WASHINGTON — ICE agents have been instructed to suspend most types of vehicle stops, except in cases with “serious criminal targets,” sources told CBS News.
The policy shift is temporary while officers undergo additional vehicle stop training tactics. The change would stop agents from following identified suspects away from homes and workplaces.
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In the meantime, ERO officers may still assist partner law enforcement agencies with vehicle stops targeting criminal suspects named in judicial warrants, according to CBS News.
The move comes after two shooting deaths involving vehicle stops by ICE agents within the past week.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot in Houston when ICE agents stopped his vehicle while looking for a different person, CBS reported. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Araujo, “refused to follow multiple verbal commands” and attempted to ram an officer before the shooting unfolded. Araujo was shot and transported to a hospital, where he died.
In a July 13 shooting, Joan Sebastian Guerrero was shot and killed in Biddeford, Maine while reportedly attempting to flee from agents while in a vehicle. Guerrero was not the target of the DHS operation, but was in the country illegally, CBS reported.
Both shootings remain under investigation.
