Trump’s swift ICE reversal hailed for showing ‘confidence’ in frontline agents

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s quick reversal of a nationwide ban on ICE vehicle stops has been a "huge" boost for many ICE agents on the ground and reassured them that the commander-in-chief still has "confidence in the agency and its people," a federal special agent working deportations said.

Speaking with Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity, the agent said that the concerns that prompted the pause – a need for additional training for ICE agents on adversarial vehicle stops – are still being addressed. At the same time, the agent said the president’s action proved he still believes in law enforcement professionals to get the job done amid what has been an especially operationally challenging year.

"Today, when the president came out with his un-pause, I think what he showed was confidence in the agency and its people, and I think that goes a long way when somebody is in one of those difficult situations," said the agent.

"I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never seen something like that," the agent added.

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The Department of Homeland Security announced a pause on Tuesday for ICE vehicle stops after two ICE officer-involved shootings in Maine and Texas.

The guidance was short-lived, however, as the next day Trump instructed the agency to reverse course on what he called "one of ICE's most important and effective Crime Fighting tools."

Trump wrote that "the men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done." He noted that "CRIME IS WAY DOWN IN AMERICA, in many cases with numbers that haven’t been seen in decades."

To the ICE agents operating across the country, Trump wrote, "Be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming! Remember, you are loved and respected in America."

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In response, the agent said Trump’s message meant he had the agents’ back.

"You don’t have to be a Donald Trump fan but to know that the person who is ultimately responsible for all of this is saying, ‘Hey, I believe in you, you guys will work this out, we’re going to be all right,’" the agent said.

The agent said that in the last year, illegal immigrants have grown more adversarial during arrests, increasing the danger of operations for both the arrestee and law enforcement. This is further exacerbated, said the agent, by the prevalence of interference and even often violent confrontation by civilian bystanders during operations.

This means that agents are operating in increasingly stressful, unpredictable environments.

Amid this, the agent likened ending all vehicle stops to removing a tool from a toolbox.

"Any tool you take out of the toolbox is going to create challenges for [agents] to do their job in a more efficient way," he said.

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Still, the agent said they would "welcome" even more training. According to the agent, ICE has already increased its training for officers working deportation operations on the streets. The additional training has been especially concentrated on responding to riot-type situations, something that the agent said most ICE officers previously did not need to prepare for.

"They should constantly be looking at these policies and how they affect the people in the field, but also how it's perceived by the public, how legal it is, and how do we do this more safe?" the agent said, concluding, "I think any sane person would be in agreement with me to say, ‘Hey, let's look at how we can do this safer for everybody.’"