An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shoved a woman into a wall and then pushed her to the ground has been “relieved of his current duties,” an ICE official said Friday.
The incident was caught on camera Thursday at an immigration court in New York City – fueling outrage as more families across the US get punished after showing up to their immigration court hearings.
“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Friday. “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.”
CNN has asked ICE to clarify what “relieved of his current duties” means – and whether the officer is still employed elsewhere within ICE.
The woman and her family have open asylum claims, according to the office of US Rep. Dan Goldman, whose district includes the courthouse. They “are here lawfully but are being targeted by ICE regardless,” a spokesperson said.
Goldman and New York City comptroller Brad Lander – a frequent ICE critic who has been arrested for trying to prevent ICE from arresting migrants – have referred the ICE agent to the US Attorney’s Office for felony prosecution, they said Friday.
In one video shared on social media, Monica Moreta-Galarza and her daughter are shown clinging tightly to their husband and father as he is being detained in a hallway of 26 Federal Plaza – the ICE district office in Lower Manhattan.
A masked agent grabs the mother’s hair as someone says, “Just grab her, grab her and pull her away.”
Moreta-Galarza wails as officers wrestle her away from her husband. Moments after she’s separated, she is taken from the hallway into a nearby room as her son and daughter watch, the video shows.
Monica Moreta-Galarza and her children are separated from their husband and father before an ICE agent pushes her into a wall and onto the ground. – Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
It’s unclear how long Moreta-Galarza stayed in the room. The video resumes with her in the hallway speaking to a federal agent, saying in Spanish, “You guys don’t care about anything!”
As the woman pleads with the agent, he replies, “Adios, adios.”
The agent then grabs Moreta-Galarza and forces her several feet down the hallway and into a wall. He continues shoving her down the hall and pushes her to the ground.
The agent stands over her and says, “Leave!” in Spanish, and asks nearby officers to remove her from the building.
Videos shared by other news outlets captured the interaction from different angles. In one video, court security officers were seen escorting the woman from the scene.
“When I arrived outside [the courtroom], they stopped [my husband], and they told us we couldn’t move,” Moreta-Garlarza told CNN affiliate WXTV. “They encircled us, then they slammed me against the floor, they grabbed my kids and dragged them away. They slammed me against the floor and caused my head to slam against the floor. Everyone from ICE fell on top of me.”
A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in response to the incident that the city is “less safe when immigrants are afraid to use basic services and attend court hearings.”
“Like so many, we have seen the upsetting images of a federal agent appearing to shove a woman — whose husband had just been detained by ICE — to the ground, and we are pleased to hear this incident is being investigated,” spokesperson Liz Garcia said in the statement.
Editor’s note: A portion of this image was blurred to protect a child’s privacy. The wife of the detained man from Ecuador falls to the ground during an encounter with a federal agent. – Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
NYC officials condemn agent’s actions
The mounting backlash against the ICE agent’s actions include top officials in New York City who are speaking out against his conduct, with some urging prosecutors to take criminal action.
Goldman and Lander said the footage reveals the officer’s “flagrantly egregious conduct,” which they claim is in apparent violation of the federal code on deprivation of rights under color of law, a federal crime, according to their news release.
“In this case, the officer, acting under the color of law, willfully used excessive physical force by throwing a young mother to the ground and thereby deprived the victim of her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures,” the release said.
CNN has contacted the US Attorney’s Office regarding the felony prosecution referral.
Lander is working to help Moreta-Galarza and her family obtain legal assistance, according to the release.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is among officials condemning the ICE agent’s actions, saying Friday he was shocked – both by what occurred and “the fact that we knew that that act is taking place every day across this country, oftentimes unseen, unnoticed and unabashed in its cruelty.”
“It’s important that we describe it, that we stand up to it,” Mamdani said.
Mother fled violence in Ecuador – then faced an ‘outrageous assault’ in the US
Immediately after the incident, Moreta-Galarza, her two children and a pastor “rushed to our office for safety,” Goldman’s office said.
The mother was then “rushed to the hospital for possible head trauma, where our office called ahead to ensure she would be treated,” the office said.
Goldman will be looking into whether the ICE agent could face potential felony prosecution, his spokesperson said. In a statement on X, Goldman welcomed the news that the ICE officer had been removed from his current duties “after the outrageous assault against Monica and her children.”
After the incident, Moreta-Galarza told reporters she had fled violence in Ecuador – only to be subjected to violence in the US.
“Over (in Ecuador), they beat us there too,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me.”
The family is now planning to sue ICE for excessive use of force, said Father Fabian Arias, who accompanied Moreta-Galarza on Thursday.
The husband has been transferred to a detention center in New Jersey, Arias said. His fate remains unknown.
‘They trap and deport’ neighbors who are ‘simply abiding by the rules’
The incident happened at the epicenter of immigration crackdown efforts in New York City. ICE agents have routinely apprehended migrants after they showed up for their court appearances.
But some say Thursday’s incident was particularly appalling.
“An ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids,” wrote Lander.
“She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital.”
The masked ICE agents did not identify themselves, did not present a warrant and did not give any lawful grounds for detaining Moreta-Galarza’s husband, Lander said.
“But let’s be clear: every day, masked ICE agents are acting violently against our neighbors, illegally abducting them, holding them in cruel and inhumane conditions. Treating them as less-than-human, and not deserving due process,” Lander posted on X.
The organizing director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said it’s unconscionable how many immigrants who are trying to follow the rules are treated.
“They trap and deport our neighbors when they are simply abiding by the rules to show up for their hearings,” director Jorge Torres said.
“We demand ICE out of the courts — no arrests in or around our courthouses.”
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
