ICE in the US bans pursuing cars that fail to stop — Euronews
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued internal guidance prohibiting its employees from pursuing vehicles whose drivers fail to stop when ordered to do so. From now on, only agents who have completed designated training courses may conduct vehicle stops, Euronews reports.
A memorandum for the Enforcement and Removal Operations division states that employees are not authorized to pursue such vehicles under any circumstances. Instead, they must record information about the vehicle for further investigation. The document was signed by ICE Executive Associate Director Marcos D. Charles.
Training and camera requirements
Heads of ICE field offices must ensure that vehicles used for stops are equipped with lights and sirens that, once activated, allow them to be identified as law enforcement vehicles. All employees present during a stop must wear and activate body cameras.
Only agents who have completed one of five designated training courses may conduct stops. Employees without such training may participate only in a supporting role as passengers and may not drive vehicles involved in the operation.
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The guidance also permits the use of a vehicle-blocking technique involving a vehicle or a physical barrier, but only by specially trained agents. The same restriction was established for the use of spike strips, which deflate the tires of vehicles attempting to flee.
Context of the new rules
According to the outlet, since last year ICE agents have opened fire in more than a dozen cases related to vehicle stops. At least four people have been killed, and several others have been injured. After fatal shootings in Maine and Texas in July, agents were temporarily ordered to suspend most such stops, but the following day US President Donald Trump called for them to continue.
ICE said the memorandum is a reminder for law enforcement officers and that vehicle stops and the detention of people who are in the country illegally will continue. The document replaces and amends previous directives issued this year, last year, and in 2018.
On the same day, a court considered the circumstances of a chase and shooting in Austin, Texas, in which delivery driver Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was wounded. Prosecutors showed a video that, they said, depicts an ICE agent pursuing him at high speed through residential streets after an initial stop and then firing at the vehicle. Garces Perez faces federal assault charges: investigators claim that he struck an agent with the car's mirror. The driver's lawyers called the charges retaliation and said the video did not fully capture the moment of his alleged attempt to flee.
