ICE Temporarily Pauses Vehicle Stops After Fatal Shootings

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been instructed to stop most vehicle stops nationwide immediately after two fatal shootings over the last week.

The Details: According to CBS (Lean Left bias), the directive applies to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the division responsible for civil immigration arrests, but not to Homeland Security. ICE may stop cars in cases involving serious criminal targets, according to CBS. Border czar Tom Homan told Fox News (Right) that the instruction isn't a policy change, but a temporary pause while ERO officers receive additional training on vehicle-stop tactics.

For Context: ICE agents fatally shot two civilians, Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas, over the last week during operations. Neither of the men were the targets of the immigration enforcement operations, according to NewsNation (Center), though they were both unauthorized immigrants. In January, Alex Pretti and Renee Good were also shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota after altercations during operations. ICE officers have been involved in at least 22 shootings since March 2025.

The Shootings: Fox News said the pause comes amid "increasingly controversial" stops by ICE agents. It quoted an ICE spokesperson who described the events leading up to the shooting of Araujo in Texas, including his reported attempt to "ram an ICE officer with his vehicle." It also quoted DHS' response that ICE officers weren't issued body cameras "due to back-to-back Democrat shutdowns." Meanwhile, NPR (Lean Left) said Araujo reportedly "tried to use his van as a weapon…but passengers in the van have disputed this account." Its coverage was critical of DHS's tactics, citing DHS policy that said "deadly force cannot be used solely to prevent someone from fleeing…unless the person poses a significant threat." It also noted DHS previously "vowed" to deploy body cameras, but hasn't.

Immigration Operations: Right-leaning outlets like Fox, OANN (Right), The Daily Caller (Right) and The Daily Wire (Right) referred to Araujo and Guerrero as "illegal alien[s]" and emphasized their illegal status compared to left-leaning outlets like CBS, Associated Press (Lean Left) and NPR, which referred to both Araujo and Guerrero as "nationals" from Mexico and Colombia. CBS quoted Araujo's family members who said Araujo "was close to obtaining a work permit" after living in the US "without legal status." The Daily Wire said the directive "has the potential to massively impact ICE's ability to make arrests."

Elevating Different Viewpoints: Outlets on the left and in the center cited voices who offered empathy toward the men and who advocated for policy change. Many quoted Araujo's family members who said Araujo was a "judicious, loving and disciplined man" with "no criminal record." NPR quoted Sarah Saldaña, a former ICE acting director under President Obama, who said the shift in policy is a good start. The Daily Wire quoted an ICE source who voiced anger over the policy, saying, "Numbers are going down, we can't do sh*t."

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