Federal immigration officers have shot at drivers at least 17 times under vehicle-stop tactics that both sides now admit may be putting ordinary Americans in the crosshairs.

Story Snapshot

• DHS says agents fired only when vehicles became deadly weapons, but its own rules sharply limit shooting at moving cars.
• The Minneapolis killing of Renee Good and fatal shootings in Texas and Maine show deep conflicts between official stories and witness accounts.
• Trump and top aides quickly declared all 16–17 recent shootings justified, even before internal investigations were finished.
• ICE briefly halted most vehicle stops, then resumed them under political pressure, raising questions about who really sets safety rules.

DHS rules on deadly force and moving vehicles

The Department of Homeland Security’s written policy says officers may use deadly force only when they reasonably believe a person poses an “imminent threat” of death or serious injury to them or someone else. The same policy stresses that deadly force is allowed only when “necessary,” meaning no other safe, reasonable option exists. Guidance that mirrors Department of Justice rules also tells agents not to fire just to disable a moving vehicle and to step out of its path if that is a realistic, safe choice.

DHS rules also warn that officers cannot use deadly force simply to stop someone from fleeing in a car. Federal policy limits shooting at a driver to narrow situations, such as when a person in the car is using some other deadly weapon or when the vehicle itself is driven in a way that creates an immediate threat and no other defensive option is available. These written limits are meant to protect both officers and bystanders from gunfire around fast-moving vehicles, which many police experts say is extremely risky for the public.

What happened in Minneapolis, Houston, and Maine

On January 7 in Minneapolis, immigration officers shot and killed 37‑year‑old Renee Good while trying to arrest her during protests. DHS leaders, including Secretary Kristi Noem, said Good “weaponized” her car and tried to run officers over, calling the shooting “self‑defense” and even an “act of domestic terrorism.” A retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who reviewed video said that simply fleeing is not enough to justify deadly force and that the key test is an imminent danger to life.

Reporters and experts who studied videos from the scene say the officer appears to be at the side of Good’s vehicle, not directly in front of it, and the car’s wheels look turned away from him. Five use‑of‑force specialists told one newspaper that the available evidence does not prove the shooting met the policy’s strict standards. Similar disputes have arisen in Houston and Maine, where DHS said drivers tried to ram law enforcement vehicles, but witnesses and attorneys say shots were fired from the side, not in the face of an oncoming threat.

Growing pattern of “weaponized vehicle” claims

Since late summer, federal immigration agents have shot people in at least 16 enforcement incidents, with most of those shootings involving moving vehicles. DHS has repeatedly justified these shootings by saying drivers turned their cars into weapons and used them to threaten officers or the public. A national review found that in 7 of 11 recent cases, agents fired into or at cars and then cited vehicle threats as their reason. Many large city police departments now ban shooting at moving vehicles for exactly this reason.

This “weaponized vehicle” story line also worries critics because video and body‑camera footage is often missing or withheld. In the Houston and Maine cases, none of the agents wore body cameras, even though Congress had already approved millions of dollars to buy them. Government shutdowns and red tape slowed deployment, leaving officers without the very tools that could prove their version of events—or expose misconduct—at the moment deadly force was used.

Politics, public trust, and who really pays the price

Trump administration aides reportedly declared all 16 recent DHS shootings justified before internal investigations were complete, framing every incident as proper use of force in a tough crackdown on illegal immigration. That rapid political backing, even before the facts were fully known, fits a larger fear shared by many conservatives and liberals: that leaders care more about appearing “tough” than about following the rule of law and protecting ordinary people from avoidable harm.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is warning that illegal immigrants attempting to evade arrest are putting lives at risk amid heightened ICE operations.

In a statement, Mullin highlighted a more than 1,300 percent increase in vehicle attacks on officers, stressing ICE’s focus on… pic.twitter.com/OuzLBpFlK2

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) July 16, 2026

After the Maine and Texas shootings, Immigration and Customs Enforcement briefly halted most vehicle stops nationwide, signaling that even DHS saw serious risk in the tactic. Yet Trump soon pushed for traffic stops to resume, and new DHS guidance again places agents, drivers, and bystanders in harm’s way whenever a fast‑moving arrest goes wrong. For many Americans, this looks like the deep state and elected elites using legal standards as a shield while real families—citizens and immigrants alike—absorb the bullets and the grief.

Sources:

feedpress.me, dhs.gov, bbc.co.uk, axios.com, washingtonpost.com, startribune.com, fox2detroit.com, thetrace.org, time.com