New ICE Policy Pauses Most Traffic Stops Nationwide

AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File

On Tuesday, we learned that the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been ordered to halt all vehicle stops in their apprehension of illegal aliens, except for stops where the intended target is an egregious criminal alien. This order comes on the heels of two shootings related to vehicle stops.

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Jennie Taer, the Daily Wire's immigration reporter, in a Daily Wire exclusive, broke the news.

Federal immigration officers across the country have been told to stop pulling over vehicles after recent shootings in Maine and Texas.

Three Homeland Security sources told The Daily Wire Tuesday that they were told “no more vehicle stops for now.” The new directive has the potential to massively impact ICE’s ability to make arrests as officers often prefer to catch targets through traffic stops where they are out of their homes, where illegal immigrants could have access to weapons and where officers generally don’t need judicial warrants.

“Numbers are going down, we can’t do sh**,” an agency source fumed.

The latest change provides limited exceptions when officers have a criminal warrant, with the agency saying that they must work with outside agencies to pull over the target.

Fox News Congressional correspondent Bill Melugin has confirmed the report:

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Bill writes:

BREAKING: Per multiple federal sources to @FoxNews, ICE has been instructed to immediately cease most vehicle stops during immigration enforcement operations nationwide, except for operations targeting the most egregious criminal aliens. This comes after two people were killed by ICE in shootings in TX and ME in the last week in incidents that began as vehicle stops. DHS alleges one of those incidents was a ramming attempt.  

I’m told this will be temporary until ICE officers receive new training on vehicle stops.  

The policy change will have significant impacts as many of ICE’s arrests begin as vehicle stops when they find and follow a target, as we’ve witnessed on multiple embeds.  

More to come as we get it.  

First scooped by @JennieSTaer

So, for now, the vehicle stops will halt except in the case of egregious criminals.


Read More: Breaking: Motorist Killed in ICE-Involved Shooting in Biddeford, Maine

Protesters Target Maine Office of Susan Collins After ICE-Involved Shooting


Bear in mind that this order, given after at least one recent alleged ramming attack using a vehicle, is as much for the safety of the ICE officers as for the illegal aliens being apprehended. The order, again, is temporary, pending new training; as of this writing, it's not clear what form that training will take or what it will entail.

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In the meantime, though, this would appear to put a damper on ICE's ability to apprehend known illegals while they are outdoors and moving about. ICE and local authorities now, presumably, will have to catch any targeted aliens outside of a vehicle, in a person-on-person contact. That means any illegal alien being apprehended won't be behind the wheel of a 3,000-pound chunk of steel, but they will be mobile and possibly armed.

Stay tuned. As soon as we know more, so will you.

Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.

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