ICE should continue traffic stops despite recent shootings, Trump on social media

By — Darlene Superville, Associated Press Darlene Superville, Associated Press By — Patrick Whittle, Associated Press Patrick Whittle, Associated Press By — Jack Brook, Associated Press Jack Brook, Associated Press By — Rebecca Santana, Associated Press Rebecca Santana, Associated Press By — Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ice-should-continue-traffic-stops-despite-recent-shootings-trump-on-social-media Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter ICE should continue traffic stops despite recent shootings, Trump on social media Politics Jul 15, 2026 10:47 AM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency should continue vehicle stops after recent fatal shootings , President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, seeming to oppose a new suspension of the practice used as part of his immigration crackdown. ICE is "doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done," Trump wrote on his social media site. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. The Republican president said that to remove criminals he claims were let into the country under the previous Democratic administration "we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of ICE's most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!" Trump said, "Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal's hands." Trump administration officials have told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday. The suspension was ordered after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after another officer shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency's enforcement tactics that were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota. In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said. It's a narrative that has been repeated again and again since the Trump administration's immigration crackdown began, with federal officers confronting drivers and then saying they opened fire when the drivers' vehicles became a danger. That's despite decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided. There have been at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign. At least four of those deaths involved people in vehicles, including the one last week in Houston, a trend so troubling that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins