Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been instructed to refrain from engaging in high-speed car chases and traffic stops unless they have completed training.
This comes after several shootings involving drivers in altercations with ICE officers, according to NBC News.
A memo sent to officers in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division and obtained by The Associated Press warned they are not authorized to chase vehicles that fail to pull over under any circumstances. Instead, officers should take down the vehicles’ information for further investigation, according to the memo signed by ICE’s executive associate director Marcos D. Charles and dated Wednesday.
The new guidance comes after ICE-initiated vehicle stops have repeatedly escalated when drivers have refused to cooperate or tried to flee. ICE agents have fired their guns during more than a dozen such encounters since last year, killing at least four people and wounding several others.
President Donald Trump’s administration has faced internal tension over how to handle traffic stops, which are seen as particularly high-risk encounters.
After fatal shootings of drivers in Maine and Texas in July, ICE officers were directed to temporarily pause most vehicle stops. But the next day, Trump went on social media to direct the agency to continue traffic stops, calling them “one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.”
ICE has faced intense pressure from the White House to deport more people who are in the country illegally, and its arrests have reached record numbers. At the same time, the agency’s rapid hiring spree last year resulted in some poorly vetted and trained officers hitting the streets.
In a statement, ICE downplayed the significance of the memo, which said the new guidance was intended to replace and amend prior directives issued earlier this year, last year and in 2018.
“Occasionally, ICE leadership issues guidance reminders to law enforcement officers,” the statement said. “Vehicle stops and arrests of illegal aliens continue.”
ICE guidance bans high-speed car chases and sets tighter traffic stop rules, memo shows https://t.co/lJUvCF3PFU via @nbcnews
— Beatrice Lacy (@BeatriceLacy) October 2, 2026
The guidance instructs officers to turn on their lights and sirens when carrying out traffic stops to identify themselves as agents. They are also required to wear and activate their body cameras during encounters.
Officers who have not completed the required training can only participate in traffic stops “in a support capacity” as passengers, according to NBC News.
In the memo, ICE executive associate director Marcos D. Charles (no relation) said ICE officers are not authorized to chase vehicles that fail to pull over under any circumstances. Instead, they should record the vehicle’s information to locate suspects later.
The report noted that agents had fired their guns during more than a dozen encounters since last year, killing at least four people.
After fatal shootings during traffic stops in Houston and Biddeford, Maine, in July, officers were told to pause vehicle stops. However, Trump reversed course the next day in a post on Truth Social, saying “we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”
