Another Fatal ICE Shooting, Another ‘Weaponized Vehicle’
It hasn’t even been a full week since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Houston shot and killed Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — who the federal government claims rammed an ICE vehicle with his van, and attempted to run an agent over, which the passengers in his van have denied — and already, another man has been fatally shot by ICE, and, once again, the government’s narrative claims the victim “weaponized the vehicle” he was driving.
According to WMTW 8, Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced via social media that she had been briefed on a situation in which a federal agent fatally shot a man in his 20s, and later, the Biddeford Police Department confirmed that an ICE agent shot and killed a man. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is doing its usual song and dance, claiming the innocent agent had no choice but to take lethal action against a person armed with a steering wheel.
From WMTW:
Just before noon, Gov. Janet Mills confirmed a person was dead as a result of the shooting. “I know that situations like these are alarming and frightening,” she said. “The Maine State Police are at the scene supporting and working cooperatively with the Attorney General’s Office, Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and Federal officials to determine the facts of what occurred this morning.”
At noon, Sen. Angus King said he was told by Homeland Security that the person who was killed was a man in his 20’s who had been given an order to leave the country. He also said DHS told him that the person “weaponized the vehicle” and that they were shot by an ICE agent.
The Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition identified the victim as a 26-year-old man from Colombia. Mufalo Chitam, the group’s executive director, told CNN that the man was on his way to work. The group said the man was authorized to work in the US and was issued a social security number.
Federal officials have not confirmed any of those details about the victim.
The victim’s identity also hasn’t been confirmed, but the vehicle was reportedly registered to a Jhonathan Ramires, who lives in Biddeford.
What is worth noting, even with the limited information we have so far, are the striking similarities between this shooting and that of Salgado Araujo.
Salgado Araujo was also a working man who was reportedly on his way to a construction job at the time of the shooting. DHS eventually admitted the 54-year-old was not a target of ICE’s operation after initially claiming he was undocumented, which his family denied, saying he was close to obtaining a work permit.
As for the shooting in Maine, there are not many details on exactly what happened. The government hasn’t elaborated on the manner or circumstances under which a vehicle was supposedly used as a weapon, so we’re left with nothing more than an oft-repeated justification for the shootings of unarmed people by federal and local police.
It’s no wonder so many people are not buying it, especially after we all saw via video of the violent deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, as well as the lengths that the Trump administration will go to smear the victims in those cases.
SEE ALSO:
ICE Fatally Shoots Mexican Immigrant They Claim Weaponized His Vehicle
