Trump Thaws ICE Traffic-Stop Freeze With Social-Media Post
He overturned an agency memo sent after a shooting led to protests.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can use traffic stops to arrest illegal immigrants, President Trump declared Wednesday, reversing a day-old freeze on most vehicle stops implemented at embattled Maine Senator Susan Collins’ request.
“The Open Border Policy of Sleepy Joe Biden allowed 25,000,000 people to pour into our Country, unchecked and unvetted. Many were Criminals, and we have to get them out,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social. “In order to do this, we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”
“I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job,” he added. “Remember, you are loved and respected in America.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who oversees ICE, posted Mr. Trump’s statement on X, noting, “As our officers carry out operations to enforce our nations [sic] laws, they are facing a more than 1,300% increase in vehicle attacks.”
He blasted four Democrats for encouraging illegal immigrants to evade ICE and even providing tips: New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Congressman Dan Goldman, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Ms. Collins, a Republican, contacted Mr. Mullin Monday evening, asking him to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops” following that day’s shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national, in Biddeford, Maine, which the office of DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari is investigating.
An ICE officer fired “because he feared for public safety,” the agency said. Durán Guerrero pulled his vehicle out during an ICE “targeted surveillance” operation on his street but “attempted to flee the scene,” precipitating the shooting.
ICE sent a memo to field office directors Tuesday, saying “vehicle stops are suspended until further notice, Fox News’ Alexis McAdams said. She reported Wednesday, “White House says there was NO policy change just an internal DHS memo that was quickly overturned.”
The furor over the shooting brought renewed attention to the way ICE deals with illegal immigrants, with protests at a detention center in Maine and one of Ms. Collins’ offices in the state.
It is likely to surface in Ms. Collins’ reelection campaign. The race was shaken up last week when Graham Platner, the Democrat who won the party’s June 9 primary, withdrew after a former girlfriend alleged he had broken into her home and raped her.
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