U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has suspended the use of vehicle stops as part of immigration enforcement operations, according to two sources familiar with the decision. The halt came after agents fatally shot two men in separate incidents just six days apart — one in Texas and one in Maine.
The policy change was announced one day after an ICE officer shot and killed a driver in Biddeford, a coastal Maine town located roughly 15 miles south of Portland.
Nearly 12 hours after the shooting, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying the officer opened fire on the driver — who was attempting to flee agents trying to pull him over — out of concern for public safety. However, officials offered no explanation of how the driver posed a specific threat.
Some video footage has surfaced showing the scene after the shooting, but no public video has emerged capturing the moment the shot was fired. Maine Senator Angus King, an independent who aligns with Democrats, told reporters that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras, leaving many questions about the circumstances of the shooting unanswered.
Protests broke out on Monday, with more demonstrations planned for Tuesday.
Immigration advocates identified the man killed as a 26-year-old Colombian national who held legal work authorization in the United States.
According to internal ICE data shared with Reuters, immigration arrests in Maine have more than quadrupled since early June, climbing to approximately 70 per day by early July.
The Biddeford shooting, combined with a separate killing the previous week in Houston, brings the total number of people shot dead during immigration enforcement operations to at least seven since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and began a large-scale deportation campaign.
