Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked the decision of the immigration police (ICE) to suspend its road checks, after the deaths of two people killed by agents in less than a week.
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The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday suspended road checks by this federal agency the day after the death of a Colombian man, shot dead in Maine while driving his car. Last week, a Mexican man was killed in Texas while driving his pickup truck.
“We CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective tools in the fight against crime: TRAFFIC CONTROLS! », Wrote the American president on his Truth Social network on Wednesday morning.
“As soon as we do that, we will be playing right into the hands of the criminals. The “Dumocrats” (derogatory pun aimed at Democrats) of the radical left would like this to happen, but it will not happen under my presidency. ICE, act with discernment, fairness and intelligence, and get back to your important work,” he continued.
Screenshot of Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social, July 15, 2026.
Screenshot/Truth Social @realDonaldTrump
Donald Trump’s immigration adviser, Tom Homan, confirmed to the press on Tuesday that a “pause” was underway regarding roadside checks, while affirming that this method was effective and would be reinstated.
In a press release reacting Wednesday to the two deaths, the No Kings coalition, which brings together hundreds of organizations opposed to the Republican president, denounced “a new appalling manifestation of the continued authoritarian drift of the Trump administration”.
“Under the irresponsible leadership of Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and President Donald Trump, ICE is out of control,” the group wrote.
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Responsible for implementing the mass expulsion campaign desired by the American president, ICE agents, heavily armed and most often masked, are the subject of strong opposition across the country because of their methods considered aggressive, having notably caused the shooting deaths of two American citizens in January in Minneapolis.
Rights organizations identified the victim of Monday’s shooting in Biddeford, Maine, as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, a Colombian delivery driver authorized to work in the United States, who lived with his wife and their three-year-old daughter.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a vocal critic of Donald Trump’s migration policy, described this death as “murder”.
In last week’s shooting in Texas, immigration authorities said Lorenzo Salgado, 52, tried to run over an ICE agent with his vehicle, a story that several witnesses disputed.
