Trump criticizes ICE’s pause on agents stopping vehicles

President Donald Trump wrote Wednesday morning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should not give up one of its most effective tools. Media outlets reported Tuesday that ICE told its agents to cease stopping vehicles after agents killed two illegal immigrants in two separate shootings in less than two weeks, prompting a wave of public criticism. In a statement to WORLD, ICE declined to confirm what law enforcement tactics it was or was not using but said it was always evaluating the procedures its agents use in the field.

In a statement to WORLD, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin emphasized that illegal aliens need to leave or face arrest and be deported wherever they are. He criticized  “sanctuary politicians” that he said were publicly sharing information about how to defy ICE.

“Attempting to evade arrest is dangerous,” Mullin said, adding that DHS is committed to officer safety as well as enforcement. “As our officers carry out operations to enforce our nations laws, they are facing a more than 1,300% increase in vehicle attacks.”

Why does the president want ICE to stop vehicles? Trump said that under former President Joe Biden’s administration, illegal immigrant criminals had made their way into the United States and that they needed to be removed. Traffic stops were one of the most effective ways of arresting, detaining, and removing them, he said. And if the agency ceased using that tool, it would give an advantage to the criminals they were trying to deport. The president urged ICE to keep deporting as many people as possible.

Dig deeper: Read my reports in Compassion about the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti—both U.S. citizens—and the concerns experts had about both instances.