Reports: ICE halting some vehicle stops in wake of Texas, Maine shootings
By Gabby Birenbaum, The Texas Tribune
July 14, 2026
WASHINGTON — Immigration and Customs Enforcement will suspend the use of most vehicle stops in the wake of deadly shootings of immigrants in vehicles in both Texas and Maine in the past week, according to media reports.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year old Houston man and Mexican national, was killed by an ICE agent last week when agents stopped his vehicle as part of a targeted operation pursuing a different man. Less than a week later, federal agents killed a 26-year-old Colombian man in Maine in his vehicle.
The policy is expected to be temporary while ICE agents receive more training on conducting vehicle stops, according to media reports, and will not apply to cases involving serious criminal targets.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters Tuesday that she had urged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to take this step in the wake of Monday’s ICE shooting in Maine.
“While the investigation of the Biddeford shooting is not yet complete, it raises sufficient critical questions that I spoke with DHS Secretary Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops,” Collins wrote on X.
The White House referred a request for comment to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond when asked if vehicle stops were being halted.
The policy change will represent a significant shift in how ICE conducts enforcement operations. The agency — under pressure to ramp up arrests and deportations since the beginning of the Trump administration — regularly conducts vehicle stops, which can be performed without a judicial warrant.
But ICE’s decision did not satisfy all Democrats, who have called for more permanent changes, including abolishing the agency.
“A temporary training won’t solve a deeply ingrained problem,” said Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Houston. “ICE has been radicalized. Its agents have shot and killed unarmed people across the country. The agency needs to be torn down to the studs.”
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.