U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says a temporary hold on non-urgent vehicle stops by federal agents is still warranted just a few hours after President Donald Trump reportedly overturned an order to suspend the stops.
A day after a 25-year-old Colombian was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Biddeford, Collins called on Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to cease non-emergency stops and applauded Homeland Security’s decision to put the stops on hold after two fatal ICE-involved shootings in two weeks.
Lawmakers were thrown for a loop early Wednesday morning, when Trump on his social media site Truth Social said traffic stops were a critical tool that would not end on his watch, seemingly overturning a directive to leaders that would have ceased most vehicle stops.
The reversal left members of the Maine delegation pressing Mullin for more answers Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with conversations in Washington. It also came as Collins faces a re-election bid in which the shooting has taken center stage this week. Lawmakers, Gov. Janet Mills and Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain have pressed for answers on how the shooting unfolded and called for transparency in the investigation.
In his post, Trump suggested only “Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done.” He did not mention the Biddeford shooting, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked about the divide between the president’s direction and Collins’ push on the stops, the senator cited the fatal shootings in Biddeford and Texas, both of them involving vehicle stops and victims who were not the subject of ICE warrants.
“In certain emergency situations, I understand traffic stops are warranted,” she told reporters in Washington. “But to have them routinely done when we have had two recent shootings that are under investigation calls for a halt in that approach for now.”
LaFountain said in an overnight news release that Collins called him Tuesday morning to let him know ICE had been instructed to halt the stops. He said he appreciated the call but wants “that ban to be permanent, not a temporary public relations move by ICE.”
Collins’ critics and the Democrats vying to challenge her in November point to her vote for almost $70 billion for ICE and Border Patrol. The funding came without reforms that advocacy groups and many Democrats pushed for, including requirements for judicial warrants and a ban on masked agents.
But it did include measures proposed by Collins including $20 million for expanded use of body cameras, $2 million for de-escalation training and $20 million for increased oversight of detention facilities, which she has said would make both law enforcement and those they interact with safer.
The agents in Biddeford were not wearing body cameras and ICE says it will be another two months before cameras are deployed more broadly across the U.S.
“Donald Trump brushed aside Susan Collins’ push to pause these traffic stops … that is the entire measure of her influence in Washington,” argued Maine’s former public health chief Nirav Shah, who’s one of seven Democrats aiming to face Collins in November.
Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for the senator, said Tuesday that it’s “unfortunate Democrats who are desperate to be appointed to run for the Senate are using a tragedy to further their political aspirations.”
Mullin said in a statement that Homeland Security’s top goal is to keep its officers safe and to “get criminals OFF our streets.”’
“Illegal aliens will be arrested and deported wherever they are,” he said. He added that agents face a significant increase in vehicle attacks, and warned undocumented immigrants that “attempting to evade arrest is dangerous.”
An ICE spokesperson said earlier this week that when law enforcement tried to stop Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero’s vehicle Monday, the vehicle “attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”
Independent Sen. Angus King was initially told by Mullin that Guerrero was the subject of an order to leave the country, only to later find out he was not the target of ICE’s warrant.