ICE lifts pause on vehicle stops after Trump criticism

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lifted a temporary pause on vehicle stops after President Donald Trump touted the controversial tactic as an essential enforcement tool, a White House official said Wednesday.

ICE halted vehicle stops after officers fatally shot two people in less than a week during encounters involving vehicles. Within days, the short-lived policy had been ended, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the internal policy change.

The latest reversal underscored the White House’s bind between delivering on a core campaign promise for mass deportations and the deadly consequences of its enforcement operations, repeating a cycle of escalating arrests and recoiling from the political fallout.

“The men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done,” Trump said of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a social media post on Wednesday morning. “We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed the pause had been lifted.

“President Trump and I are on the same page,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Wednesday in an X post. “We want our @ICEgov officers to have all options available to keep them safe while executing our mission of deporting as many illegal alien criminals from our country as possible.”

The whipsaw policy shift at ICE followed the shooting deaths of two immigrants at the hands of federal immigration officers in the span of six days. A third person died on Tuesday when he was hit by a truck while fleeing agents in Florida. Trump’s intervention undermined Mullin, who had not addressed the crisis in public, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who urged Mullin to stop the traffic stops and is facing one of the chamber’s toughest elections in November.

On Tuesday, officials had moved to contain the crisis quietly by directing agents to pause most traffic stops in the latest retrenchment from the administration’s more confrontational enforcement tactics.

Since agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January, administration officials have sought to minimize controversies ahead of November’s midterm elections. But Trump’s base and some advisers objected to the retreat, leading the White House to renew pressure on the Department of Homeland Security to accelerate immigration arrests in recent weeks.

The latest deaths reignited that debate, roiling crucial Senate races and escalating Democratic demands to overhaul domestic immigration enforcement.

Republicans expect Democrats to overreach as public support for border security and deportation remains high. Immigration stands out as a relative strength for Trump as polls show growing dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy and the war in Iran. Still, he and ICE lost ground after the January shootings, underscoring the challenge of energizing hard-line base supporters without repelling Republican-leaning independents.

The White House said the administration’s agenda hasn’t changed, focused on public safety. DHS has said 70% of those deported have criminal records, which could not be independently verified. At the same time, officials have emphasized that they view all undocumented immigrants as subject to removal.

Trump’s approval rating for his handling of immigration recovered from 38% in February, after the shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, to 42% in June, according to Quinnipiac University’s national poll of registered voters. He entered his second term with 47% support on the issue, according to the survey.

Even with 55% disapproval, Trump scored better on immigration than the economy, at 59%, or Iran, at 62%. Overall, 38% of voters approved of Trump’s job performance, while 55% disapproved.