The Department of Homeland Security has placed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on leave after he was filmed shoving a woman to the ground at a New York immigration court.
He has been relieved of his current duties while DHS conducts a full investigation into the incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Friday.
“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” McLaughlin added. “Our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards.”
Video of the incident, which was widely shared on social media on Thursday, shows a crying woman approach the ICE officer in a hallway. He says “adios” to her several times before he grabs her, pushes her backwards and then knocks her to the ground.
Another video taken from a different angle showed the woman confronting the ICE officer at the centre of the investigation.
In the video, the woman can be heard shouting “take me, take me!” in Spanish.
The officer then grabs the woman and forces her several feet down the hallway and into a wall. He continues shoving the woman and pushes her to the ground.
The officer stands over the woman and says “leave!” in Spanish, before asking nearby officers to remove her from the building.
Another video shared on social media showed the woman being escorted from the courthouse.
The incident happened after federal agents tried taking the woman’s husband into custody as she and her daughter clung on to him, CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported.
She told reporters on Thursday that she is from Ecuador.
As part of US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, ICE officers have been entering federal courthouses and detaining immigrants awaiting hearings.
In New York City courthouses alone, hundreds of immigrants have reportedly been arrested.
Dan Goldman, a Democratic congressman whose district includes the New York courthouse, said in a statement that the woman and her two children “fled to my office for safety after she was assaulted”.
He also urged the DHS to take “appropriate disciplinary action and implement measures to prevent this from happening again”.
