WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump wants officers to keep pulling over vehicles, signaling his opposition Wednesday to plans announced just a day earlier to following another string of fatal shootings.
It’s not clear whether ICE will quickly reverse course and resume most stops, which have been a key tool in Trump’s .
Ending those stops, Trump wrote, would be 鈥減laying right into the criminal鈥檚 hands.鈥�
鈥淲e CANNOT give up one of ICE鈥檚 most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!鈥� Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media site.
Hours after Trump made his views known, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued his own statement saying people illegally in the country would be 鈥渁rrested and deported wherever they are.鈥� 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 鈥渁re on the same page,” and that they want ICE officers 鈥渢o have all options available to keep them safe while executing our mission.鈥�
ICE’s are coming under renewed criticism after with federal officers within a week. In Florida, Tuesday after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.
Before that, two motorists were shot and killed by ICE officers 鈥� last week and on Monday.
Policy change for ICE traffic stops
After the Maine killing, Trump administration officials told ICE officers to suspend most vehicle stops, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.
Since the immigration crackdown began, federal officers confronting drivers have opened fire several times, saying the drivers鈥� vehicles had posed a danger. Policing experts have long said that presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.
There have been 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 鈥渢o cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.鈥�
Two shootings in a week, she said Wednesday, 鈥渞aise very serious questions鈥� and warrant a halt in that approach for the time being.
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.
ICE officers say that means they鈥檙e forced to find other ways to make arrests.
DHS says the man killed in Maine came to the US illegally
More protests are planned after hundreds gathered Tuesday to remember Johan Sebasti谩n Dur谩n Guerrero, the 25-year-old Colombian national who was shot in his car Monday.
Karolina Rojas, his partner and the mother of their young daughter, shared a photo on Instagram of the three hugging and smiling.
鈥淚 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鈥檛 leave me alone. I鈥檓 begging you, my love,” she wrote.
Dur谩n 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.
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.
When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone who came from a home under surveillance, the 鈥渧ehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,鈥� the department said.
In its statement Wednesday, DHS said Guerrero was released into the U.S. after crossing the border.
The department didn’t answer questions about the agent who shot him.
Photos showed bullet holes in Dur谩n Guerrero鈥檚 car windshield, but the officers involved , leaving many questions.
Maine shooting puts a spotlight on ICE
Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting of Dur谩n Guerrero a targeted killing 鈥渁t the hands of the U.S. government.鈥�
In Wednesday鈥檚 social media post, Trump told ICE to be 鈥渏udicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.鈥�
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.
Maine鈥檚 Democratic governor, Janet Mills, said ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency if it can鈥檛 be fixed.
Mills, who has criticized ICE before, said Wednesday that the agency needs changes 鈥渂efore more families are robbed of a loved one.鈥�
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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, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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