspended the tactic after two fatal shootings in Texas and Maine within a week.
The big picture: Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, "we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!"
Catch up quick: The Department of Homeland Security had directed ICE to halt vehicle stops until further notice, according to a memo obtained by Fox News. A White House official confirmed the memo to Axios.
- "Effective immediately, all ERO-initiated enforcement vehicle stops are suspended until further notice," per the DHS memo.
- The pause was expected to remain in place while ICE provides additional training to officers on vehicle stop tactics, several outlets reported.
What they're saying: A DHS official, when asked by Axios, did not say whether the agency had reversed the directive.
- A screenshot of Trump's Truth Social post was posted on the DHS X account, however. The agency urged people to self-deport, adding "If you don't, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you."
The directive came after ICE agents fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, on Monday during an enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine.
- Last week, ICE agents killed Houston resident Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, during an enforcement operation near downtown Houston.
Friction point: Neither Salgado Araujo nor Guerrero was the intended target of the operations.
- The killings have drawn scrutiny as witnesses dispute official accounts of what happened, similar to the fatal ICE shootings in Minnesota earlier this year.
By the numbers: At least 22 people have been shot at by ICE agents since President Trump returned to office. Six people — including three U.S. citizens — have been killed, with nearly all the shootings involving officers firing at people in vehicles, per the New York Times.