President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of traffic stops, calling the tactic one of the agency’s most effective law enforcement tools despite mounting criticism following a series of fatal encounters involving federal immigration agents.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised ICE officers and rejected calls to curtail vehicle stops during immigration operations.
“ICE is doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done,” Trump wrote.
The president argued that traffic stops remain essential to his administration’s immigration enforcement strategy.
“To remove the criminals that were let into our Country under the previous administration, we must be strong, tough and smart and we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump wrote. “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”
Statement appears to conflict with policy shift
Trump’s comments appeared to contradict a recently announced policy intended to pause certain traffic-stop operations following several fatal encounters involving immigration agents.
The debate intensified after an ICE agent fatally shot a Colombian driver during an operation Monday in Biddeford, Maine. The incident came just one week after another ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston.
Both shootings have sparked demands from lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates for independent investigations into ICE’s enforcement practices.
Third death reported during immigration operation
Separately, authorities in Florida reported Tuesday that a 28-year-old man died after being struck by a tractor-trailer while fleeing immigration and other federal officers during an enforcement operation.
The Florida incident marked the third fatality connected to federal immigration enforcement in roughly one week.
According to authorities, the man was not shot but was killed while attempting to escape officers on foot.
Critics question use of force
Immigration officers have repeatedly maintained that deadly force became necessary after drivers allegedly used or attempted to use their vehicles as weapons against agents.
However, policing experts have long cautioned against firing into moving vehicles, arguing that doing so often increases risks to officers, bystanders and the public.
The recent shootings have renewed scrutiny of ICE tactics as the Trump administration continues expanding immigration enforcement operations nationwide.
Lawmakers raise concerns
At least 10 people have died during immigration enforcement operations since the administration’s mass deportation campaign intensified, according to figures cited by critics. At least four of those deaths involved encounters with people inside vehicles.
The growing number of deadly incidents has prompted concern from members of Congress, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Collins said Tuesday she urged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops” while the incidents are reviewed.
Former ICE Acting Director John Sandweg, who led the agency during the Obama administration, recently estimated there have been approximately 18 shootings connected to traffic-stop encounters during the current immigration crackdown.
The Department of Homeland Security has defended its enforcement actions, arguing agents have responded appropriately when confronted with threats during arrest operations.
