'CANNOT give up': Trump tells ICE to keep making traffic stops, a day after DHS quietly paused them

President Donald Trump appears unfazed by the backlash over two fatal shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during traffic stops in Texas and Maine, doubling down on the practice in a Wednesday Truth Social post, which began with praise for the agency: "The men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done," he wrote, adding that "CRIME IS WAY DOWN IN AMERICA, in many cases with numbers that haven't been seen in decades."

Trump then slammed former President Joe Biden, claiming his "Open Border Policy" allowed 25,000,000 people to pour into the country "unchecked and unvetted." "Many were Criminals, and we have to get them out. In order to do this, we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal's hands," he asserted.

The 80-year-old contended that only "Radical Left Dumocrats" would want to curb the practice. "...but it won't happen on my watch. I.C.E., be judicious, fair, and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming! Remember, you are loved and respected in America," he wrote. Notably, Trump has yet to condemn any of the nine fatal shootings by the agency.

The post came in the wake of the death of Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a Colombian national, after he was shot down by ICE agents when he allegedly tried to flee in his vehicle during a stop in Biddeford, Maine. Days earlier, another man, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, was killed during a stop despite not being the intended target of the operation, intensifying calls for an independent probe into the agency that has been accused of using force indiscriminately.

This led to an announcement that the agency would halt vehicle stops related to immigration enforcement. The suspension applied to most circumstances, except for serious criminal targets, and was set to remain in effect until Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin approved the new training and field agents were retrained on the new operating procedure. It remains unclear whether ICE has reinstated traffic stops following the President's post.

The policy change would have had massive implications for ICE's deportation figures, since many of the agency's arrests begin with vehicle stops used to locate and follow a target to a public area — a tactic that doesn't require a warrant before an arrest is made. In fact, several agents told Fox News' Bill Melugin they were frustrated, grumbling that they'll now have to rack up arrest numbers through court arrests, detainer transfers, USCIS interviews, or consensual encounters/roving foot patrols instead.