This Is Why ICE Agents Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Wear Masks

An ICE agent has been “relieved of his duties” after he was caught on camera assaulting a woman in a Manhattan immigration court Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday.

The woman, identified by ProPublica as Monica Moreta-Galarza, was pleading with officers at 26 Federal Plaza to release her detained husband when the masked agent picked her up, shoved her into the wall, and pushed her to the ground. Moreta-Galarza was taken to the hospital for a head injury and discharged shortly afterward, reported the investigative outlet.

The federal officer who attacked Moreta-Galarza was put on leave pending an investigation, according to Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. In a statement, McLaughlin condemned the officer’s actions as “unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE.” She refused to elaborate, however, as to whether the unidentified agent had been suspended or fired over his violent actions.

Videos taken right before the attack depict Moreta-Galarza shouting at ICE agents in Spanish as they pried her husband away from his children.

“You guys don’t care about anything!” she shouted, to which an agent responded, “Adios, adios.”

Moreta-Galarza told ProPublica that her family had experienced similar violence in Ecuador before they came to America.

“I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me,” Moreta-Galarza said.

ICE agents across the country have taken to wearing masks in an attempt to shield their identities from public scrutiny as they ransack American communities. DHS has provided federal support to their anonymizing decision, openly acknowledging that officers would continue to violate agency-specific mask bans put in place by state governments.

But the agent who attacked Moreta-Galarza had his full face on display, allowing NPR to identify him as the same officer involved in the arrest of a court observer last month.

“The agent, who was unmasked and had been sitting in the waiting area earlier, yelled at NPR: ‘Stop fucking following me! Why are you fucking following me?’ before turning and yelling the same thing at the court observer,” the radio outlet reported.

The court reporter was then taken into an enclosed elevator bay, taken into federal custody, and ultimately received two citations, according to NPR—trespassing in a secure area and failing to follow lawful commands from an officer.