President Donald Trump says after within a week, seeming to contradict a new policy to halt them. To remove criminals from the country, 鈥渨e CANNOT give up one of ICE鈥檚 most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!鈥� the president wrote on social media.
In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. The after he was hit by a tractor-trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.
Here’s the latest:
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin says he and Trump 鈥榓re on the same page鈥�
Mullin said on the social platform X that he and the president both want ICE officers 鈥渢o have all options available to keep them safe while executing our mission.鈥� But he did not directly say whether ICE officers will be allowed to carry out traffic stops.
His post came hours after Trump said ICE should continue traffic stops.
Texas Rangers to investigate Houston ICE shooting
Gov. Greg Abbott, a staunch supporter of Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown, said the state鈥檚 top law enforcement division will work 鈥渁longside federal officials to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.鈥�
Democrats and local leaders in Houston have called for the Texas Rangers to investigate since Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent while driving a van on July 7. Attorneys for three other men who were inside the vehicle say their clients dispute the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 account of the shooting.
鈥淚 fully expect our immigration laws to be enforced, but it鈥檚 proven that immigration laws can be enforced and stopping illegal immigration from coming across our border can be achieved without shooting people,鈥� Abbott told reporters at a campaign event in Houston.
The Texas Rangers a fatal shooting last year involving a federal immigration agent on South Padre Island. A grand jury declined to file criminal charges.
Residents cast doubt on ICE declaring Maine shooting was necessary to protect public safety
DHS said Monday that an officer, 鈥渇earing for public safety,鈥� Dur谩n Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. But some of Dur谩n Guerrero鈥檚 neighbors said the Biddeford, Maine, neighborhood tends to be fairly quiet on workday mornings.
鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 any threat to the public until they started shooting at a car in the street at 7 in the morning,鈥� said Mary Hayes, who lives nearby.
Hayes and others described the community as a working class neighborhood where Monday mornings typically consist of residents rising to go to work. They disputed the characterization that the public was facing a threat at the time of the shooting.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a working town, we鈥檙e a mill town, we鈥檙e the heart of Maine,鈥� Hayes said.
Minnesota authorities sue ICE for obstructing investigation into arrest of US citizen
Minnesota authorities are suing the Trump administration for not cooperating with their investigation into the January arrest of a U.S. citizen by immigration agents.
Officials in Ramsey County said the Department of Homeland Security failed for months share information about the arrest of ChongLy 鈥淪cott鈥� Thao, a Hmong American who said federal agents broke into his St. Paul home and forced him out in sub-freezing weather.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a question that there was a law broken,鈥� Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a Wednesday news conference announcing the lawsuit.
Officials at the news conference said DHS had never responded to a formal request for information, despite granting the agency multiple extensions.
鈥淲e all stand before you today hearing nothing. We do not have any information,鈥� said Hao Nguyen, the county attorney leading the case.
Dur谩n Guerrero鈥檚 partner posts family photo: 鈥楶lease watch over me鈥�
Dur谩n Guerrero鈥檚 partner, Karolina Rojas, the mother of their toddler daughter, shared a photo of the three of them hugging and smiling together on Instagram.
Advocacy groups helping the family have cited the Instagram account as belonging to Rojas and it appears consistent with other publicly available information about her.
Rojas captioned the photo with: 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.鈥�
Prosecutors in Houston are trying to get special visas for eyewitnesses to ICE shooting
Three other men who were also in the van when Lorenzo Araujo Salgado last week are being held at an immigration detention center in Texas.
The Harris County District Attorney鈥檚 Office told The Associated Press it has signed off on special visa certifications that describe the men as witnesses in local prosecutors鈥� ongoing investigation into the shooting. The visa applications would still need approval from federal immigration officials.
Attorneys for Daniel Tirado Pantoja, Jose Rojas and Victor Salgado, the victim鈥檚 brother, say their clients have disputed the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 account of the July 7 shooting. The temporary visas, known as U visas, are intended to protect from deportation witnesses who are assisting law enforcement.
In May, a federal court temporarily blocked ICE from detaining immigrants with pending U visas.
Maine governor says ICE must be reformed or abolished after shooting
Maine鈥檚 governor said Wednesday that ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency, if it can鈥檛 be fixed in the wake of a fatal shooting in her state.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said in a letter to the state鈥檚 congressional delegation that Congress must act to 鈥渞equire ICE to respect the rule of law and honor our collective security.鈥�
Mills had criticized ICE before, including in January after a surge of enforcement activity in Maine that she said was marred by 鈥渓awless, dangerous conduct鈥� by the agency. She said Wednesday the agency must be fixed 鈥渂efore more families are robbed of a loved one.鈥�
She added: 鈥淚CE needs to be fundamentally reformed, and if not, then it is time to abolish it.鈥�
Houston Mayor John Whitmire calls for Texas Rangers to investigate fatal shooting there
鈥淲e need DHS to allow independent authorities to investigate,鈥� Whitmire told CNN on Wednesday. 鈥淭he jurisdiction is federal. They control the evidence. We鈥檙e asking them to release that to the Texas Rangers.鈥�
, who had no criminal record and had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, was shot last week while driving his construction crew to a job site in Houston. His death sparked protests in Houston and demands for an independent investigation from Democrats and Salgado Araujo鈥檚 family.
