The US president has supported the tactic, even though authorities announced a moratorium after deadly shootings in Texas and Maine.
Published July 15, 2026
Just one day after his administration announced it would suspend most ICE traffic stops in the wake of two shootings, President Donald Trump is calling on U.S. immigration officials to continue the tactic.
In a social media post Wednesday, President Trump praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for a “great job” and maintained that traffic stops remain one of the agency’s most effective tools in conducting mass deportation campaigns.
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“We must be strong, tough, and smart. We cannot abandon one of ICE’s most important and effective crime-fighting tools: traffic stops,” Trump wrote. “Once that happens, we are playing into the hands of criminals.”
He also called on police officers to be “thoughtful, fair and wise” as they “return and do their very important work.”
The comments came a day after President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said ICE was temporarily suspending most traffic stops while it reviewed its practices following two mass shootings in less than a week.
“This is not a policy change. This is a temporary suspension,” Homan told Fox News on Tuesday. “This will be a short-term review to ensure that ICE officers are safe and doing the right thing.”
Homan said officers will continue to use other tactics to make arrests while the investigation is ongoing.
The review comes in the wake of the shooting death of 25-year-old Colombian man Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero during an ICE operation in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, initially told Maine Sen. Angus King that the officer was fired after Duran Guerrero tried to use his car as a weapon. Later, the department officially announced only that the officer fired the gun “out of fear for public safety” as Duran Guerrero tried to flee.
The officers involved were not wearing body cameras, and the FBI and Maine state authorities are investigating the shooting.
Six days earlier, ICE agents in Houston, Texas, shot and killed 52-year-old Mexican Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during another vehicle stop. DHS said the officer was fired after Salgado Araujo pointed a “dead weapon” at his car, but witnesses and family members dispute that account.
The Department of Homeland Security says both men were in the U.S. without documentation, but acknowledges that neither was the intended target of the deadly deportation operation.
Federal authorities have not released evidence to support their claim that neither man posed a threat warranting the use of deadly force. Advocates charge that Trump administration officials’ initial characterizations of similar incidents, including the January killing of two Americans in Minneapolis, Minnesota, have previously proven misleading.
The spate of shootings has intensified protests in Maine, Houston and Boston, Massachusetts, and raised new questions about ICE’s use of force and reliance on traffic stops. Questions about training have also arisen as the agency looks to rapidly expand its ranks under the Trump administration.
At least 10 people have been killed in federal immigration enforcement since Trump returned to office in January 2025 and launched his deportation campaign, according to an Associated Press tally, including at least four vehicle-related deaths.
John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE director under former President Barack Obama, told The Associated Press that there were about 18 traffic stop shootings during Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In response to this trend, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Tuesday that she has asked Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin to end all “non-emergency vehicle stops.”
ICE said its reliance on vehicle stops has increased as more immigrants avoid arrest by refusing to leave their homes.
The agency has criticized immigration advocates for advising immigrants not to open their doors unless an officer presents a warrant signed by a judge, rather than the administrative warrants typically used by ICE.
