Two fatal Immigration and Customs Enforcement encounters — involving a Mexican national and a Colombian national — have thrust the Trump administration onto the defensive.
On July 7, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had been living in the U.S. for 35 years, was fatally shot by ICE agents in Houston, Texas. A 26-year-old man, identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, was shot and killed by ICE agents on Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine.
In the Houston incident, the federal government has said the officers were acting in self-defense and that Araujo was using his car as a weapon against law enforcement.
Regarding the Maine shooting, ICE’s statement said the officer shot at the vehicle out of concern for public safety.
The Department of Homeland Security responded by suspending vehicle stops conducted by ICE officers, a move President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said is “not a policy change, it’s a temporary pause.”
He told Fox News, “This is going to be a short-term review.”
He appeared to predict correctly, because in the early hours of Wednesday, Trump reversed the order, calling traffic stops one of immigration enforcement’s “most important and effective crime fighting tools” in a Truth Social post.
He also said that pausing traffic stops would be “playing right into the criminal’s hands” and giving Democrats what they want, “but it won’t happen on my watch,” Trump said. “I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming! Remember, you are loved and respected in America.”
Fox News confirmed the reversal was made by the President.
Appearing to be on the same page, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin shared Trump’s comments on X, adding that “as our officers carry out operations to enforce our nation’s laws, they are facing a more than 1,300% increase in vehicle attacks.”
He continued, “We remind illegal aliens attempting to evade arrest is dangerous. This reckless illegal alien activity comes after sanctuary politicians held webinars and shared resources for how to openly defy @ICEgov.”
Democrats call for abolishing ICE
The two recent deaths bring the number of ICE-related fatalities in Trump’s second term to at least nine, according to The Associated Press.
Calls to abolish or overhaul the federal law enforcement agency from Democratic congressional leaders have resurfaced, echoing the backlash that followed January’s ICE operations in Minnesota in which two Americans were killed.
“You cannot put a bandage on a system that is fundamentally broken. We must abolish ICE. Period,” Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., recently said.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted on X, “ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also said in a recent interview, “I’m somebody who feels like it doesn’t matter what you want to call it, but we have to disband ICE. We have to melt ICE, we have to abolish ICE ... ICE should not exist as it exists.”