Hours before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were instructed to immediately halt vehicle stops, which have led to fatal shootings of innocent immigrants in Texas and Maine, an ICE official called for a reset and recalibration before things grow worse due to stressed-out street agents.
Under new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, immigrant round-ups have been ramping up but, hopefully, without all the hoopla that was allowed by his predecessor Kristi Noem, who was fired by Donald Trump.
With the two shootings and subsequent mass protests dominating the headlines, Tom Latchem reported on the PunchUp Substack that there is dissent within ICE headquarters.
According to the report, a senior official told Latchem that operations should be suspended immediately before more blood is spilled.
"I would shut down ops until we got a handle on s---," the official urged before complaining, "There is a problem. Not doing traffic stops. Not blocking the vehicles. If they run. They run. Find them later. Don't force a bad position."
The core issue, according to multiple ICE insiders, centers on the White House's obsession with raw arrest numbers. The Trump administration has mandated 2,000 arrests per day — a quota that has transformed street agents into desperate enforcers willing to take "lethal risks."
"Traffic stops are the only way to get them," the insider explained. "But every stop, folks are running. Or ramming. Agents are being pushed to the breaking point. It's not sustainable. And it's not safe. It's bad."
Latchem reported, "The freeze now threatens the very numbers Trump, 80, is demanding. Officers lean on vehicle stops because targets are away from their homes and, in most cases, no judicial warrant is needed. 'Numbers are going down, we can’t do s---,” one agency source fumed to the Daily Wire — and PunchUp’s insider warned leaders are already 'being fired for bad numbers.'"