ICE Limits Which Officers Can Conduct Vehicle Stops

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is tightening the rules on who in the agency can pull over cars, after several traffic stops ended with shootings. New internal guidance, issued this week, limits that authority to Enforcement and Removal Operations officers who have completed specific training, ABC News reports. Only officers driving government vehicles equipped with lights and sirens may now initiate stops; untrained personnel can assist but can't lead a stop. The new rules don't prohibit vehicle stops outright.

The shift follows shootings over the summer in Texas and Maine that prompted Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to temporarily halt ICE traffic stops to allow for retraining—a move President Trump later reversed. ICE played down the significance of the memo, which the AP has seen, saying that the new guidance was intended to replace and amend prior directives issued earlier this year, last year, and in 2018. "Occasionally, ICE leadership issues guidance reminders to law enforcement officers," a statement said. "Vehicle stops and arrests of illegal aliens continue."