NPR News: 07-16-2026 3PM EDT

President Donald Trump’s administration is defending the use of vehicle stops by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a necessary tool in its deportation campaign, even as it pauses non-urgent stops following two deadly shootings in less than a week. Separately, a key Republican senator is withholding his vote on the attorney general nominee until he meets with victims of Jeffrey Epstein, while Texas faces renewed flooding a year after catastrophic floods killed more than 100 people. China is also reining in its booming AI chatbot industry with new regulations that have forced companies to suspend popular companion features.

White House defends ICE vehicle stops after shootings

Press Secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters that both President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem agree that vehicle stops are “a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to continue their deportation campaign.” Her comments came after the Department of Homeland Security announced this week it would pause non-urgent vehicle stops following two deadly shootings in less than a week, one in Maine and another in Texas. Levitt acknowledged the rollout of the deportation campaign has been slower than the administration hoped, attributing the delay to a weeks-long DHS shutdown that she blamed on Democrats.

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