President Donald Trump reversed a Department of Homeland Security directive suspending most Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops on July 15, just hours after the policy was announced. The whipsaw came after two fatal shootings in a week exposed gaps in body-camera deployment and triggered sharp political backlash from both parties.
The Policy Reversal
Trump wrote on Truth Social that "we CANNOT give up one of ICE's most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!" He added that ending those stops would be "playing right into the criminal's hands." Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin initially said people illegally in the country would be "arrested and deported wherever they are," but didn't directly address whether ICE officers would continue traffic stops. A White House official later confirmed the guidance had been reversed.
The pause applied to agents in Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch within ICE charged with arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants. It barred agents from initiating stops, though they were told to work with partner agencies if executing a criminal warrant on someone in a vehicle. Trump's administration ordered the pause after the fatal shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, prompted calls for independent investigations and renewed criticism of the agency. Both men were killed during federal immigration enforcement operations, but neither was the target of those operations, sources said.
The Fatal Encounters
In Houston, ICE officers fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national who worked in construction and was the father of three U.S. citizens. ICE said officers tried to pull him over in the early-morning hours of July 7, that he ignored orders, and that he then "weaponized" his vehicle in an attempt to run over an agent. The agency said the agent fired in self-defense. Witnesses in the car with Salgado Araujo called ICE's account "simply false," according to their attorney. ICE later said it had mistaken him for someone else when it tried to stop him.
Six days later, an ICE officer fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13. ICE said officers saw him exit the house of someone else who had a removal order and tried to pull him over. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin initially said Guerrero "weaponized" his vehicle, according to comments relayed by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. In a later statement, ICE said the agent fired after Guerrero attempted to flee the scene and the agent feared for "public safety." DHS said Guerrero illegally entered the U.S. on Sept. 1, 2023, through the southern border and later said he was released into the U.S. after crossing the border. Advocacy groups said he was authorized to work in the U.S. when he was killed.
Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero's car windshield. In both the Houston and Maine shootings, ICE officers weren't wearing body cameras. DHS officials told USA TODAY the officers weren't wearing them because "back-to-back Democrat shutdowns" delayed the rollout of the devices.
Body-Camera Deployment Struggles
In a July 15 statement, DHS said ICE will "ensure each arrest team has an individual wearing a body camera." A DHS spokesperson said the cameras were needed because of increased attacks on officers and said more than half of the field offices had received them, with the rest expected to get them in less than 60 days.
The agency had promised body cameras earlier this year. In February, then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said "DHS law enforcement across the country" would begin wearing body cameras after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens killed by federal officers in Minneapolis in January. DHS officials described both Good and Pretti as "domestic terrorists," though witnesses and bystander videos contradicted those claims. CNN said some of DHS's narratives were later undermined by video, court rulings and other evidence.
USA TODAY said ICE issued a policy on Feb. 19 mandating the use of body cameras during immigration enforcement activities. It also said ICE began equipping officers with body cameras in 2021, that the Biden administration ordered federal law enforcement agencies to begin using body cameras in 2022, and that by 2024 around 1,000 ICE officers across five cities were using the technology. USA TODAY said Trump rescinded the order of his Democratic predecessor shortly after coming into office. In March, former acting ICE chief Todd Lyons told Congress that around 3,000 out of 13,000 ICE officers were using body cameras, or less than a quarter of officers. It said it was unclear exactly how many officers ICE employs today, though in January the agency said it had hired and was training enough people to expand to 22,000 officers.
Political Fallout
The shootings and the pause drew sharp political reaction. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said in a statement on July 14 that "it is extremely unfortunate" that the ICE officer involved in the Maine shooting wasn't wearing a body camera and also blamed Democrats for the hold-up on the rollout of the technology. She said two shootings in a week "raise very serious questions" and warrant a halt in vehicle stops for the time being. Maine's Democratic governor, Janet Mills, said ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency if it can't be fixed, and said the agency needs changes "before more families are robbed of a loved one." Border czar Tom Homan said the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they are found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.
Trump became furious after watching coverage of the temporary change in policy that suggested he was weakening immigration enforcement, according to CNN. Early Wednesday, he ordered it overturned, posting on Truth Social that "The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won't happen on my watch." CNN said prominent MAGA figures, including longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon and conservative lawyer Mike Davis, criticized the suspension. Davis said on Bannon's "War Room" show, "You work for President Trump, you don't work for Senate Democrats, you don't work for Susan Collins," and added, "This guy needs to stop being a wimp, he needs to stop being weak, he needs to stop being stupid. If he's not up to doing the job, get the hell out of the job and we'll put someone there who can do."
Mullin later posted Trump's reversal and wrote on X, "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."
Broader Scrutiny
The episode came amid broader scrutiny of ICE enforcement tactics. AP said there have been at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign, and at least four involved people in vehicles. AP also said ICE has been under pressure to beef up arrest and deportation numbers and that it often blames immigration advocates who advise immigrants to stay in their homes unless ICE produces a warrant signed by an independent judge. ICE officers say that means they're forced to find other ways to make arrests.
Trump also faced the shootings while preparing a primetime address on elections. AP said he planned a 9 p.m. Thursday speech that could revisit long-debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden and that he had escalated calls for Republicans to pass tighter federal voting rules for November's midterm elections. Trump said, "It doesn't get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country," and added, "We'll be discussing other things, too," and, "It's going to be a very big announcement."
Why This Matters:
The brief suspension and swift reversal exposed deep tensions between operational necessity and political optics in federal immigration enforcement. ICE officers operate under intense pressure to meet deportation targets while navigating legal constraints that advocacy groups have weaponized to shield illegal immigrants from arrest. The body-camera rollout, delayed by budget fights and administrative turnover, left officers vulnerable to conflicting narratives about use-of-force incidents. The shootings themselves raise legitimate questions about training and accountability, but they also illustrate the operational challenges officers face when suspects use vehicles to evade arrest. The political backlash from both conservatives who opposed the pause and Democrats calling for ICE's abolition shows how enforcement policy has become a flashpoint in broader debates over border security, rule of law, and the scope of federal authority. With at least 10 deaths involving immigration encounters this year, the agency faces mounting pressure to balance aggressive enforcement with transparency and restraint.