Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have reportedly been ordered to halt most vehicle stops of illegal aliens, a move that critics inside the agency say will severely undermine immigration enforcement at a time of record border chaos.
According to the Gateway Pundit, multiple Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources told the Daily Wire they have been instructed, no more vehicle stops for now, effectively sidelining one of ICEs most practical tools for apprehending illegal aliens who lack judicial warrants. This directive, they say, will heavily impact ICEs ability to arrest illegal aliens without a judicial warrant when they are outside of their homes, further constraining agents already operating under restrictive Biden administration policies.
One agency source, clearly frustrated by the new limits, bluntly lamented the collapse in enforcement activity, saying, Numbers are going down, we cant do sh*t. Their comments reflect a broader concern among frontline officers that political pressure and media outrage, rather than public safety, are driving operational decisions at DHS.
The reported pullback follows two fatal ICE-involved shootings in Maine and Texas that began as vehicle stops and have since been seized upon by the left to attack immigration enforcement. On Monday, 26-year-old Colombian national Joan Sebastian Guerrero attempted to run over ICE agents during a targeted enforcement operation and was fatally shot, The Gateway Pundit reported, while in Texas, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed after ramming an ICE vehicle, ignoring commands, and trying to run over an agent last week.
A witness to the Maine incident corroborated agents accounts, stating that the suspects vehicle was put into drive and was trying to hit the ICE officer before shots were fired. Despite these details, DHS leadership appears more responsive to liberal outrage than to the safety of its own officers or the rule of law.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin confirmed the new directive, reporting: BREAKING: Per multiple federal sources to @FoxNews, ICE has been instructed to immediately cease most vehicle stops during immigration enforcement operations nationwide, except for operations targeting the most egregious criminal aliens. He added that this comes after two people were killed by ICE in shootings in TX and ME in the last week in incidents that began as vehicle stops, noting that DHS alleges one of those incidents was a ramming attempt.
Melugin further reported, Im told this will be temporary until ICE officers receive new training on vehicle stops. He warned that the policy change will have significant impacts as many of ICEs arrests begin as vehicle stops when they find and follow a target, as weve witnessed on multiple embeds.
While DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin retreats in the face of progressive pressure, conservatives argue that such decisions reward dangerous behavior and weaken already fragile deterrence against illegal immigration. With the administration promising mass deportations even as it strips agents of basic enforcement tools, this developing story raises serious questions about whether political optics are once again being placed above border security and officer safety.
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