\n \u201cMy goal in six months is that we\u2019re not in the lead story every single day,\u201d the incoming DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, told a congressional panel<\/a> in mid-March.\n <\/p>\n \n Although there are two months left to go on that self-imposed deadline, Mullin\u2019s hope for a quiet summer of inconspicuous immigration arrests has been foiled by another pair of fatal shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents under his broad command.\n <\/p>\n \n The killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a> in Houston and Joan Sebastian Dur\u00e1n Guerrero<\/a> in Biddeford, Maine, both came at the end of traffic stops, which had become a critical tool<\/a> for agents trying to meet the Trump administration\u2019s goal<\/a> of around 2,000 arrests a day.\n <\/p>\n \n That seemed to change Tuesday as DHS faced more criticism from local officials and members of Congress: ICE agents were told to largely suspend vehicle stops<\/a> until further notice and to coordinate with partner agencies when executing a criminal warrant on someone in a vehicle.\n <\/p>\n \n But border czar Tom Homan<\/a> had barely finished a round of interviews downplaying<\/a> the significance of those traffic stops and predicting the temporary change wouldn\u2019t greatly impact the number of immigration-related arrests when the directive changed again<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n The flip-flop came at the direction of President Donald Trump, a White House official said. The pause had made him furious, two sources familiar with the matter said, as prominent MAGA voices suggested his administration was weakening immigration enforcement.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.\u2019s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!\u201d Trump wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social. \u201cOnce we do, we are playing right into the criminal\u2019s hands.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n \n However short-lived, ICE\u2019s pause on most vehicle stops showed a federal agency apparently willing to reassess its methods, at least compared to the decision by Mullin\u2019s predecessor, Kristi Noem, to double down<\/a> after the deaths of Minnesotans Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal officers.\n <\/p>\n \n Within DHS, officials privately have shared concerns that repeated agency-involved firearm discharges \u2013 there have been 10 such incidents<\/a> in 2026 \u2013 will derail the public sentiment Mullin has tried to rebuild on the heels of Noem\u2019s ouster.\n <\/p>\n \n Still, the legal standard<\/a> for charging law enforcement for a shooting in the line of duty remains high, and no criminal charges have been filed against any immigration enforcement officer involved in this year\u2019s fatal traffic stop cases.\n <\/p>\n \n Facing unprecedented arrest targets in Trump\u2019s second term, ICE agents are under pressure to apprehend undocumented immigrants while on the move themselves, a former leader of the agency told CNN this week.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt takes a little more time if you\u2019re going to wait for the person to arrive at their destination,\u201d said John Sandweg<\/a>, an attorney and former acting director of ICE in the Obama administration. \u201cThere\u2019s just this desire to ratchet up the arrest numbers.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Meanwhile, traditional efforts to take undocumented immigrants into custody from their homes have become less effective. Surveilling neighborhoods, door knocking and using DHS administrative warrants<\/a> \u2013 signed by authorized ICE officers rather than judges \u2013 have been frustrated<\/a> by expanding networks of community organizers who inform immigrants of their legal rights<\/a> and warn them<\/a> when federal agents are nearby.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMore and more people are educated that they\u2019re not required as a matter of law to let ICE in without a judicial warrant,\u201d Sandweg said, referring to the kind signed by a judge.\n <\/p>\n \n ICE\u2019s ramp-up in pulling over drivers for immigration enforcement purposes, however, hasn\u2019t come with an increase in training for how to conduct traffic stops, exacerbating the danger for both suspects and officers, he said.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI talk to former ICE agents and state and local police all the time. They\u2019ll tell you that a traffic stop is one of the most dangerous things law enforcement can do,\u201d Sandweg said. \u201cThe officers feel like they are at risk, and we see the consequences of that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Indeed, even as ICE officers already received far less training than almost any other federal agents given a badge and a gun, the Trump administration cut ICE recruits\u2019 training hours<\/a> amid an aggressive hiring push.\n <\/p>\n \n Mullin has since reversed that, promising in a congressional hearing last month<\/a> that training would be \u201cback up to the regular standards\u201d by July 1.\n <\/p>\n \n ICE is instituting additional training, including for crowd control, high-risk vehicle stops and medical training, plus a live-fire cover course, a DHS spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n On June 2, ICE reextended its training program to 71 days, which applied to all new training classes beginning July 1, the spokesperson said, adding previous graduates\u2004will\u2004get \u201cfollow-on training.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAs we have said all along, ICE training does not end when recruits graduate from the academy,\u201d the DHS spokesperson said. \u201cICE officers go through a rigorous on-the-job training and mentorship. This additional training is tracked online and monitored closely.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Other vehicle-related arrests also have drawn negative attention to immigration enforcement actions. An ICE arrest a month ago in the parking lot of a Baltimore elementary school<\/a> shocked parents and children preparing nearby for a kindergarten promotion ceremony. And crashes involving fleeing suspects or protesters accused of \u201cramming\u201d agents have been caught on video.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Under DHS\u2019 use of force policy<\/a>, a law enforcement officer, or LEO, is only allowed to use deadly force \u201cwhen the LEO has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the LEO or to another person.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In the killings amid traffic stops of Good in Minneapolis and Salgado Araujo in Houston, ICE claimed the suspects had used their vehicles as weapons against officers \u2013 assertions denied<\/a> by passengers in Salgado Araujo\u2019s van and contradicted<\/a> by video of Good\u2019s shooting.\n <\/p>\n \n But after Monday\u2019s fatal shooting of Dur\u00e1n Guerrero in Maine, ICE\u2019s official statement took a notably different tack: \u201cThe vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon,\u201d it read.\n <\/p>\n![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/10-009-009-2026-03-18t175256z-2005172543-rc247kamt1di-rtrmadp-3-usa-congress-mullin.jpg\")
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