US Halts Immigration Traffic Stops After 2 Fatal Shootings

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has suspended traffic stops for detaining immigrants following two fatal shootings by agents. The policy change follows intense public and international scrutiny regarding the aggressive tactics used during immigration enforcement operations.
Why it matters
The suspension of these tactics marks a significant shift in immigration enforcement policy amid growing concerns over police brutality and civil rights.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has suspended the use of traffic stops to detain immigrants after two fatal shootings by ICE agents, according to media reports Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security instructed ICE officers not to stop moving vehicles to arrest or question the occupants inside, according to the Wall Street Journal and other outlets.It comes after an agent on Monday shot dead a 26-year-old Colombian man in Maine. An ICE spokesperson said a vehicle "attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon."Rights groups identified the victim as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a delivery driver authorized to work in the United States, who lived with his wife and three-year-old daughter.Colombian leader Gustavo Petro, a harsh critic of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, called the killing a "murder of a Latin American Colombian at the hands of the US government.""They killed him because they believed he was an inferior being without rights," Petro wrote on X. Last week, an ICE agent shot dead Lorenzo Salgado, a 52-year-old Mexican, during an operation in Texas. Immigration authorities claimed that Salgado "weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense."But witnesses have disputed that account, saying that the agent was never directly in front of the vehicle. Tasked with enforcing Trump's immigration crackdown, ICE's heavily armed agents have faced nationwide backlash for aggressive tactics and for the shooting deaths of two US citizens this year in Minneapolis. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The article emphasizes the 'backlash' and 'aggressive tactics' of ICE, while highlighting criticisms from political figures like Gustavo Petro.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in