By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Copyright truthout
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who threw a woman to the ground in front of her two children in a New York City courthouse is back on the job, less than a week after the attack occurred, according to a post on X by the city’s comptroller Brad Lander.
“Court-watchers confirm this cruel ICE agent has been reinstated,” Lander wrote. “Last week, in the briefest moment of decency, violently throwing a woman to the floor was ‘beneath the men and women of ICE.’ This week, it’s back to business as usual. The cruelty, after all, is the point.”
CBS News reported that two U.S. officials told the outlet that the agent had been reinstated.
On September 25, video captured Monica Moreta-Galarza pleading with the agent after her husband of 17 years was abducted following a routine court appearance related to his asylum application.
“I didn’t do anything to him,” she told CBS News in Spanish. “I just begged him. Any human being would have some compassion, but he didn’t have that.”
The ProPublica reporter who filmed the attack said Moreta-Galarza was crying and told the officer she was afraid her husband would be hurt and wanted to go with him.
The ICE agent repeatedly said “adiós” to Moreta-Galarza as he violently grabbed her and threw her to the ground. She suffered injuries to her head and went to the hospital for treatment.
Prior to the attack, the same agent pulled her hair and yelled at her and her children, who were crying, she told CBS News.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) condemned the officer’s actions and said he had been “relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation.”
“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, adding that “ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards.”
NPR reports that the officer appears to be the same person involved in the arrest of a court observer in August, which was observed by NPR and captured on audio.
The incident occurred at the Manhattan courthouse located at 26 Federal Plaza, where masked agents routinely roam the hallways disappearing people who attend appointments and hearings related to their immigration cases. In June, officers arrested Lander after he linked arms with a man they were attempting to abduct and demanded to see a signed judicial arrest warrant. Earlier this month, Lander and several other New York City officials were arrested after they staged a sit-in at the courthouse to demand access to holding cells where immigrants have been detained in inhumane conditions.
Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-New York) referred the ICE officer to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for felony prosecution. Lander wrote on X that they “aren’t holding our breath for [Attorney General] Pam Bondi to uphold the law.”
“But we won’t stop demanding accountability,” he continued. “We owe it to this family to keep showing up — like thousands of us did last week, like those of us who engaged in civil disobedience did the week before — for as long as it takes.”
