The Trump administration stated Friday that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer was positioned on depart after he pushed a lady to the ground within the hallway of a courthouse in New York, with viral video of the incident sparking outcry.
“The officer’s conduct on this video is unacceptable and beneath the women and men of ICE. Our ICE legislation enforcement are held to the very best skilled requirements and this officer is being relieved of present duties as we conduct a full investigation,” Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated in an announcement to The Hill.
Video shared on social media confirmed the confrontation at an immigration courthouse in Manhattan on Thursday, with a lady straight addressing an ICE officer after a person was separated and hauled away by masked officers. The lady and a woman might be seen clinging to the person earlier than he was detained by federal officer.
Afterward, the girl confronted the ICE officer, telling him in Spanish, “You guys don’t care about anything.”
“Adios, adios,” the officer says in response as the girl appeared to place a hand on his chest.
The ICE officer is then seen shoving the girl, pushing her down a hallway and onto the bottom. The officer then stands up and tells the girl to go away because the woman is crying. Others proceeded to ask officers to take away the girl from the constructing.
It’s not clear from the video if there was different bodily contact between the officer and the girl previous to her being shoved.
The altercation has sparked outcry from New York Metropolis officers and a few congressional Democrats.
Brad Lander, the New York Metropolis comptroller who himself was detained by ICE brokers earlier this 12 months, stated he was at 26 Federal Plaza when the incident happened. He stated the ICE officer “violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids.”
“She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat,” wrote Lander, a vocal critic of ICE. “She had to be taken to the hospital.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), whose district consists of the courthouse, recognized the girl as Monica. He stated she “fled” to his workplace along with her two youngsters for “safety after she was assaulted by this @ICEgov agent in an egregious act of excessive force.”
“This is unacceptable conduct from this ICE agent. @Sec_Noem must take appropriate disciplinary action and implement measures to prevent this from happening again,” Goldman stated in a Thursday submit on social platform X, referring to Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem.
Goldman on Friday welcomed information of the officer being placed on depart.
“The Secretary must take action to prevent something like this from happening again by DHS, here in NYC or anywhere in America,” he wrote.
The lady stated she and her household got here to the U.S. from Ecuador in 2024.
“Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too. I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me,” she advised reporters after the incident, ProPublica reported.
The Manhattan constructing encompasses an ICE subject workplace and immigration courts. There, ICE officers have arrested dozens of migrants this 12 months who’ve proven as much as court docket hearings, a part of President Trump’s immigration agenda centered on deporting those that are within the nation illegally.
