Three killed in ICE traffic stops under Trump deportation campaign; DHS briefly suspended then resumed operations

Two years into Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) roundups are resulting in violence with alarming frequency. The deaths are coming so fast that looking away from social media or the news for even a few hours risks missing another fatality.

Latest Victims

On Monday, ICE agents killed Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old man from Colombia, after stopping his car in Biddeford, Maine. He was the second person shot and killed by immigration enforcement agents in one week.

Just last Tuesday, in Houston, during an apparent traffic stop, an agent killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father from Mexico who had lived in the United States for decades.

Official Explanations Under Scrutiny

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials offered only slight variations in their justifications for these killings. Initially, they claimed both Durán Guerrero and Salgado Araujo had "weaponized" their vehicles against agents—a rationalization that has become painfully routine in immigration enforcement.

What was new, however, was how quickly these excuses were doubted and discounted by the media and the public. Three men who were with Salgado Araujo refuted the administration's story within days, even as they remained in immigration detention facing deportation themselves.

After ICE killed Durán Guerrero, the official story landed amid months of lies. Within hours, on the pavement where his life ended and evidence remained visible, someone had chalked the words: "This is blood."

DHS Directive—and Its Reversal

As if sensing it could not blame the victims out of responsibility, DHS issued a directive on Tuesday suspending "all ERO initiated enforcement vehicle stops until further notice." (ERO stands for Enforcement and Removal Operations, a division of ICE.)

That same day, in St. Augustine, Florida, another man died after an ICE "encounter." Four people fled their car when they spotted ICE. A truck hit and killed one of them—a 28-year-old man from Mexico—while he was running away. His name has not yet been released.

Trump Intervenes

Early Wednesday morning, President Trump showered praise on ICE via a Truth Social post, telling agents they were doing "a GREAT job, one that has to be done" and that "we CANNOT give up" the agents' key tactic: the "TRAFFIC STOP!"

He warned: "Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal's hands."

He instructed agents to "Go back and do your very important job" and reassured them: "Remember, you are loved and respected in America."

The directive was effectively dead. ICE business was barely altered.

A Pattern of Policy by Social Media

There is no shortage of policies or practices Trump has attempted to overturn by posting to his vanity social media site—which, if you have understandably forgotten amid the events of the past six years, remains a key platform for his directives.