President Donald Trump publicly contradicted his own administration's decision to suspend most Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops, demanding Wednesday that agents continue the practice despite three fatal encounters in a single week. The directive came just hours after officials had quietly told ICE officers to halt most vehicle stops following mounting deaths and bipartisan alarm.
"We CANNOT give up one of ICE's most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!" Trump wrote on his social media platform. Ending those stops, he claimed, would be "playing right into the criminal's hands."
A Week of Fatal Encounters
The reversal follows a deadly stretch of enforcement. On Monday, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine. He was driving away from a home under surveillance when an officer fired through his windshield. Photos showed bullet holes in the car's glass, but the officers involved weren't wearing body cameras.
Last week, another motorist was shot and killed by ICE officers in Texas. Then on Tuesday, a 28-year-old man in Florida died after being struck by a tractor trailer while fleeing immigration and other federal officers. At least 10 people have died during encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign. Four of those deaths involved people in vehicles.
Policing experts have long warned that shooting into moving cars creates severe risks and should almost always be avoided. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine urged Department of Homeland Security leaders "to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops," saying two shootings in a week "raise very serious questions."
Families Left Behind
Durán Guerrero's partner, Karolina Rojas, shared a photo on Instagram of the couple with their young daughter. "I love you, my darling, my life. I love you. I have no words for this pain," she wrote. "You were my everything. Please watch over me. Help me find the strength to carry on."
Advocacy groups said Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S. at the time of his death. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him that ICE officers were serving an arrest warrant Monday, but it wasn't for the person who was shot.
Durán Guerrero entered the U.S. on Sept. 1, 2023, through the southern border and was released into the country, DHS said Wednesday. The department didn't answer questions about the agent who shot him. Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing "at the hands of the U.S. government."
Conflicting Signals From Leadership
Hours after Trump's social media post, Mullin issued his own statement saying people illegally in the country would be "arrested and deported wherever they are." But he didn't directly address whether ICE officers will be allowed to carry out traffic stops, leaving the policy status unclear.
Border czar Tom Homan told reporters that investigations need to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they acted inappropriately or illegally. Trump told ICE to be "judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job."
ICE has been under pressure to increase arrest and deportation numbers. The agency says people being sought are increasingly staying in their homes, often following advice from immigration advocates to remain inside 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.
Maine's Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency if it can't be fixed. Mills, who has criticized ICE before, said Wednesday that the agency needs changes "before more families are robbed of a loved one." Hundreds gathered Tuesday to remember Durán Guerrero, and more protests are planned.
Why This Matters:
The tension between public safety and aggressive immigration enforcement has reached a breaking point, with families paying the ultimate price. When federal officers operate without body cameras and shoot into moving vehicles—a practice policing experts widely condemn—accountability becomes nearly impossible. The lack of clear policy direction from the administration leaves both ICE agents and immigrant communities in dangerous uncertainty. For workers like Durán Guerrero, who was authorized to work in the U.S., the risk of a fatal encounter during routine travel represents a fundamental erosion of due process protections. As bipartisan lawmakers from Maine question the tactics and a sitting governor calls for the agency's dissolution, the question isn't just about immigration policy—it's about whether any enforcement goal justifies tactics that experts say endanger everyone on the road. The families left behind, like Rojas and her daughter, will live with the consequences of these decisions long after the political debates fade.