ICE Suspends Most Vehicle Stops After Fatal Shootings in Texas and Maine

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ordered agents to immediately stop most vehicle stops during enforcement operations across the country, carving out exceptions only for serious criminal targets.

The directive, reported by CBS News on Tuesday, July 14, comes after fatal shootings in Texas and Maine within the span of a week, multiple law enforcement sources told the outlet. The order covers ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, which handles civil immigration arrests and removals, but does not apply to Homeland Security Investigations, the agency’s criminal investigations arm.

Officials described it as a temporary pause meant to give Enforcement and Removal Operations officers additional training on vehicle-stop tactics. In the meantime, those officers can still take part in vehicle stops alongside partner agencies pursuing criminal suspects who are subject to judicial warrants, per the outlet.

Vehicle stops have been a routine tactic for ICE under President Donald Trump‘s administration, letting officers track and detain targets away from homes or workplaces, so the pullback could reshape how operations run day to day, per the outlet.

The Maine shooting happened on Monday, July 13 in Biddeford, when ICE tried to stop Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, a Colombian national living in the country illegally, around 7 a.m., per CBS News.

He “attempted to flee the scene,” according to the Department of Homeland Security, which said an officer “discharged his weapon” out of concern for public safety. DHS said Guerrero was not the operation’s target; agents had been “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.”

Guerrero leaves behind a wife and 3-year-old daughter. His father, Omar Duran, told CBS News partner Noticias Caracol that his son left Colombia to build a future for his family. However, Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said Guerrero had previously been ordered to leave the country and called for “a full, fair, open, transparent investigation” not strictly run by federal agencies, per the report.

According to the outlet, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she personally urged DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt the practice, saying the shooting “raises sufficient critical questions.”

CBS News reported that six days earlier in Houston, ICE officers fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo after pulling over his vehicle while searching for someone else, DHS confirmed. Salgado Araujo had no criminal record and was close to securing a work permit after more than three decades in the U.S., his family has said.

It remains unclear how long the pause will last or whether the additional training could lead to permanent changes in how ICE conducts vehicle stops.