{"id":6523,"date":"2026-07-15T04:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/news\/7740185\/trump-ice-should-continue-traffic-stops-after-recent-shootings-seeming-to-contradict-new-policy\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T00:15:13","slug":"ice-should-keep-making-traffic-stops-despite-recent-shootings-trump-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6523\/ice-should-keep-making-traffic-stops-despite-recent-shootings-trump-says\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE should keep making traffic stops despite recent shootings, Trump says"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> officers to keep pulling over vehicles, signaling his opposition Wednesday to plans announced just a day earlier to suspend most traffic stops<\/a> following another string of fatal shootings. <\/p>\n

It’s not clear whether ICE will quickly reverse course and resume most stops, which have been a key tool in Trump’s immigration crackdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ending those stops, Trump wrote, would be \u201cplaying right into the criminal\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe CANNOT give up one of ICE\u2019s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!\u201d Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media site. <\/p>\n

Hours after Trump made his views known, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued his own statement saying people illegally in the country would be \u201carrested and deported wherever they are.\u201d While Mullin didn’t directly say whether ICE officers will be allowed to carry out traffic stops, he later said in a statement that he and Trump \u201care on the same page,” and that they want ICE officers \u201cto have all options available to keep them safe while executing our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICE’s enforcement tactics<\/a> are coming under renewed criticism after three people died during encounters<\/a> with federal officers within a week. In Florida, a 28-year-old man was killed<\/a> Tuesday after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said. <\/p>\n

Before that, two motorists were shot and killed by ICE officers \u2014 one in Texas<\/a> last week and another in Maine<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

Policy change for ICE traffic stops<\/p>\n

After the Maine killing, Trump administration officials told ICE officers to suspend most vehicle stops, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Since the immigration crackdown began, federal officers confronting drivers have opened fire several times, saying the drivers\u2019 vehicles had posed a danger. Policing experts have long said that shooting into moving cars<\/a> presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.<\/p>\n

There have been at least 10 deaths<\/a> involving encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign. At least four of them involved people in vehicles, a trend so troubling that Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine urged Department of Homeland Security leaders \u201cto cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two shootings in a week, she said Wednesday, \u201craise very serious questions\u201d and warrant a halt in that approach for the time being.<\/p>\n

ICE has been under pressure to beef up arrest and deportation numbers. It says people being sought are increasingly staying in their homes, and it often blames immigration advocates who advise immigrants to stay in homes unless ICE produces a warrant signed by an independent judge.<\/p>\n

ICE officers say that means they\u2019re forced to find other ways to make arrests.<\/p>\n

DHS says the man killed in Maine came to the US illegally<\/p>\n

More protests are planned after hundreds gathered Tuesday to remember Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, the 25-year-old Colombian national who was shot in his car Monday.<\/p>\n

Karolina Rojas, his partner and the mother of their young daughter, shared a photo on Instagram of the three hugging and smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, my darling, my life. I love you. I have no words for this pain. You were my everything. Please watch over me. Help me find the strength to carry on. Stay with me always. Don\u2019t leave me alone. I\u2019m begging you, my love,” she wrote. <\/p>\n

Dur\u00e1n Guerrero illegally entered the U.S. on Sept. 1, 2023, through the southern border, DHS said Wednesday. Advocacy groups said that when he was killed, he was authorized to work in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said the Homeland Security secretary told him on Monday that ICE officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it wasn’t for the person who was shot.<\/p>\n

When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone who came from a home under surveillance, the \u201cvehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n

In its statement Wednesday, DHS said Guerrero was released into the U.S. after crossing the border. <\/p>\n

The department didn’t answer questions about the agent who shot him.<\/p>\n

Photos showed bullet holes in Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s car windshield, but the officers involved didn\u2019t have body cameras<\/a>, leaving many questions.<\/p>\n

Texas state police will investigate Houston shooting<\/p>\n

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a staunch supporter of Trump’s immigration crackdown, said Wednesday that the state’s top law enforcement unit would investigate the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston. <\/p>\n

DHS’ account of the July 7 shooting is disputed by three other men who were riding in a van with Salgado Araujo at the time. A public viewing for Salgado Araujo, a homebuilder from Mexico, was set for Thursday in Houston. <\/p>\n

More than a week after the shooting, new court records show the FBI is investigating if drugs were found in the van, according to a search warrant application signed by a federal judge Tuesday.<\/p>\n

FBI special agent David McNeilly stated in an affidavit that he observed four plastic bags of a white substance appearing to be meth inside the van. DHS has not stated that suspected drugs were the reason why ICE officers engaged in the traffic stop. The FBI referred questions about the search warrant to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of Texas, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The ACLU of Texas, which is providing legal representation for Salgado Araujo\u2019s family, said the Trump administration \u201clacks credibility\u201d to investigate itself. <\/p>\n

Maine shooting puts a spotlight on ICE<\/p>\n

Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting of Dur\u00e1n Guerrero in Maine a targeted killing \u201cat the hands of the U.S. government.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Wednesday\u2019s social media post, Trump told ICE to be \u201cjudicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.\u201d <\/p>\n

Border czar Tom Homan told reporters that the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they are found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.<\/p>\n

Maine\u2019s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, said ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency if it can\u2019t be fixed.<\/p>\n

Mills, who has criticized ICE before, said Wednesday that the agency needs changes \u201cbefore more families are robbed of a loved one.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Whittle reported from Biddeford, Maine. Associated Press reporters Jack Brook in New Orleans, Michael R. Sisak in New York, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Elliot Spagat in Park City, Utah, Anna Wilder in Austin, Texas, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

\n \"|\"
A portrait of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, the man killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is displayed among flowers and tributes at a makeshift memorial in Biddeford, Maine, Wednesday, July 15 2026. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \"|\"
A portrait of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, the man killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is displayed among flowers and tributes at a makeshift memorial in Biddeford, Maine, Wednesday, July 15 2026. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \"|\"
Friends and relatives hold a vigil for Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, a Colombian national who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Maine, at his family home in Bucaramanga, Colombia, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jaime Moreno)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \"|\"
Attendees stand during a vigil after a man was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday, July 13, 2026, in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n \"|\"
Where people have died in encounters with federal immigration officials since last year. (AP Digital Embed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to keep pulling over vehicles, signaling his opposition Wednesday to plans announced just a day earlier to suspend most traffic stops following another string of fatal shootings. It’s not clear whether ICE will quickly reverse course and resume most stops, which have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":6537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"8be89aa0-dc06-4dd5-b1e4-9e388c8ddc22","source":"The Associated Press","byline":"Rebecca Santana And Patrick Whittle","published":"2026-07-15 04:43:15","updated":"2026-07-15 17:07:41","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1303,1304],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-6523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6523\/ice-should-keep-making-traffic-stops-despite-recent-shootings-trump-says\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"ICE should keep making traffic stops despite recent shootings, Trump says","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6523\/ice-should-keep-making-traffic-stops-despite-recent-shootings-trump-says\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/6523\/ice-should-keep-making-traffic-stops-despite-recent-shootings-trump-says\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-7cde2c4917220193ad56b98344403701c293c4c44e6d811604e7987b1e75d020.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-7cde2c4917220193ad56b98344403701c293c4c44e6d811604e7987b1e75d020.jpg"},"articleSection":"International","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Associated Press"}],"creator":["The Associated Press"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-07-15T11:43:15Z","datePublished":"2026-07-15T11:43:15Z","dateModified":"2026-07-16T00:15:13Z"},"rendered":"