ICE pauses vehicle stops after deadly shootings in Texas and Maine
U.S. immigration officials have been instructed to halt vehicle stops until further notice following two fatal incidents in which immigration officers shot people in cars.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered federal immigration officers to stop pulling over vehicles until new training is implemented. The decision comes after two deadly shootings in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers killed individuals in their vehicles.
On Monday, 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Maine. The incident occurred less than a week after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Houston, Texas, while on his way to work. Both cases sparked public outcry, with communities, lawmakers, and civil liberties groups calling for independent investigations. In both incidents, the officers were not wearing body cameras.
Other news outlets, including Fox News and CNN, confirmed that officers nationwide received the instructions. Fox News reported that some vehicle stops would still be allowed to target "the most egregious criminal aliens."
A DHS spokesperson said the agency is always evaluating procedures to keep officers safe and criminals off the streets, but declined to discuss specific tactics.
Since January 2025, federal immigration officers, including those from ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), have shot and killed 11 people. Five of them, including Guerrero, Salgado, and three others, were fatally shot while in their vehicles. In most cases, DHS claimed that individuals "weaponized" their vehicles against law enforcement, but these claims were later disputed after video footage of the incidents was released.
One of the highest-profile cases was the killing of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer in January.
