. But then why the hell are we putting the officer in danger by asking them to execute traffic stops? Sandweg, who estimates there have been roughly 18 traffic-stop shootings during the immigration crackdown, noted there are many other places to make arrests, from homes to workplaces. It becomes a much more risky and dangerous situation once you start to pursue someone, said John Gihon, an immigration lawyer who was an attorney at ICE from 2008 to 2014. That's going to escalate. Gihon said that during his tenure at ICE he regularly trained deportation officers about vehicle stop policies. He said officers were advised they have discretion on whether to pull over someone they are trying to arrest. But if that person refuses to get out of their car and drives away, the guidance is to let them go and track them down another day. If they refuse, you are not pulling them out of the vehicle, you are not putting yourself in front of their car, he said. This policy is for everyone's safety. But fatal vehicle stops keep happening during Trump's second administration. There was Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, shot during a late-night traffic stop in South Texas in March 2025, and Renee Good, a mother of three shot and killed in January as she drove her car through the streets of a Minneapolis residential neighborhood amid growing anti-crackdown protests. Last week, it was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican builder shot and killed as he drove his crew to a worksite in Houston, where he had lived and worked for decades. Shooting into moving vehicles creates danger for all who are near Each time, officials insisted the federal officers had fired because they feared they or someone else could be killed by the vehicles. Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn't hit by a car, wasn't being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman, Vice President JD Vance wrote on X after Good was killed. The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense. That shooting was captured on multiple bystander videos that contradicted the administration's narrative and prompted widespread anger and protests against the officers' use of deadly force. Much remains unknown about the others. Officers were not wearing body cameras in the Salgado Araujo or the Durán Guerrero killings, despite DHS announcing months ago that it would outfit all officers with cameras. Geoffrey P. Alpert, an expert on policing at the University of South Carolina, said without video evidence, investigators must rely on witness statements. There's certainly a pattern, a practice, a trend that is disturbing, Alpert said, adding that police departments decades ago began prohibiting officers from shooting into moving cars because if the driver is injured or killed, they can lose control, turning the vehicle into an unguided missile, threatening anyone nearby. Every bullet needs to be understood: why was it fired. Every time an officer pulls the trigger, we need to know why, Alpert said. We talked about that last time, and we'll talk about that the next time. Texas lawmaker notes conflicting descriptions of Houston shooting Doubts are already swirling about the official story the administration told about the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Salgado Araujo in Houston. DHS officials said in a statement that the Mexican national ignored commands and was trying to evade arrest, then attempted to ram his car into an officer, who opened fire in self-defense. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said she visited the facility where the men who were in the vehicle with Salgado Araujo are being held and spoke to two of them, raising many alarming questions about the administration's claims. Here's the deal. I visited with them separately, and their stories were consistent, and paint a totally, totally conflicting version of the events, Garcia said. They said that at no time were any of the ICE officers in front of the vehicle. Instead, they told her the officers were on the passenger side and shot Salgado Araujo, who was driving, through the passenger side window. The window had been open because the vehicle's air conditioning was broken. The DHS story quickly shifted What exactly led to the deadly shooting in Maine remains unclear. Officers were in Biddeford, surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country, then tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, DHS said. Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said DHS Secretary Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers. But nearly 12 hours after Durán Guerrero was killed, that story shifted: DHS issued a statement saying the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. When asked about the contrasting statements, King told CNN an investigation would reveal the truth. The state's Office of the Attorney General announced it would investigate the shooting in coordination with federal authorities, promised transparency and encouraged witnesses to come forward. On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters gathered near an ICE facility in Scarborough, Maine. They held up a large banner reading No more ICE killings and signs saying stop the murder and end this terror. We need to never see this happen in the streets of Biddeford, Maine, and in this country, said Democratic state Sen. Mattie Daughtry, said during the protest. Never forget the human toll of what has happened here in Maine, in Minnesota, in Texas. ___ Santana reported from Washington, D.C., Sullivan from Minneapolis and Galofaro from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press reporters Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, and Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed.