Trump Orders Reversal of Mullin’s Pause on ICE Traffic Stops

President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops to resume after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin ordered a pause on the enforcement tactic.

On Tuesday, Mullin ordered a pause to traffic stops conducted by ICE agents after two fatal shootings at traffic stops in Texas and Maine. The order caused some members of the MAGA movement to fear the Trump administration was de-emphasizing deportations, as traffic stops lead to illegal immigrant arrests.

ICE officers fatally shot a 25-year-old Colombian man, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, Monday while trying to stop his vehicle in Biddeford, Maine. Last Tuesday, an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, during a vehicle stop in Houston, Texas.

However, on Wednesday morning, the president said that traffic stops must resume, saying “we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective tools.”

Trump said former President Joe Biden allowed 25 million illegal immigrants to enter the country, adding “we have to get them out.”

“In order to do this, we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” he said. “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”

“The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch,” he added. “I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming! Remember, you are loved and respected in America.”

When asked by the Daily Signal on Tuesday if the temporary pause in traffic stops would reduce the rate of deportations, Tom Homan responded with an emphatic “No.”

“Let me address that: I’m sick and tired of reading about how the administration has lost their guts with mass deportations,” Homan said.