ICE has temporarily stopped most vehicle stops during immigration enforcement operations across the US after two fatal shootings in Maine and Texas raised questions about the agency’s tactics. The pause will remain in place while officers receive additional training.
ICE temporarily changes enforcement policy
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been told to immediately stop most vehicle stops during enforcement operations across the country. The only exceptions are cases involving serious criminal targets. This comes after fatal shootings in Texas and Maine over the last week, multiple law enforcement sources told CBS News.
The order applies to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the division that handles civil immigration arrests and removals. It does not apply to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which mainly investigates criminal cases. The pause is temporary while ERO officers receive additional training on vehicle-stop tactics.
For now, ERO officers can still take part in vehicle stops if they are working with other law enforcement agencies to arrest criminal suspects who have judicial warrants, according to CBS.
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What happened in Maine
On Monday, a federal immigration agent shot and killed a person inside a vehicle in Biddeford, Maine, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS said that at about 7am local time, ICE agents had been watching the last known address of someone living in the country illegally who had a removal order. A person then left the address in a vehicle.
The agents tried to stop the vehicle. “The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” DHS said in its statement. The driver was hit and died from his injuries.
In a separate message sent to some members of Congress, the department used stronger language, saying the driver had “weaponized his vehicle toward law enforcement,” as per The New York Times.
In an update shared on X, DHS gave further details of the incident. As per DHS, on July 13, 2026, at around 7am local time, ICE was conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien who had a final order of removal. An illegal alien then left the residence in a vehicle, and ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. “The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” DHS said. The driver was struck, and emergency services were contacted immediately. He later died from his injuries.
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The Biddeford Police Department and the FBI responded to the scene, and the DHS Office of Inspector General has been notified. “Like all discharge of firearms this will be investigated,” DHS said, adding that the situation is still developing and that the public will be updated when more information is available.
The person killed was identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, a Colombian national, according to Matthew Felling, a spokesman for Maine Senator Angus King, as per NYT.
Felling said King had spoken with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who first said the person shot was the target of an arrest warrant, then called back to correct this. “The person they shot was not the person they were looking for,” Felling said.
DHS confirmed Guerrero was not the target, and agents were watching an address linked to “an illegal alien with a final order of removal” when they tried to stop his car.
The Embassy of Colombia said it was assisting Guerrero’s family and had sought details from DHS “regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death.”
The Texas shooting, one week earlier
Just six days before the Maine shooting, a similar situation happened in Houston. Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by ICE officers who had pulled over his vehicle while looking for a different person, DHS confirmed, per CBS News.
“After receiving a credible tip from our law enforcement partners, our officers conducted surveillance on a target’s address. Weeks prior to the incident, they noted two white vans at the property,” DHS said. “On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop.”
