Trump reverses ICE policy halting most traffic stops

President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and disputed reports it would end traffic stops. He said that traffic stops are key to effective enforcement of immigration laws. 

"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! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands. The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch," Trump said on Truth Social. 

Several outlets on Tuesday reported that ICE would curtail agents stopping vehicles as part of the federal agency's nationwide deportation operation. The change in policy followed two fatal shootings of motorists involving ICE agents in one week. 

On Monday, an ICE agent fatally shot a motorist in Biddeford, Maine. The victim is reported to be a 26-year-old Columbian nationalist. But whether he was the intended target of the arrest warrant remained unclear. On July 7, an ICE agent shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, of Mexico, during a traffic stop in Houston.  

In both instances, federal officials allege the victim used his vehicle in a way that put agents' safety and life in danger.