ICE to temporarily stop conducting vehicle stops, sources say

(WASHINGTON) -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been ordered to temporarily stop conducting vehicle stops in the wake of two deadly shootings in Texas and Maine, sources told ABC News.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin gave the directive, a law enforcement source told ABC News, after he spoke with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who said she urged Mullin to "cease all non-urgent vehicle stops."

In most cases, ICE officers will stop a target on the street once they leave their house or office, but ICE will still use vehicle stops in cases involving the most dangerous targets, according to a source.

Multiple sources said the pause is temporary and that ICE officers will receive new training on vehicle stops.

On Monday, 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine, after agents tried to stop the car he was driving, according to Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.

Guerrero, a Colombian national, was not the target of the operation and ICE agents had been given a final order for another man they were targeting to be removed from the U.S., King told ABC News.

An ICE spokesperson said that the agency was “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal," and when an “illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle,” ICE agents “attempted to conduct a vehicle stop.”

“The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon,” ICE said.

The Maine Attorney General's Office said "the suspect attempted to flee in the vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot."

Witness Daniel Boucher told ABC News that he watched agents pull the shooting victim from his car and put him on the ground.

"I heard the young man say, 'I tried to stop.' I clearly heard him say that," said Boucher, adding that he overheard one of the ICE agents allegedly say the driver tried to run him over.

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