ICE Makes a U-Turn on Traffic Stops, but There's One Big Catch

redstate.com

It looks like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have reversed course and decided to resume traffic stops as part of their immigration enforcement activities, possibly under pressure from a frustrated President Trump. As RedState previously reported, most traffic stops were halted earlier this week following the deaths of two foreign nationals who allegedly used their vehicles as deadly weapons against ICE agents trying to detain them.

Reports are emerging Thursday afternoon that ICE officers across the country have been told they can once again engage in traffic stops during immigration operations, provided at least one officer involved is wearing a body camera. Since bodycam technology has not been deployed yet on a national basis, traffic stops will be somewhat limited for the time being.

The new directive means officers without access to body cameras are not authorized to conduct traffic stops. Body cameras have not yet been deployed to every ICE field office after the rollout began in the agency's largest cities.
The policy is expected to continue limiting the number of ICE traffic stops that can be conducted nationwide until the rollout is complete, a process sources say is expected to take roughly two more months.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is the parent agency of ICE, told Fox News, "ICE will ensure each arrest team has an individual wearing a body camera. Ensuring all of our ICE law enforcement officers have body cameras nationwide is a top priority for DHS — especially given the increase in attacks against our law enforcement, including a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them and a 3,300% increase in vehicle attacks."

The spokesperson added, "This is especially needed because the media and sanctuary politicians consistently spread smears about our law enforcement."

Breaking: Motorist Killed in ICE-Involved Shooting in Biddeford, Maine

Fox's Bill Melugin hopped on X to confirm the news, tweeting he had heard the same, and that "No camera = no traffic stop."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in her first briefing since returning from maternity leave, told Dasha Burns of Politico that verbal guidance had been given to resume the stops.

.@PressSec: “Vehicle stops are continuing. Verbal guidance has been given to all field offices across the country by the Department of Homeland Security.
The President and @SecMullinDHS are on the same page that vehicle stops are a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to… pic.twitter.com/fRPDd78DEc
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 16, 2026

.@PressSec: “Vehicle stops are continuing. Verbal guidance has been given to all field offices across the country by the Department of Homeland Security.
The President and @SecMullinDHS are on the same page that vehicle stops are a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to continue their deportation campaign of the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals from our country.”

On the subject of officer-worn body cameras, Leavitt revealed, "Over half of all ICE field offices now do have body cameras, and the remainder of the field offices are expected within 60 days." The roll out process to get bodycams to all ICE field offices was slowed, Leavitt noted, by the Democrats, who shut down DHS for several weeks.

RedState reported Wednesday that President Trump had voiced his displeasure with the halted stops, saying in a Truth Social post that "we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands."

Editor’s Note: ICE and CBP continue to put themselves in harm's way in order to protect America’s sovereignty and to keep our streets safe.

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