US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ordered its officers to suspend most vehicle stops around the country after agents fatally shot two men six days apart during traffic stops in Maine and Texas.
This marks a significant shift in arrest tactics, and comes after the shooting of two US citizens in January sparked nationwide protests.
Here’s what you need to know.
What happened in Maine this week?
An ICE agent killed a driver on Monday in the coastal Maine town of Biddeford, about 24 kilometres south of Portland.
Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was a 25-year-old Colombian national.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Mr Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the US illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country.
A bystander says the man who was shot had said, “I tried to stop”. (AP: Robert F. Bukaty)
It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee in the vehicle and the officer fired.
One witness, Daniel Boucher, 71, said he was on the second floor of his apartment when he heard what sounded like firecrackers.
He ran to the window and saw a white SUV ram a smaller white car.
“I remember hearing the victim say, ‘But I tried to stop,'” Mr Boucher said, before the wounded man appeared to stop breathing.
Immigration advocates said the person shot was a Colombian who was authorised to work in the US and had a Social Security number; they did not name him, though or say how they were able to identify him.
Some friends, neighbours and an advocacy group have spelled his name “Joan”.
The next day, hundreds of people gathered to protest outside a nearby ICE detention centre.
Why did a shooting in Texas spark mass protests?
Less than a week earlier, on July 7, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, was shot and killed in Houston by an ICE officer.
Mr Salgado Araujo, who had no criminal record and had lived in the US for 35 years, was shot while driving his construction crew to a worksite.
DHS, which oversees ICE, said the 52-year-old had rammed an ICE vehicle, and that a federal agent fired a weapon in self-defence.
Candles are lit during a vigil for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. (AP: Mark Felix)
Mr Salgado Araujo was not the target of the ICE operation that ended in his death, a DHS official said.
His family disputes the ICE account of the shooting and has demanded an independent investigation.
They said lawyers, who were helping him apply for a work permit, had explained how he should behave if immigration agents stopped him.
Mr Salgado Araujo was close to obtaining legal status when he was killed, they said.
His family also say they believe he may have been scared that he was being followed by unmarked vehicles, worried someone was planning to steal his van or his tools.
More than a thousand protesters chanting “ICE out of Houston” marched near the scene, some carrying signs that read “Stand with immigrants,” and “ICE Melts in Texas”.
Why is ICE carrying out traffic-stop arrests?
ICE is responsible for enforcing US immigration laws and is tasked with arresting people it believes are in the country illegally.
Mr Guerrero’s shooting marked at least the ninth time ICE has used deadly force since US President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown in January 2025.
Mr Trump said curbing illegal immigration was his top priority after taking office on January 20.
The president has justified the crackdown by saying it aims to cut illegal immigration and improve domestic security.
Officers were not wearing body cameras in either of the shootings of Mr Salgado Araujo or Mr Guerrero, despite DHS announcing months ago that it would outfit all officers with cameras.
Why did tensions escalate in Minneapolis earlier this year?
In separate incidents, two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot dead by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis in January this year, sparking widespread demonstrations.
Renee Good’s photo was widely circulated as part of protests following the shooting. (AP: Mike Householder)
An ICE agent fatally shot Ms Good in her car on January 7.
The 37-year-old mother of three had been monitoring an ICE operation as a legal observer.
Border Patrol agents fatally shot Mr Pretti on a street during protests on January 24.
The Trump administration said it was a case of an armed man provoking violence. But in bystander videos, Mr Pretti was seen only with a phone in his hand.
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In February, faced with outrage over the killings, the Trump administration said it was ending the deportation surge in Minnesota and shifting its emphasis to targeted enforcement operations rather than mass sweeps.
How have other countries reacted to the latest shootings?
In a post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called the shooting of Mr Guerrero a targeted killing “at the hands of the US government”.
Mr Petro, who has openly quarrelled with Mr Trump, urged his US counterpart to explain and accused ICE officers of treating Mr Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights”.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that her government plans to file criminal complaints in the US regarding Mexican citizens who have died in immigration custody or while being targeted in anti-immigration operations.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the Mexicans who have died,” she said.
ABC/Wires
