{"id":1524275,"date":"2026-07-15T04:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1524275"},"modified":"2026-07-15T04:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:49:12","slug":"trump-administration-orders-ice-to-suspend-most-vehicle-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1524275","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration orders ICE to suspend most vehicle stops"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) \u2014 Trump administration officials told Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings<\/a> within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The policy change came after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a motorist in Houston<\/a>, renewing criticism of the agency\u2019s enforcement tactics<\/a> that were widely condemned last winter after the killings<\/a> of Alex Pretti and Renee Good<\/a> in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed<\/a> after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The suspension of vehicle stops allows room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations. Matthew Felling, a spokesperson for Maine Sen. Angus King, said the senator\u2019s office was also told by the Department of Homeland Security that ICE was suspending stops.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting<\/a> of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national.<\/p>\n

DHS said Monday that an officer, \u201cfearing for public safety,\u201d shot and killed<\/a> Dur\u00e1n Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee<\/a> in the vehicle and the officer fired.<\/p>\n

That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was shot.<\/p>\n

DHS, which oversees ICE, didn\u2019t respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.<\/p>\n

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing \u201cat the hands of the U.S. government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petro, who has openly quarreled with U.S. President Donald Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Dur\u00e1n Guerrero as \u201can inferior being without rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shooting also sparked outrage in Maine, where hundreds of protesters gathered Tuesday outside an ICE detention center in Scarborough, just up the coast between Biddeford and Portland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are killers and they must leave our state now,\u201d organizer Todd Chretien told the crowd.<\/p>\n

Maine\u2019s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a \u201ccomprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions surround the shooting<\/h4>\n

Dur\u00e1n Guerrero’s shooting marked at least the ninth time ICE has used deadly force since Trump began his immigration crackdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photos showed bullet holes in Dur\u00e1n Guerrero\u2019s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn\u2019t have body cameras<\/a>, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when they fired, whether officers told Dur\u00e1n Guerrero to stop, and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics,\u201d an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday that the investigation needs to play out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf officers acted inappropriately or illegally, they\u2019ll be held accountable,” he said.<\/p>\n

Maine’s attorney general\u2019s office, which noted that it\u2019s working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn\u2019t been released and who was placed on leave.<\/p>\n

The state’s other senator, Republican Susan Collins, said Mullin told her that DHS\u2019 Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.<\/p>\n

Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November sought Tuesday to connect her with ICE’s methods<\/a>, which have drawn public scrutiny and derision. Collins later said in a statement that although ICE needs to improve, eliminating the agency would make the nation less safe.<\/p>\n

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who is vying for Collins’ seat, called the ICE officers at the shooting \u201cthugs\u201d during a vigil Tuesday evening in Lewiston.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat agency is broken and we need to go back to a time where the rule of law united all of us regardless of the politics,\u201d she told the crowd.<\/p>\n

Video shows the shooting’s aftermath<\/h4>\n

According to neighbors and public records, Guerrero lived in an apartment about 150 feet (46 meters) from where his car came to a rest outside an apartment building across the street from a pawnshop and laundromat.<\/p>\n

Video from a nearby business’ security camera obtained by the AP shows a white car slowly approaching an intersection before making several circles. A law enforcement SUV blocks its path and two officers open the driver\u2019s door and drag out a limp body.<\/p>\n

It isn’t clear from the video when the shots were fired.<\/p>\n

Daniel Boucher said he heard a \u201cpop, pop, pop\u201d and ran to the intersection.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis face was bloody. His head was bloody,\u201d Boucher said. \u201cI clearly heard the victim say, \u2018I tried to stop.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Boucher said the officer who shot Dur\u00e1n Guerrero walked close to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked at me and said, \u2018He tried to run me over,\u2019 or something to that effect,\u201d Boucher said. \u201cI don\u2019t remember his exact words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dur\u00e1n Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter<\/h4>\n

Two advocacy groups \u2014 the Maine Immigrants\u2019 Rights Coalition and Presente! \u2014 said Dur\u00e1n Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Neighbors say Dur\u00e1n Guerrero was a friendly and familiar face even though they rarely chatted because he didn\u2019t appear to speak English.<\/p>\n

Claudia Morton, who often waved to Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, was distraught.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole world should be crying,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dozens of Dur\u00e1n Guerrero’s relatives and neighbors gathered in Bucaramanga, his hometown in northeastern Colombia, to remember him on Tuesday. They stood outside his parents\u2019 home, holding candles around a table where a photograph of him rested beside a statue of the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) \u2014 Trump administration officials told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday. The policy change came after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after one shot … Continue reading Trump administration orders ICE to suspend most vehicle stops<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1524275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-17 07:13:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1524275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1524276,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524275\/revisions\/1524276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1524275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1524275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1524275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}