Tensions over President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown escalated across the United States on Thursday after a second shooting involving federal immigration officers in as many days, intensifying protests and sharpening a widening rift between state and federal authorities over the use of force and accountability.
The latest flashpoint came in Portland, Oregon, where a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a man and a woman during a vehicle stop near a hospital.
The incident followed Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Minnesota mother by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, a killing that has already ignited sustained demonstrations and prompted fierce disputes over what occurred in the moments before shots were fired.
In both cases, Democratic governors and mayors demanded that the Trump administration withdraw federal officers deployed to their cities, arguing the aggressive operations have inflamed communities and undermined public safety.
The administration, backed by many of Trump’s supporters, has defended the deployments as necessary to fulfill campaign promises to deport undocumented immigrants and restore law and order.
