ICE has issued formal guidance narrowing which officers may lead vehicle stops: only Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) personnel who have completed designated training. The guidance also requires that only government vehicles equipped with lights and sirens may initiate traffic stops. The move follows several high-profile stops that ended in shootings and a temporary DHS pause earlier this summer; officials say the guidance does not ban stops. The change was first reported by CNN, and ABC News has sought comment from DHS.
ICE Limits Who Can Make Traffic Stops — Only Trained ERO Officers In Marked Vehicles
Vincent Alban/Reuters, FILE - PHOTO: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detain an individual outside a home in Danbury, Connecticut, on Aug. 27, 2026.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued formal guidance narrowing which agency personnel may conduct vehicle stops and what is required during those encounters, according to people familiar with the changes.
What the New Guidance Says
Sources say the instructions, distributed to officers this week, restrict active traffic stops to Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers who have completed specific, designated training for such encounters. Personnel who have not finished that training may assist at the scene but are not permitted to serve as the lead officer conducting the stop.
The guidance also requires that only officers operating government vehicles equipped with lights and sirens may initiate traffic stops, according to the sources.
Background And Context
Officials described the change as a response to a series of widely reported traffic stops that ended in shootings. Earlier this summer, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin briefly paused ICE traffic stops while officers were scheduled to receive updated training following two consecutive fatal shootings — one in Texas and one in Maine.
John Moore/Getty Images - PHOTO: ICE agents depart the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Feb. 4, 2026, in Minneapolis.
Multiple people familiar with the matter said President Donald Trump and other officials pushed back on that pause, and Trump later reversed it. Sources emphasized the revised guidance does not ban vehicle stops altogether; it narrows who may lead them and sets equipment requirements for initiating stops.
Recent Case Cited
News organizations have pointed to recent incidents — including a case in Austin, Texas, in which a Venezuelan DoorDash driver, Wilber Rafael Garces-Perez, was shot by an ICE officer. Garces-Perez has been charged with assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer.
The criminal complaint says officers asked Garces-Perez to "place his vehicle in park and step out," orders the complaint alleges he ignored. It further alleges he led officers on a high-speed chase before an officer "caught up to Garces-Perez, who allegedly attempted to strike the officer with his car, causing the officer to fire his pistol." Attorneys for Garces-Perez say he still has a bullet lodged in his back.
Reporting And Response
The policy change was first reported by CNN, and ABC News has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment. ICE has not publicly released the new guidance as of reporting; the changes were described to reporters by people familiar with the directive.
Note: Photographs accompanying some reports include file images of ICE agents from previous operations.
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