By Kristina Cooke
July 14 (Reuters) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday suspended vehicle stops related to immigration enforcement, two sources briefed on the matter said, after agents fatally shot two men in separate incidents six days apart following 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 U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement nearly 12 hours after the shooting asserting that the officer, “fearing for public safety,” opened fire on the driver when he attempted to flee agents trying to pull him over.
Officials did not explain how the driver might have posed a threat.
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. Maine Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, told reporters that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras, leaving questions unanswered about the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
There were multiple protests on Monday, and further demonstrations were scheduled for Tuesday.
Immigration advocates said the person shot was a 26-year-old Colombian man who was authorized to work in the U.S.
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 that occurred last week in Houston, brought to at least seven the number of people shot dead during immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, when President Donald Trump returned to office and launched a campaign of mass deportations.
(Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Alistair Bell)
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