There’s a dearth of established facts but no shortage of opinions about what led a federal immigration agent to shoot a man and a woman in a pickup truck Thursday.
While the Department of Homeland Security claims the two are a Venezuelan gang member and associate who tried to run over officers, there’s been little information so far to confirm the report. Oregonians’ trust has been worn thin due to previous agency statements that didn’t reflect reality. And an immigration officer’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis the previous day only adds to the suspicion as video of that tragedy undermines the federal agency’s account.
Oregonians must allow the state and federal investigations to play out. There are too many unanswered questions to know with any certainty what occurred. But there is no mistaking that the tension and anger rippling through the community stems directly from a year of chaos and violence brought by President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts…