Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to buy a device able to stop a car from moving.
A federal contract to purchase a “vehicle arresting devise (sic)” is dated Aug. 14, weeks after ICE agents shot and killed two drivers in Maine and Texas who failed to stop for the unmarked vehicles conducting immigration enforcement operations. In both cases, the driver was not ICE’s intended target.
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After the shootings, the Department of Homeland Security put a temporary suspension on ICE vehicle pursuits but President Trump quickly reversed the pause.
Now ICE is set to spend $29,286 for a system from Stock Enterprises, LLC, a company based in Phoenix.
A representative from the company tells Scripps News it makes one product that fits the description of a vehicle arresting device. It’s known as The Grappler police bumper.
Here is how it works: Officers with a Grappler mounted to the front of their car get directly behind a suspect vehicle, then use a switch to launch a nylon net around one of the back tires, aiming to slow and stop the fleeing car.
An increasing number of police departments are using the Grappler. That includes the Aurora Police Department in Colorado, with 13 of the devices.
"It captures the vehicle and slows it down to a speed where our other vehicles come in, pin in the vehicle, and make contact with the driver in a safer manner,” said Aurora Deputy Chief Michael Gaskill.
Aurora police have been using the tool since March, with a success rate of about 65 percent. Officers go through a day of training on the system before using it on the road.
It is not meant for use in busy traffic, Gaskill said.
"When the suspect vehicle is being captured, it can still move side to side,” he said.
DHS did not answer questions about its contract for a vehicle arresting device, including what level of training ICE agents would receive.
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ICE’s potential use of The Grappler to carry out civil immigration enforcement is troubling, said Jared Keenan, executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest.
"It seems that they'll probably overuse it and be violently stopping automobiles on mere suspicion of an immigration violation,” Keenan said. “They are mostly going after folks who have no criminal record, pose no threat to the public.”
DHS declined to say how many Grapplers the agency wants to buy, or where they would be deployed. The relatively low dollar figure would not be enough for widespread use of the product on ICE vehicles.
