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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has temporarily suspended traffic stops following the deaths of one person in Maine and another in Texas at the hands of agents within a few days, according to various media reports on Tuesday.
Until further notice, ICE agents will stop conducting traffic checks and stopping vehicles, according to a source close to the instruction who spoke to CNN, Fox News, and other media outlets.
The decision comes a day after a person died in their car in Biddeford, south of Maine, following a shooting by an ICE agent.
The organizations Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition (MIRC) and Presente! identified the deceased as a 26-year-old Colombian immigrant with a work permit and a Social Security number.
Maine Senator Andy King explained that the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, told him that the agent opened fire on the young man after he attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon against the agents who were pursuing him for deportation.
This was the same argument that ICE used last January when an agent shot American citizen Renée Good in Minnesota, who was in her car.
According to CNN, the order is directed at agents of the Enforcement and Removal Operations division, the branch of ICE in charge of the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants.
These agents will be required to collaborate with "partner agencies" when they need to perform a vehicle stop to carry out an arrest.
A few days before the incident in Maine, another ICE agent ended the life of a Mexican man during an arrest operation in Texas.
The deceased was identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican citizen who, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was in the country irregularly.
He was also in his vehicle when he was killed.
[Publicidad]