When an ICE tactic keeps ending in tragedy

Two fatal shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — one July 7 in Houston and one July 13 in Maine — prompted the Trump administration to pause most vehicle stops. That pause was short-lived, according to the Tribune News.

In both cases, ICE officers shot men in their vehicles after agents attempted to stop them during immigration operations. (Neither man was the intended target of the operations, according to subsequent reporting.)

Halting most such operations was a prudent first step, and one that should’ve allowed for a thorough assessment of how immigration enforcement is being carried out. Donald Trump, of course, is not known for prudence.

“We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump posted online Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after the pause was implemented. The White House subsequently confirmed that he had overturned the temporary suspension.

How foolish. ICE didn’t begin using vehicle stops by accident. They are often an efficient way to apprehend someone without entering a home or a workplace. But when a tactic repeatedly becomes associated with fatal confrontations, responsible law enforcement has an obligation to ask whether those benefits still outweigh the risks, and whether changes can reduce those risks.

The Maine and Houston fatal shootings, however, presented a moment to cool the temperature, to compile and take stock of evidence, and to exercise restraint and good judgment. A tall order and naive expectation for an administration that prefers a sledgehammer for most policy matters.

Calling for a brief pause was hardly a radical or anti-enforcement position, and pushback did not come solely from Democrats. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who is up for reelection this year, urged a pause in nonurgent vehicle stops.

In her statement, posted on X, Collins rejected any calls to disband ICE and maintained the importance of immigration enforcement, also calling for an impartial investigation into the Biddeford shooting so we get all of the facts. Collins also noted that the Biddeford agent was not wearing a body camera, despite $20 million in recently enacted funding to expand DHS’ use of the devices.

The same was true in the Houston shooting. DHS has repeatedly promised broader body-camera deployment.

The absence of body-camera footage only reinforces why the pause made sense. Before resuming a tactic that has produced multiple fatal encounters, investigators and the public deserve full clarity as to what happened.

We called for universal body-camera usage among ICE agents in October of last year, when it became clear this was not the norm during Operation Midway Blitz. To say that both ICE and the Border Patrol lack a commitment to transparency is to understate, we lamented back then.

Close to a year later, here we are again, with enforcement surges in other cities yielding fatal incidents in which we are missing critical footage of the events before, during and after the incidents; footage that’s essential evidence helping officials determine what went wrong.

Instead, we’re left to rely on piecemeal video from doorbell cameras, phone recordings and other surveillance devices.

Body-camera footage could have provided investigators with crucial evidence for evaluating the sharply conflicting accounts.

In Houston, 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed while driving in a vehicle with three other construction crew members as they headed to work, according to his family. DHS says Salgado Araujo rammed into a law enforcement vehicle and failed to comply with commands. Two of Salgado Araujo’s companions say that’s not true, and it was law enforcement that hit their vehicle.

These are not minor details — they’re potentially the difference between justified force and unjustifiable actions.

The Houston and Maine shootings were not unprecedented. The New York Times reported that since January 2025, at least 22 people have been fired upon by ICE agents, six have died and nearly all of the fatal shootings involved people in vehicles.