A federal agent pushes the wife of the detained man from Ecuador to the ground on September 25, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
An ICE officer has been "relieved of current duties" after videos showed him violently push a woman to the floor at an immigration courthouse in Manhattan.
The confrontation happened Thursday at 26 Federal Plaza.
Click here to watch the video.
What happened?
What we know:
Viral video shows the Ecuadorian woman crying in a crowded hallway after her husband had just been arrested at an asylum hearing, reports say. Agents pried the man’s daughter away from his leg while his son watched.
The woman started screaming at the agent as he walked away, The New York Times reports, with the agent responding, "Adios, adios."
The daughter of the detained man from Ecuador begins to cry as federal agents detain her father on September 25, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
The agent is then seen shoving the woman after she put her hand on his chest. He pushed her down to the floor when she tried to grab onto him, videos show.
The agent shouted, "Leave!" in Spanish as he stood over her, then asked for help in removing her from the building.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat whose district includes the courthouse, said the woman and her two young children fled to his office after the attack. He called it an "egregious act of excessive force."
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According to ProPublica, the woman, Monica Moreta-Galarza, hit her head and was taken to a hospital. She was discharged shortly after.
What we don't know:
Her husband’s legal status, and whether he’s still detained, remain unclear.
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What they're saying:
"Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too," Moreta-Galarza told ProPublica. "I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me."
ICE agent ‘relieved of duties’
ICE said the officer in question has been "relieved of current duties" while the agency investigates, but they wouldn’t confirm whether the officer has been suspended or fired, according to The Times.
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"The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE," ICE Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "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."
The Source: This report includes information from Rep. Dan Goldman, ProPublica and The New York Times.