Earlier today we told you that ICE was putting a pause on vehicle stops in order to make immigration arrests, except for cases in which they are violent criminal illegals.

Bill Melugin spoke with multiple ICE sources today, and many of them are frustrated at how this pause will affect their numbers, and he explains why the prefer vehicle stops for these arrests.

Here’s what he reported:

In speaking with numerous ICE sources today, most are expressing frustration that this will cause their arrest numbers to fall off a cliff while in effect. A large majority of their arrests involve vehicle stops. They will now largely have to rely on court arrests, detainer transfers, USCIS interviews, or “consensual encounters”/roving patrols on foot to make arrests in bigger numbers.

ICE prefers to target people in their vehicles instead of their homes because homes require a judicial warrant to enter and vehicles are considered safer (someone can run into a home and grab a weapon etc) and targets can be followed to public areas where warrants aren’t required.

In all the ICE embeds I’ve done over the years, I would say 90% + of the targets were arrested in vehicle stops, though, they were egregious aliens (murderers, rapists etc), and those vehicle stops are still allowed to continue for now. This will have a bigger impact on targets in the U.S. illegally who have committed no other crimes.

 
He added that Tom Homan confirms this will be short-lived, and says ICE officers have other related avenues for arrests so that their numbers should be okay:

NEW: Tom Homan says live on @FoxNews this is just going to be a “short term pause, a short term review”, and he doesn’t believe it will greatly affect arrest numbers. He says ICE agents still have other options, including arresting targets before they get in a “2,000 lb weapon” or after they get out of it.

He says arrests and deportations reached all time highs last month and that momentum will continue after this “temporary pause”.

NEW: Tom Homan says live on @FoxNews this is just going to be a “short term pause, a short term review”, and he doesn’t believe it will greatly affect arrest numbers. He says ICE agents still have other options, including arresting targets before they get in a “2,000 lb weapon”…

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 14, 2026