ICE Pauses Vehicle Stops Nationwide Following Deadly Maine Shooting: Homan

Border czar Tom Homan told Fox News on July 14 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is temporarily halting most vehicle stops nationwide following a deadly shooting of an illegal immigrant the day before in Maine who attempted to flee immigration agents during one of these stops.

“It’s not a policy change. It’s a temporary pause,” Homan said.

“ICE leadership along with DHS believes they want to look at these last couple incidents and look: Is there something that could have been done better? Is there any training that can be improved? Or is it simply ICE doing a job, and bad things happen when people don’t comply with law enforcement officers?”

Homan said he believed it will be a short pause and that he is confident in ICE’s ability to conduct vehicle stops. In the meantime, he stressed this change will not affect the frequency at which ICE agents make arrests of illegal immigrants.

Officers can still apprehend an individual when they exit their home and before they get into a vehicle or after they arrive at their destination, the border czar said, citing a surge in vehicle assaults on federal agents since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

“If we can arrest that alien outside that vehicle and take that two-ton weapon away from them, that’s good in some instances,” Homan said. “Other instances, we’re still going to need to do vehicle stops for a significant criminal.”

There are a multitude of factors and quick decisions ICE agents are required to make while on duty, he added.

Hours before Homan’s announcement, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) had posted on X that she spoke with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin after the shooting, urging him to cease all “non-urgent vehicle stops.”

“I am encouraged that the Department has agreed to do so,” Collins wrote.

Also hours before the border czar’s announcement, an ICE spokesperson provided an emailed response to The Epoch Times’ inquiry about ICE halting some vehicle stops.

“We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets,” the spokesperson said. “We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics.”

Meanwhile, Maine’s congressional lawmakers—Sen. Collins, Independent Sen. Angus King, and Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden—penned a joint letter to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari earlier July 14, demanding an independent review of the deadly encounter on the morning of July 13 in Biddeford, Maine.

“Along with our constituents, we are deeply saddened by this loss of life. The facts surrounding this tragedy remain a matter of significant local concern and necessitate a thorough, objective accounting,” the lawmakers said.

“Timely and factual answers will be critical to providing closure for the grieving community and ensuring that federal law enforcement operations are conducted safely, lawfully, and in a manner that respects public safety.”

DHS said following the deadly shooting that the ICE agent involved was “fearing for public safety” when he discharged his weapon at the man, who was taken to the hospital but died from his injuries.

Collins stated in her post on X that it was “extremely unfortunate” the agent who fired the fatal shots did not have a body-worn camera. She blamed the “Democratic government shutdown” earlier this year for delaying the implementation of safety measures, such as body-worn cameras, that were included in a DHS funding bill.

Those funds included $20 million for the expanded use of body cameras, $2 million for deescalation training, and a 17 percent increase in the Office of Inspector General’s budget, Collins said.

“While it is clear ICE needs to improve its performance, it is important to remember that the work ICE does to protect our country goes far beyond immigration enforcement,” the senator wrote. “Eliminating ICE would make our country less safe and endanger the lives and welfare of countless individuals.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) held a different view. He said ceasing vehicle stops is not enough, and laws need to be enacted to hold ICE agents accountable.

He demanded “real consequences” for immigration officers, which he said Democratic lawmakers tried to enact earlier this year.

“Republicans refused and instead poured tens of billions of dollars to power Trump’s state-sanctioned violence on a bigger scale,” Schumer said in a post on X. “The killings won’t stop until we stop the impunity that Trump and Republicans want to preserve.”

The deadly encounter in Maine occurred just days after another fatal shooting of an illegal immigrant by ICE agents in Houston.

Authorities said they were looking for a different individual when they attempted to stop a car driven by Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who then rammed an ICE vehicle, prompting an officer to open fire in self-defense.