The new guidance comes as the Trump administration faces mounting criticism over a string of deadly incidents involving ICE officers.
asserted
administration → come → officers
The agency downplayed the new measures, insisting they’re mere reminders and that current protocols will continue.
asserted
protocols → downplay → measures
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have been ordered not to engage in high-speed car chases and to make vehicle stops only if they have completed specific training, under new internal guidance issued after several people were shot in encounters with ICE.
asserted
people → order → ICE
A memo sent to officers in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division warned they are not authorised to chase vehicles that fail to pull over under any circumstances.
asserted
that → send → circumstances
Instead, officers should take down the vehicles’ information for further investigation, according to the memo signed by ICE’s executive associate director Marcos D. Charles and dated Wednesday.
uncertain
officers → take → director
The new guidance comes after ICE-initiated vehicle stops have repeatedly escalated when drivers have refused to cooperate or tried to flee.
asserted
drivers → come → ?
ICE agents have fired their guns during more than a dozen such encounters since last year, killing at least four people and wounding several others.
asserted
agents → fire → others
US President Donald Trump's administration has faced internal tension over how to handle traffic stops, which are seen as particularly high-risk encounters.
asserted
which → face → encounters
After fatal shootings of drivers in Maine and Texas in July, ICE officers were directed to temporarily pause most vehicle stops.
asserted
officers → direct → stops
But the next day, Trump went on social media to direct the agency to continue traffic stops, calling them “one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.”
asserted
Trump → go → tools
ICE has faced intense pressure from the White House to deport more people who are in the country illegally, and its arrests have reached record numbers.
asserted
arrests → face → numbers
At the same time, the agency's rapid hiring spree last year resulted in some poorly vetted and trained officers hitting the streets.
asserted
officers → result → streets
In a statement, ICE downplayed the significance of the memo, which said the new guidance was intended to replace and amend prior directives issued earlier this year, last year and in 2018.
asserted
guidance → downplay → 2018
“Occasionally, ICE leadership issues guidance reminders to law enforcement officers,” the statement said.
asserted
statement → issue → officers
“Vehicle stops and arrests of illegal aliens continue.”
asserted
stops → continue → aliens
The new memo outlines steps intended to improve the safety of vehicle stops for ICE officers, drivers they are targeting, their passengers and the public.
asserted
they → outline → officers
The memo told ICE’s field office directors that they must ensure vehicles used for traffic stops have lights and sirens that let the public know they are law enforcement vehicles when activated.
asserted
they → tell → lights
All officers on the scenes of vehicle stops must also wear and activate their body cameras under the new guidance.
asserted
officers → wear → guidance
In addition, only officers who have completed one of five specific agency training courses can conduct vehicle stops.
asserted
who → complete → stops
Officers who have not completed the training courses can only participate in vehicle stops “in a support capacity” as passengers and cannot be the drivers of any of the vehicles involved.
asserted
who → complete → vehicles
The guidance however says ICE officers can continue to use a controversial technique known as pinning, which is defined as “using a vehicle or physical barrier to trap or stop a car,” but only if they have received special training.
asserted
they → say → training
Similarly, only trained officers can use spike strips that deflate tires to prevent drivers from fleeing.
asserted
that → train → drivers
The memo came the day that courtroom testimony highlighted ways in which two ICE officers involved in a vehicle stop, pursuit and shooting that wounded a delivery driver in Austin last month would not have complied with the new guidance.
asserted
that → come → guidance
Prosecutors presented surveillance video that showed an ICE agent chasing Garces Perez at high speeds through residential streets after he fled an initial traffic stop, before eventually catching up to him and shooting him, without a body camera in sight.
asserted
he → present → sight
Garces Perez faces federal assault charges after investigators say he struck an ICE officer with his driver’s side mirror.
asserted
he → face → mirror
That officer then shot into Perez's vehicle, lodging a bullet in his back, officials say.
asserted
officials → shoot → back
Attorneys for Garces Perez have called the charges against him “retaliation” and have argued that the camera footage was inconclusive because it didn’t fully capture the moment when he allegedly tried to flee.
uncertain
he → call → moment
The Aporia
