Trump orders resumption of traffic stops to search and arrest immigrants

Ema Alice: President Trump said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers should continue using traffic stops to arrest immigrants, reversing a recent decision by the agency.

“[W]e must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.” The president encouraged ICE officers to be “judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.” In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn’t directly address the president’s announcement.

“Our #1 goal is to keep our officers safe and get criminals OFF our streets,” Mullin said. “Illegal aliens will be arrested and deported wherever they are. If you are here illegally, LEAVE NOW.”

The White House and the Homeland Security Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this week, ICE leadership instructed officers not to stop moving vehicles to arrest or question the occupants inside, according to current and former ICE officials familiar with the matter.

The decision came after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a 26-year-old man in coastal Biddeford, Maine. DHS said officers were conducting an operation related to a final order of removal at a residence. Officers tried to stop a person leaving the home in a vehicle, and an officer who was “fearing for public safety” discharged his weapon, DHS said Last week, a man was killed during an immigration-enforcement operation in Houston, federal authorities have said. DHS initially said that the man had weaponized his vehicle and that an immigration officer fired in self-defense. Lawmakers in Maine and Texas have said neither man was the intended target of the enforcement operations.

Traffic stops are one of the most common tools used by immigration officers to carry out arrests.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin spoke with Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) after Monday’s shooting in Maine and discussed suspending the use of traffic stops, according to a person familiar with their conversations.

Collins is up for re-election in Maine, a state that Democrats see as crucial for winning back the Senate.

The two recent shootings have renewed scrutiny over DHS’s approach to immigration enforcement. Earlier this year, federal immigration officials fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in separate incidents in Minnesota, leading to widespread public backlash.

Mullin said during his confirmation hearing that he wanted to keep the agency out of the headlines. But DHS also faces pressure to increase arrests to carry out the president’s promise of mass deportations.

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