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The Department of Homeland Security has placed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on leave after a shocking video emerged Thursday of the man appearing to throw a woman to the ground after she and her family left an asylum hearing in New York City.
Video captured by onlookers shows a woman pleading in Spanish with a plainclothes ICE agent, at one point asking him to “Please take me, too.”
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“They are going to kill him,” she implores. “They pulled my hair. You guys don’t care about anything.”
The agent responds by repeatedly saying “adios,” and at one point appears to attempt to grab her by the arm. She pulls back, then, after she brushes against him, he hurls her backward, slamming her into the opposite wall, the video shows.
The agent then continues to push her backwards down the hall as she appears to put her hands up in compliance. The man then seems to shove her to the floor, where she hits the back of her head and begins screaming.
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Two small children, dressed in blue jeans and white shirts, rush to the front of the scrum as the ICE agent yells “cállase!” or “shut up!” in the woman’s face.
ProPublica reporter Till Eckert captured the latter part on video:
Eckert said the woman, later identified as Monica Moreta-Galarza, was taken to a hospital. After she was discharged, she told reporters that she thought officers in the United States were supposed to be better.
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“Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too,” she told Eckert in Spanish. “I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me.”
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander told CBS New York he was in a nearby courtroom when the agents detained the woman’s husband in front of his family after an immigration hearing, and that the agents neither gave a reason nor presented a warrant.
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“He was ripped out of her arms right in front of the family,” Lander told the outlet. “We can disagree on immigration policy, but you can’t watch that video and think that that’s how you want United States law enforcement officials treating human beings.”
In an emailed statement to HuffPost, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the agent’s conduct “unacceptable” and said he’s been placed on leave pending an investigation.
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“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” McLaughlin said. “Our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards and this officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation.”
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Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), whose district includes the courthouse, said the woman and her two young children sought shelter in his office after the incident, which he called “one example of too many where we have these secret police officers attacking our communities with excessive violence, and they just think they can do it with impunity because nobody is holding them accountable.”