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Less than two<\/span> weeks ago, following a pair of fatal shootings by immigration officers in Texas and Maine, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered a halt to vehicle stops<\/a> nationwide.<\/p>\n The directive was initially passed down through ICE field offices on the evening of July 13 \u2014 just hours after the Maine shooting<\/a> \u2014 followed by an official agencywide memo that made the rounds the next morning.<\/p>\n Then, on July 15, President Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and directed ICE to resume<\/a> its vehicle stops, presumably reversing the orders announced the day before by ICE internal leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president says one thing but in reality we all follow established policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Despite Trump\u2019s apparent reversal of the ICE directive, immigration enforcement officers in at least 4 so-called areas of responsibility \u2014 ICE\u2019s regional jurisdictions \u2014 did not resume vehicle stops, according to officials who spoke with The Intercept.<\/p>\n \u201cI follow policy that comes down the appropriate channels,\u201d said one ICE official, who works in a southern regional office and requested anonymity to avoid retaliation. \u201cThe president says one thing but in reality we all follow established policy.\u201d<\/p>\n A second ICE official, who operates in the Western U.S., told The Intercept, \u201cFollowing the orders of the guys I\u2019ve worked with in the field and have my back vs the head of an administration that treats me like a meme? It\u2019s a no brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n Three other ICE whistleblowers from areas of responsibility in the Midwest, South, and Northeast also told The Intercept that vehicle stops did not resume in their areas of responsibility over the past week.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, however, a new official vehicle stops policy has been passed down through the proper channels at ICE\u2019s Enforcement and Removal Operations division.<\/p>\n An internal agencywide email, sent on July 22 and obtained by The Intercept, ordered the resumption of vehicle stops, with new guidelines that change how deportation officers will engage with vehicles moving forward.<\/p>\n \u201cERO law enforcement officers are authorized to conduct vehicle stops,\u201d says the email. \u201cOfficers must continue to coordinate with their immediate supervisors regarding any enforcement activities.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair of deadly ICE shootings, just six days apart in the second week of July, both involved officers traveling in and engaging with vehicles. The killings \u2014 of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a> in Houston, Texas, and a Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero<\/a> in Biddeford, Maine \u2014 sparked nationwide outrage<\/a> and catapulted ICE back<\/a> in to the news cycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n ICE quickly came under pressure from both the public and government officials to hold the officers involved in the shootings accountable and offer more transparency about ICE\u2019s tactics when engaging with vehicles.<\/p>\n One glaring issue that arose was the fact that, according to the Department of Homeland Security, the officers involved in both shootings were not wearing body cameras.<\/p>\n In the case of the Maine shooting, The Intercept previously reported, officers on the scene were wearing multifunctional devices designed to work as body cameras, but they were unable to record video on the devices<\/a> because they didn\u2019t have a required cloud-based subscription service.<\/p>\n The new ICE vehicle stops policy addressed the apparent failure in Maine and Texas to capture the incidents on video. Now, according to the new policy, at least one officer involved in a vehicle stop must be wearing \u201can issued and activated body worn camera.\u201d<\/p>\n The rollout for ICE body cameras, however, is proceeding slowly. About half of ICE officers have been issued cameras, according to DHS, with the other half to receive them in the next two months. Officers will then need to complete a training process with the body cameras before they can use them in the field.<\/p>\n\n
Killings in Maine and Texas<\/strong><\/h2>\n