WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume traffic stops Wednesday, reversing a one-day pause on the policy after officers killed two immigrants who were in their vehicles in Texas and Maine.

In a post to social media, Trump called the practice of federal immigration officers conducting enforcement during traffic stops “one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective” tools. 

The Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign has led to an uptick in people killed by immigration officers, including at traffic stops.  

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security ordered all federal immigration officers to pause vehicle-related enforcement after the killings of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7 and 25-year-old Johan Sebastián in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. 

Both men were stopped in their vehicles when federal immigration officers shot and killed them. Neither was an initial target of immigration enforcement, DHS said.

Monday’s shooting prompted a demand from Maine’s Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is in the midst of a tight reelection race, for ICE to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

Trump said Democrats wanted the pause on immigration enforcement at traffic stops.

“The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch,” he said. “I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to detailed questions about the president’s directive. White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.

Congress calls for action

Monday’s shooting sparked calls for action among lawmakers, with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus advocating for dismantling of ICE and Maine’s congressional delegation pressing an independent watchdog to conduct an expedited investigation.

“Given the gravity of the situation and the understandable anxiety within the Biddeford community, we urge you to prioritize this investigation,” the Maine delegation wrote to DHS’s Office of Inspector General. 

“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.”

Collins and independent Sen. Angus King also requested the Department of Justice collaborate with state and local law enforcement authorities to investigate the fatal shooting.

International outrage

Sebastián was a Colombian immigrant with legal work authorization. Salgado Araujo was a Mexican national who had been in the United States for decades and was the father of three U.S. citizen children.

Both of their killings sparked outrage in their communities, as well as from the leaders of Mexico and Colombia.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called Sebastián’s death, “a murder of a Colombian, a Latin American, at the hands of the US government.”

In a social media post written in Spanish, Petro said he expects to hear from Trump about the shooting. 

“They killed him for believing him to be an inferior being without rights, and as a person, he had all the rights conferred on a human being simply for being born, and he was a citizen with rights in the US,” he said. 

He added that “ICE is an organization that must be denounced on a worldwide scale.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Monday that her government will file complaints to the Justice Department relating not only to Salgado Araujo’s death, but in states where Mexican nationals have died in U.S. federal detention centers or during immigration enforcement.

“I don’t think this situation appears acceptable to anyone,” she said, according to the Texas Tribune. “This is an issue for all Mexicans.”

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security Tuesday ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to cease vehicle-related enforcement stops, following the deadly shootings of two men in their vehicles, according to multiple media reports. 

A DHS spokesperson did not respond directly to States Newsroom’s question about what was characterized in some reports as a new nationwide order. 

“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.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican who is up for reelection in one of the nation’s most closely watched races, said on social media Tuesday that she spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Monday night and “urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.” ICE officers killed a 26-year-old Colombian man with legal status in his vehicle in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday.

As the Trump administration aims to carry out mass deportations, aggressive enforcement has occurred across the interior of the country, with at least 21 shootings involving federal immigration agents, even before Maine. At least 10 of those incidents prior to Maine have been deadly, according to an investigation by the Guardian.

Monday’s shooting in Maine, coupled with another by federal immigration officers who on July 7 killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, during a traffic stop in Houston, Texas, renewed congressional anger and demand for answers. 

Neither man was an initial person of interest for immigration enforcement, DHS stated.

Hispanic Caucus calls for abolishing ICE

On Tuesday, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus condemned federal immigration agents for the recent shootings, calling for congressional oversight and for the dismantling of ICE.

“An agency that acts as though it is above the law cannot be reformed at the margins,” said New York Democrat Nydia Velázquez. “You cannot put a Band-Aid on a system that is fundamentally broken. We must abolish ICE.”

“Here we are again, a brown man, a Latino, killed,” said the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said the recent killings are a pattern with immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, coupled with conflicting statements given by the Department of Homeland Security and independent video recordings of the incidents. 

The department came under intense scrutiny after federal immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Minnesota prosecutors announced Monday that they started receiving evidence from the federal government about their killings after the Trump administration initially refused to turn over evidence to local law enforcement. 

Espaillat said members of the Hispanic Caucus will hold a field hearing in Houston on July 24 with House Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee. Democrats plan to focus the hearing on the killing of Salgado Araujo, a construction worker, husband and father of three U.S. citizen children. 

ICE to get billions

Texas Democrat Joaquin Castro said that Congress must not only use its power of subpoena to conduct oversight, but must freeze hiring at ICE and refuse to fund the agency. 

Congressional Republicans funded ICE and Border Patrol with $70 billion until September 2029 through a special legislative process after Democrats refused to fund DHS for fiscal year 2026. 

Additionally, congressional Republicans last year approved roughly $170 billion for DHS to conduct immigration enforcement and hire more ICE and Border Patrol agents.

“We have to disband ICE in this Congress,” Castro said. “Otherwise, these killings will continue. There will be another victim in a few days or a few weeks.” 

Texas Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia said she has a meeting with Homeland Security’s Mullin this week, where she plans to ask questions related to the Texas and Maine shootings. 

“This is a human life,” she said of Salgado Araujo. “He was not the target. He had no criminal record. He may not even be the right man. Those are very troubling questions for everybody.”