US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told officers on Tuesday to suspend most vehicle stops around the country, two sources briefed on the matter said, after agents fatally shot two men six days apart during stops in Texas and Maine.
The policy shift came one day after an ICE officer killed a driver in the coastal Maine town of Biddeford, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Portland.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a statement nearly 12 hours after the shooting, asserting that the officer, “fearing for public safety,” opened fire when the driver attempted to flee.
Officials have not explained how the driver might have posed a threat to the public or whether that would justify the shooting. According to ICE policy, officers may use deadly force only when there is “imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death to the officer or to another person,” and it is not authorized “solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect.”
While some video footage of the incident’s aftermath has emerged, there is not yet any public video showing the moment of the shooting itself. US Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, told reporters that the agents were not wearing body cameras.
DHS said the agents were surveilling the last known address of someone with a final order of removal from the country. When someone departed the residence, the officers followed the car, the agency said.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told King that the man killed was not the target of the operation, according to a spokesperson for the senator.
Victim of Maine shooting was authorized to work in US
Immigration advocates said the person shot was a 26-year-old man from Colombia who was authorized to work in the US. The shooting sparked immediate protests on Monday, and further demonstrations were taking place on Tuesday.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in a post on X/Twitter, blamed the US government for killing the man, whom he identified as Johan Sebastian Duran.
“He was killed because he was believed to be an inferior being with no rights,” Petro wrote, adding that he expected Colombia’s foreign service in the US to take the “swiftest possible” legal and humanitarian action to hold those responsible for Duran’s death accountable.
Duran, who grew up in Bucaramanga, Colombia, had a partner and a young daughter and worked two jobs, including as a food delivery driver, the Portland Press Herald reported. Nearby residents told the newspaper that his partner and daughter witnessed the aftermath of the shooting and could be heard crying in the street.
ICE arrests quadrupled since early July
Since the beginning of June, ICE arrests in Maine have more than quadrupled to around 70 per day in early July, according to internal ICE data shared with Reuters by a source.
Monday’s killing, along with another last week in Houston, brought to at least seven the number of people shot dead during immigration enforcement operations since January 2025.
Asked about the suspension of traffic stops, an ICE spokesperson said, “We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics.”
