The White House overturned a one-day-old homeland security department (DHS) memo that temporarily halted ICE traffic stops, hours after President Donald Trump insisted the agency continue making them. The reversal came on Wednesday morning, following the fatal shootings of two unarmed men by ICE agents within a week.
Details of the Killings
On July 7, ICE agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas. On Monday, Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was killed in Maine. Both men were unarmed, neither was the intended target of the operation, and in both cases, the agents involved did not wear body cameras. The DHS had ordered a temporary halt to traffic stops nationwide on Tuesday to review procedures.
Trump's Response
In a Truth Social post, Trump declared: "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." He added that the partial rein-in "won't happen on my watch." The president made no mention of either killing in his post.
Trump credited ICE with falling crime rates and repeated his inflated claim that "25,000,000 people" crossed the border unchecked under Joe Biden. He instructed agents to "keep those Crime Stat Records coming" and concluded by telling officers they are "loved and respected in America," though no reassurance was offered to the families of the men killed.
DHS and Administration Reactions
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said in a statement: "Our #1 goal is to keep our officers safe and get criminals OFF our streets. Illegal aliens will be arrested and deported wherever they are. If you are here illegally, LEAVE NOW." He added that "we remind illegal aliens attempting to evade arrest is dangerous." The department also offered a $2,600 check to undocumented people to leave the country.
Before the order was rescinded, Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, described the pause as temporary, pending a review and possible retraining of agents. A department spokesperson would only say officials are "always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets." Fox News reported the halt carved out an exception for "the most egregious criminal aliens," meaning it was never the blanket ban Trump's post implies.
Pattern of Violence
Five of the 11 people shot dead by federal immigration officers since Trump's second term began were in their vehicles at the time. The DHS's standard justification—that occupants had "weaponized" their vehicles against agents—has repeatedly been undercut by witness video. In Houston, the men in Salgado's van told their attorney no officer was ever in the vehicle's path and that shots came from its sides. In Maine, Durán's wife and young daughter witnessed the aftermath after he told agents he had tried to stop the car.
Civil Rights Groups' Condemnation
Civil rights groups have called both shootings extrajudicial killings. Lauren Bonds of the National Police Accountability Project said bystander footage from Maine showed "another extrajudicial public execution" and urged Congress to freeze ICE's funding and narrow its jurisdiction. Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights called the pattern "state violence with the direct intent of terrorizing communities through fear, intimidation, and deadly violence."
Trump dismissed such criticism, attributing it to "Radical Left Dumocrats." He posted: "I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming!"
