A sign lists some of the the people killed by federal immigration agents at a vigil in Lewiston, Maine, on July 14, 2026—the day after ICE officers shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.Robert F. Bukaty/AP
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President Trump said on Wednesday morning that ICE should continue making vehicle stops, appearing to contradict his own administration’s suspension of the stops following federal officers fatally shooting two men within a week.
“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!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”
ICE agents killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston last Tuesday and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine on Monday. Both men were unarmed, neither was the actual target of a federal immigration operation, and the agents did not wear body cameras.
People with knowledge of the directive told several news outlets that federal officers had been told to temporarily halt pulling over drivers on Tuesday, but it remains unclear what officer conduct the administration would evaluate during the pause.
“What I understand [from] talking to the director of ICE, it’s a short pause just to make sure we are doing the right thing,” Tom Homan said on Fox News on Tuesday, insisting that the decision would not affect the number of ICE arrests. According to the Associated Press, the suspension includes carve-outs for carrying out criminal warrants or working with partner agencies.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, federal immigration agents have shot and killed at least 11 people. Five of them were in their vehicles at the time. As my colleague Sophie Hurwitz wrote last week, the Department of Homeland Security’s go-to justification is that the victims weaponized their vehicles and were thus dangers to the officers and the public. Noah Lanard reported for Mother Jones, that, according to ICE’s own data, none of its officers have been killed by an immigrant and law enforcement officers are taught not to shoot into cars, as doing so will likely not stop a moving vehicle.
Even if the Trump administration follows through with its temporary suspension of vehicle stops, its violence will continue. Isabela Dias noted in January that ICE implements the brutality by design with its goal to hit record numbers of arrests. According to the New York Times, federal officials detained more than 10,000 people in five days, and ICE has doubled its daily arrest numbers from last year.
