By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump blocked a Homeland Security directive that would have stopped Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops in the wake of two fatal shootings in recent days, according to a White House official on Wednesday.
The official confirmed reports that Trump overturned a recently issued Department of Homeland Security policy issued after ICE-involved shootings in Houston and Maine.
The White House official also confirmed reports that the agency sent an internal memo to ICE offices to suspend traffic stops earlier this week, before it was overturned by the Trump administration.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump praised ICE agents for doing “a GREAT job” of keeping crime down in the United States, adding that many illegal immigrants who recently came to the United States were “unchecked and unvetted” criminals.
To carry out deportations, Trump argued, “we must be strong, tough and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective crime fighting tools, the traffic stop! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands,” according to his post.
The suspension of ICE-involved traffic stops, the president said, “won’t happen on my watch. ICE, be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those crime stat records coming!”
His comment came after White House border czar Tom Homan told reporters on Tuesday that ICE stops would cease and that the policy would be reviewed in light of the two shootings.
“It’s not a policy change, it’s a temporary pause,” Homan told Fox News Channel on Tuesday.
“This is going to be a short-term review to make sure ICE agents are safe and doing the right thing,” Homan said, adding that officers will use other means to make arrests.
In response to several questions about Trump’s Truth Social post and ICE’s policies, DHS provided a statement from Secretary Markwayne Mullin that his department’s top goal is to keep officers safe and get criminals off the streets, and that illegal immigrants would be “arrested and deported wherever they are.”
“If you are here illegally, LEAVE NOW,” Mullin said. “We remind illegal aliens attempting to evade arrest is dangerous.” He added that vehicle attacks against ICE officers have increased by 1,300%.
On Monday, an ICE agent killed a driver from Colombia in the coastal Maine town of Biddeford, about 15 miles south of Portland. An ICE officer in Houston on July 7 fatally shot a Mexican national while trying to stop his vehicle. Both were identified as illegal immigrants.
Some Democrats have criticized ICE in the wake of the shootings, with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., saying that “we have to abolish ICE” and indicating that Democrats would move to stop ICE’s funding.
Reuters contributed to this report.
