Trump makes U-turn on ICE traffic-stop suspension prompted by two shootings
The decision comes after immigration agents fatally shot two drivers in Texas and Maine within days of each other.
Donald Trump has reversed a temporary suspension on ICE traffic stops, allowing federal immigration agents to resume using the tactic to make arrests just a day after senior officials paused the practice.
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The move comes after immigration agents fatally shot two drivers in Texas and Maine within days of each other, prompting fresh scrutiny of the agency's enforcement tactics.
White House border czar Tom Homan said on Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would suspend most vehicle stops on an indefinite but temporary basis to review procedures and "make sure ICE agents are safe and doing the right thing."
However, the president overruled both Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin the following day after Homan's comments drew criticism from Republicans, including conservative political strategist Mike Davis.
Explaining his decision on social media, Trump said: "We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!"
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The agency's tactics have come under renewed public scrutiny after an ICE officer on Monday shot and killed a Colombian driver in the coastal Maine town of Biddeford.
Six days earlier, another ICE officer in Houston fatally shot a Mexican national.
In both incidents, officers had attempted to pull over the drivers, although officials have acknowledged they were not the intended targets of the immigration enforcement operations taking place at the time.
The back-to-back shootings sparked protests in Maine, Houston and Boston, while also raising questions over ICE agents' lack of body cameras.
ICE's enforcement tactics have also been pushed to the forefront of the issues discussed in Maine's Senate race.
Republican Senator Susan Collins told reporters at the US Capitol on Wednesday: "The automobile stops should be halted until those investigations are completed”.
Collins, who is seeking re-election in a race that could determine control of the Senate, said she had urged Mullin to suspend ICE vehicle stops before the pause was announced.
Between early June and early July, ICE arrests in Maine more than quadrupled to around 70 a day, according to internal agency data shared with Reuters by a source familiar with the matter.
At least seven people have been shot dead during federal immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, when Trump returned to office and launched mass deportations after campaigning on an immigration crackdown.
During the same period, 53 people have died while in ICE custody, according to agency records.