President Donald Trump has expressed support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to continue traffic stops despite recent controversies involving fatal shootings. His comments appear to contradict a new policy aimed at halting these practices. Trump communicated on his social media platform that ICE is performing a ‘great job’ that is essential for crime fighting.

He emphasized the need for strength, toughness, and intelligence in removing criminals allegedly allowed into the country by the previous Democratic administration. He stated, ‘We cannot give up one of ICE’s most important and effective crime-fighting tools, the traffic stop!’ According to Trump, ceasing traffic stops would be advantageous for criminals.

The policy change follows an incident in Maine where an ICE officer fatally shot a Colombian driver on Monday. This occurred just a week after another fatal shooting involving an ICE officer in Houston. These incidents have reignited criticism of ICE’s enforcement methods, which were previously condemned after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota last winter.

An image captured on Monday shows a Kia sedan with four bullet holes in its windshield at the scene of a fatal shooting in Biddeford, Maine, as reported by Gregory Rec from the Portland Press Herald.

In Florida, another incident on Tuesday resulted in the death of a 28-year-old man during an encounter with immigration officers. He was struck by a tractor-trailer while fleeing from these officers. This pattern has repeatedly emerged since the Trump administration initiated its immigration crackdown. Federal officers confront drivers and often cite the danger posed by moving vehicles as justification for opening fire, despite longstanding warnings from policing experts against doing so.

Since the onset of mass deportation efforts by the Trump administration, at least ten individuals have died in immigration operations, with four deaths involving vehicles, including a recent case in Houston. This trend has alarmed U.S. Senator Susan Collins, who on Tuesday urged DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt all non-urgent vehicle stops.

John Sandweg, who served as acting director of ICE during the Obama administration, recently estimated that approximately 18 traffic-stop shootings have occurred during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.