ICE is at it again. Less than a week apart, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed a man in Houston, Texas, and another in Biddeford, Maine. The pair of shootings, separated by nearly 2,000 miles, again raise serious questions about tactics and the training of ICE agents and, more fundamentally, the Trump administration’s mistaken notion of the federal agency’s role.

The emerging details of the killings, according to the less than trustworthy accounts emanating from the administration, bear eerie similarities. Both men were Latino immigrants; the one in Houston was from Mexico and the one in Maine from Colombia. Both were said not to have been the targets ICE was seeking to arrest. Both were shot and killed during traffic stops; one where he allegedly turned the vehicle he was driving into a weapon against ICE agents and the other who was attempting to flee the scene.

The country has heard these stories before from ICE, and at least once video evidence proved that it was a lie. There was a time local police officers, after killing a suspect who was on foot, typically alleged “he was reaching for something in his waistband,” suggesting it might be a handgun. Now ICE’s stock story has become the man or woman was weaponizing a vehicle.

There are inherent problems with ICE making traffic stops to arrest those suspected of being undocumented immigrants. The agents are obviously not trained, or trained well enough, to do that. That’s obvious because why would they repeatedly be exposed in front of a vehicle during a traffic stop?

One retired police commander in the Atlanta area gave his officers five words of advice should they somehow wind up in that situation: “Get out of the way.” Officers on the scene have the vehicle’s description and license plate and can simply follow it and arrest occupants later, instead of shoot now and regret later.

For a decade, the Denver Police Department has banned its officers from shooting at moving vehicles unless someone inside is using deadly force — with something other than the vehicle — against officers or civilians. A vehicle with a wounded or dead driver turns into a public safety hazard the police should not be creating, the reasoning goes. The strict rule was adopted after a 17-year-old girl who was driving a stolen car was shot and killed.

Requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras during arrest operations would improve accountability and transparency. But a better solution would be for the agency to stop attempting to arrest anyone driving a vehicle.

Historically, agents with ICE and its predecessor agency conducted investigations to determine who was in the country without legal authorization and then showed up at their homes or workplaces to detain them. They used unmarked vehicles to sneak up on their targets. That makes practical sense.

But unmarked vehicles boxing in or cutting off another vehicle in traffic would spook any driver, and taking evasive action would be a reasonable response. After all, a driver could fear that a carjacking was unfolding.

The more fundamental problem is the administration’s misconception of what ICE is. Unlike others, this country does not have a national police force. ICE is an investigative agency. Its agents do not have general police powers. They need to stop acting like they do.

The Banner would prefer that Congress and President Trump do the hard work to hammer out legislation that would create pathways to citizenship for the millions of undocumented migrants in the country. President Ronald Reagan and a Democratic-controlled Congress managed to do that 40 years ago. With the birth rate dropping and Social Security funds dwindling, the country needs the workers.

Immigration legislation may be too rational and constructive for a president bent on destruction. In the meantime, the public and enlightened elected officials should demand ICE agents stop playing like they’re police officers and cease making traffic stops.

Ronald Mitchell
Editor and Publisher, Bay State Banner