On Tuesday, Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz, Jr. formally requested that the Texas Department of Public Safety鈥檚 investigative agency conduct an independent and transparent probe.
Mayor Whitmire also told CNN the U.S. Department of Homeland Security should pause ICE vehicle stops for 90 days to review its policies.
Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain calls for a permanent ban on ICE traffic stops
In a statement, he also questioned why the ICE officers involved in the fatal shooting of Johan Sebasti谩n Dur谩n Guerrero weren鈥檛 wearing body cameras. LaFountain pointed out that his city鈥檚 police officers have been equipped with body cameras for nearly a decade.
鈥淭he fact that ICE is swimming in billions of taxpayer dollars and can鈥檛 perform a basic function like properly equipping their people is a severe indictment,鈥� LaFountain said. 鈥淐orrective action is required immediately.鈥�
LaFountain added that the city is offering mental health services to Dur谩n Guerrero鈥檚 family and all residents affected by the shooting.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin: 鈥業f you are here illegally, LEAVE NOW鈥�
In response to questions about President Trump鈥檚 Wednesday morning social media post, Mullin said in a statement that the department鈥檚 鈥�#1 goal鈥� is to keep officers safe and get criminals off the streets.
The department didn鈥檛 respond to specific questions about whether ICE officers are now able to do traffic stops but Mullin鈥檚 statement said people in the country illegally would be 鈥渁rrested and deported wherever they are.鈥�
鈥淚f you are here illegally, LEAVE NOW,鈥� said Mullin. 鈥淲e remind illegal aliens attempting to evade arrest is dangerous.鈥�
Man fatally shot by an ICE officer in Maine had illegally entered the US, officials said
Johan Sebasti谩n Dur谩n Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, had illegally entered the U.S. on Sept. 1, 2023, through the southern border, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
He was killed Monday in Biddesford, Maine, a coastal city roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.
Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him Monday that ICE officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it was not for the person who was shot.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, said agents were surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country.
When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, the 鈥渧ehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,鈥� the department said.
There have been at least 10 deaths involving immigration agents since Trump began deportation push
At least four of those deaths involved people in vehicles, including the one last week in Houston, a trend so troubling that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday that she had urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin 鈥渢o cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.鈥�
John Sandweg, who was acting director at ICE, which is part of DHS, during President Barack Obama鈥檚 Democratic administration, estimated recently that there have been roughly 18 traffic stop shootings during the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration crackdown.
Questions surround the Maine shooting
Photos showed bullet holes in Johan Sebasti谩n Dur谩n Guerrero鈥檚 car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting , leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when shooting, whether officers told Dur谩n Guerrero to stop and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.
Border czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they鈥檙e found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.
Maine鈥檚 attorney general鈥檚 office, which said it is working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn鈥檛 been released and who was placed on leave.
Fatal shooting during immigration operation angers Maine
Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over of Johan Sebasti谩n Dur谩n Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national. Advocacy groups said Guerrero, who had a wife and a young daughter, was authorized to work in the United States.
DHS said Monday that an officer, 鈥渇earing for public safety,鈥� Dur谩n Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the in the vehicle and the officer fired.
In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing 鈥渁t the hands of the U.S. government.鈥�
Lindsey Graham鈥檚 Senate Judiciary Committee spot draped in black
As the committee convened Wednesday for a confirmation hearing, the late South Carolina Republican鈥檚 seat at the rostrum was also marked with a vase of white roses.
had been set to chair the panel in the next Congress. He of a tear in his aorta.
On Tuesday, Graham鈥檚 sister, , was to serve out of his term, which expires in January. South Carolina Republicans are standing up a special primary election to pick a new nominee for this fall鈥檚 midterms.
High-stakes attorney general confirmation hearing getting underway
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to face bipartisan scrutiny as he seeks the chance to serve out the duration of Trump鈥檚 term.
Blanche, Trump鈥檚 former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, when Pam Bondi was fired after struggling to bring successful cases against Trump鈥檚 political foes.
Since taking the reins at the Justice Department, Blanche has into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a meant to compensate the president鈥檚 allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an of news media leaks.
Senate to hold hearing for Trump鈥檚 pick to head intelligence agencies after weekslong delay
, President Trump鈥檚 pick to head the nation鈥檚 intelligence agencies, will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, weeks after Trump .
Republicans and even some Democrats have been eager to quickly confirm Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as they鈥檝e expressed concerns about Trump鈥檚 interim appointee for the intelligence post, . Pulte, who has been in the job since June 19, is a former housing official with no known intelligence experience and who used to target perceived adversaries of the president.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, a Republican, expressed frustration when Trump delayed Clayton鈥檚 nomination in a social media post last month, allowing Pulte to take office. Cotton said then that Clayton had been instructed not to appear at a scheduled confirmation hearing, but he rescheduled the hearing three weeks later, with apparent approval from the White House.
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Blanche faces Senate scrutiny with Republican support key to his confirmation as attorney general
will confront questions Wednesday about his brief but turbulent tenure atop the Justice Department during a Senate confirmation hearing that will test President Donald Trump鈥檚 grip on Republican lawmakers whose support the nominee will need for the job.
Blanche, Trump鈥檚 former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, during which time he鈥檚 into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of meant to compensate the Republican president鈥檚 allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with of news media leaks.
Those actions will receive fresh scrutiny at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as Blanche testifies for the opportunity to serve out the duration of Trump鈥檚 term.
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