Somebody inside DHS issued a directive last week telling ICE agents to halt virtually all vehicle stops — one of the most effective tools in their enforcement arsenal. Nobody has publicly admitted to giving that order. Trump woke up Wednesday morning and made his position unmistakably clear: get back out there.
He wrote:
The men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done. CRIME IS WAY DOWN IN AMERICA, in many cases with numbers that haven’t been seen in decades. The Open Border Policy of Sleepy Joe Biden allowed 25,000,000 people to pour into our Country, unchecked and unvetted. Many were Criminals, and we have to get them out. In order to do this, we must be strong, tough, and smart, and 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. The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch. I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming! Remember, you are loved and respected in America. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
He’s right. And whoever issued the stand-down order is now on notice that the President of the United States disagrees with their decision — publicly, explicitly, and with a “Thank you for your attention to this matter” sign-off that anyone who has worked for Trump recognizes as a very direct hint that attention to this matter is immediately required.
The backstory behind the directive matters. Two ICE traffic stops in the past week ended in shootings — one in Texas, one in Maine — after illegal aliens drove their vehicles directly at agents during lawful enforcement actions. DHS alleges one incident was a deliberate ramming attempt. The response from whoever runs DHS operations was to pause most vehicle stops nationwide pending new training on how to conduct them.
Let’s be direct about what this actually means. Two illegal aliens chose to use their vehicles as weapons against federal law enforcement officers performing lawful duties. Both men would likely still be alive if they had complied. Instead, DHS’s operational response to illegal aliens attacking ICE agents was to restrict what ICE agents are allowed to do. The criminals ram the agents. The agents get restricted. That is the logic that produced this directive.
Speculation has focused on DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin as the source of the stand-down order. If accurate, Trump’s post is not subtle. When the president goes on Truth Social to publicly contradict a department policy and tell the agents under that secretary’s command to “go back and do your very important job,” the secretary in question has a problem.
The broader stakes are worth stating plainly. Crime is down significantly since Trump took office — numbers that haven’t been seen in decades, as the president noted. ICE traffic stops are a primary mechanism for how that’s happening. When ICE follows a target, a traffic stop is frequently how the encounter begins and how the arrest gets made. Restricting that tool doesn’t just inconvenience ICE agents. It leaves dangerous people on American streets who would otherwise be in detention or deported.
Democrats want exactly that outcome. They’ve fought every ICE enforcement tool available at every level of government — courts, sanctuary policies, state legislation, and now apparently inside the DHS bureaucracy itself.
Trump just told ICE publicly and personally that he has their backs. That matters. The agents who are putting themselves in harm’s way to do this job deserve to hear it.