US immigration agency suspends vehicle stops after 2 fatal shootings: Report

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has halted the practice of stopping moving vehicles to detain immigrants after two men were fatally shot roughly one week apart in the states Texas and Maine, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Citing current and former ICE officials, the newspaper said the agency leadership directed officers to stop pulling over occupied vehicles to make arrests or question passengers -- a tactic officials said was central to meeting the administration's daily arrest quotas.

The move came one day after a federal officer shot and killed a 26-year-old man in Biddeford, Maine, during an operation tied to a removal order, with the Department of Homeland Security saying the officer fired while "fearing for public safety." A week earlier, a man was killed during a similar operation in Houston.

An ICE spokesman would not confirm specific policy changes but said, "We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets."

The report said ICE will also require body cameras on arrest teams and plans to revise de-escalation training for officers.