ICE halts most vehicle stops after fatal shootings

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ordered agents to stop most vehicle stops nationwide after two immigrants were fatally shot by ICE officers in less than a week in Maine and Texas, multiple news outlets reported, citing law enforcement or homeland security sources.

The directive applies to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, the division that conducts civil immigration arrests and removals, CBS News reported. It does not apply to Homeland Security Investigations, which handles many criminal investigations. The pause is temporary while officers receive additional training on vehicle-stop tactics, according to CBS.

Agents may still take part in vehicle stops in limited circumstances, including operations with partner law enforcement agencies targeting serious criminal suspects who are the subject of judicial warrants, CBS reported. Fox News, cited by The Guardian, reported that some stops would still be permitted for “the most egregious criminal aliens.”

The change could reshape ICE field operations. Vehicle stops have been a common tactic during immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, allowing officers to follow and arrest people away from homes or workplaces.

The most recent shooting occurred Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine, about 15 miles south of Portland. The Department of Homeland Security said ICE agents were conducting targeted surveillance at the last known address of someone with a final order of removal when they tried to stop a vehicle driven by Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national.

DHS said Guerrero “attempted to flee the scene” at about 7 a.m. ET. “Fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the department said. DHS did not specify the threat he posed, the BBC reported.

CBS reported that Guerrero was not the target of the operation. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said Monday that Guerrero had previously been ordered to leave the country. Immigration advocates told the BBC that Guerrero was authorized to work in the United States and had a Social Security number. The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine called his death “devastating, enraging, and unacceptable.”

King called for an independent investigation. “I want a full, fair, open, transparent investigation of this, not strictly run by the feds,” he told CBS News. “Unfortunately, the feds don’t have the credibility today. The people of Maine are not going to accept an investigation that’s run by ICE or at the FBI.”

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she had urged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to stop non-urgent vehicle stops. “While the investigation of the Biddeford shooting is not yet complete, it raises sufficient critical questions that I spoke with DHS Secretary Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops,” Collins said.

Six days earlier, ICE officers fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, in Houston while he was driving to work. DHS said officers had received a credible tip, were surveilling a target’s address and stopped a white van after seeing someone who resembled the target. The department later said Araujo was not the person ICE was seeking.

DHS initially said Araujo was targeted because he was in the country illegally and alleged he ignored “multiple verbal commands” and attempted to ram an officer, who fired in self-defense. His family said he had no criminal record and was close to obtaining a work permit after living in the United States for more than three decades without legal status. The BBC reported that passengers in the van and Araujo’s family disputed the department’s account, and that the agency’s legal watchdog has opened an investigation.

The Guardian reported that officers were not wearing body cameras in either the Maine or Texas shooting. A DHS spokesperson told The Guardian: “We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics.”

Both shootings have prompted protests and renewed scrutiny of immigration enforcement tactics. Reuters, cited by the BBC, reported that at least seven people have been killed in immigration enforcement operations since January 2025. The Guardian reported that ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers have shot and killed 11 people since January 2025, including five people fatally shot by ICE officials while in vehicles.