Border Czar’s “Comply” Message After Two Fatal ICE Shootings

In early July 2026, ICE officers fatally shot two men during vehicle stops. On July 15, 2026, immigrant-rights activists with Unidad Latina en Acción taped flyers to the New Haven federal courthouse to protest the death of Joan Sebastián Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian father shot in Biddeford, Maine. Six days earlier, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father of three in Houston, Texas, was killed after ICE agents alleged he tried to run them over. Both incidents occurred amid a surge in ICE’s “mass arrests and deportations” program.

HuffPost

Border czar Tom Homan told reporters outside the White House that the victims and that “All they had to do is simply comply with law enforcement.” Homan declined to comment on video evidence that showed no emergency lights on the Houston vehicle and no body-camera footage of the Maine stop.

HuffPost

The Fourth Amendment similarly restricts force to situations where it is “objectively reasonable” and the subject poses an imminent threat. Critics note that ICE agents often operate in unmarked vehicles and wear masks, making it difficult for civilians to recognize law-enforcement authority.

HuffPost

He warned that widespread fear erodes confidence that immigration enforcement follows standard police protocols. Josh Parker, deputy director of policy at NYU’s Policing Project, called Homan’s remarks “abhorrent” and “repugnant,” arguing they endorse constitutional violations. Stacy Brustin, professor emerita at Catholic Law, argued the administration is “shifting blame to the victims” instead of halting aggressive traffic-related enforcement pending independent investigations.

HuffPost

• “All they had to do is simply comply with law enforcement,” — Tom Homan

HuffPost

• “ICE and other federal immigration agents have made quick compliance difficult or impossible,” — Hiroshi Motomura

HuffPost

• “Imagine you’re driving or walking down the street and masked people confront you. You don’t know if you’re being arrested or robbed.” — Hiroshi Motomura

HuffPost

• “Tom Homan’s statement suggests that those legal rules don’t matter to him,” — Hiroshi Motomura

HuffPost

• “Rather than halting traffic-related enforcement tactics pending independent investigations of recent fatalities, the administration is now shifting blame to the victims,” — Stacy Brustin

HuffPost