US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has directed officers nationwide to halt most vehicle stops after agents shot and killed two men during traffic operations in Texas and Maine just six days apart, officials said.
The change in arrest tactics took effect one day after an ICE agent fatally shot a Colombian driver in Biddeford, a coastal Maine town about 24km south of Portland. US President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, described the measure as a “temporary pause” in vehicle stops.
On 7 July, an ICE officer in Houston shot and killed another man while attempting to stop his vehicle.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, characterised both men as “illegal aliens.” However, DHS officials have acknowledged that neither man was the intended target of the deportation operations that ended in their deaths.
Tom Homan called the move a ‘temporary pause’, not a policy change
ICE arrests in Maine have risen more than fourfold since the beginning of June, reaching about 70 per day in early July, according to internal agency data shared with Reuters by a source.
Monday’s shooting in Maine triggered protests, with further demonstrations held yesterday in Maine, Boston and Houston.
‘Short-term review’
“It’s not a policy change, it’s a temporary pause,” Mr Homan said of the suspension of vehicle stops during an interview on the Fox News Channel yesterday.
“This is going to be a short-term review to make sure ICE agents are safe and doing the right thing,” he said.
Until the review is completed, he added, officers will use other methods to carry out arrests.
In a statement issued nearly 12 hours after Monday’s shooting, DHS said an ICE officer “fearing for public safety” fired when the driver tried to flee.
Watch: Footage shows individuals who appear to be ICE agents during an incident where a driver was fatally shot in Biddeford, Maine
Authorities have not detailed how the driver may have presented a danger serious enough to warrant the use of deadly force.
ICE policy states that deadly force may be used only when there is an “imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death to the officer or to another person.” It is not authorised “solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect.”
US Senator Angus King told reporters that the agents involved were not equipped with body cameras.
According to DHS, the agents were monitoring the last known address of a person under a final order of removal from the country. They then followed a car seen leaving the property.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin later informed Mr King that the driver, who was killed in the shooting, was not the operation’s target, according to a spokesperson for the senator.
Six days before the Maine shooting, an ICE agent in Houston fatally shot a 52-year-old man. A DHS official has confirmed that he, too, was not the target of the operation.
ICE said the man struck a law enforcement vehicle with his van before attempting to run over an officer, who then fired in self-defence.
The agency did not provide evidence supporting that version of events.
In several comparable cases during the past year, video footage or other evidence has contradicted initial statements from ICE and DHS concerning agents’ use of force.
