On September 25, 2025, chaos erupted in the hallway of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer was captured on video shoving a woman into a wall and then to the ground. The incident, which unfolded in front of the woman’s two young children and a crowded courthouse, has since ignited a nationwide debate about the conduct of federal immigration agents and the treatment of migrants within the U.S. legal system.
According to multiple news outlets including CNN, NPR, and ProPublica, the woman—identified as Monica Moreta-Galarza, a recent immigrant from Ecuador—was at the courthouse for an immigration hearing with her husband and children. The day took a traumatic turn when masked ICE agents attempted to detain her husband, prompting Monica and her daughter to cling to him in desperation. Witnesses report that the agents did not present a warrant or offer any legal justification for the arrest, a detail that has fueled public outrage and calls for accountability.
Cell phone footage of the confrontation quickly spread across social media, showing Monica pleading in Spanish, “Please take me, too,” and “They are going to kill him,” as agents separated her from her husband. In the video, the ICE officer can be heard responding repeatedly with “adios, adios,” before grabbing Monica by the arm and hair, dragging her several feet down the hallway, and slamming her into a wall. The situation escalated further when the officer shoved her to the ground, where she struck the back of her head and began screaming. Her children, visibly distraught, rushed to her side as the officer stood over her and yelled “leave!” in Spanish, according to HuffPost and The Hill.
After the altercation, Monica was escorted from the building by court security officers and taken to a hospital for evaluation. Speaking to reporters after her discharge, she expressed disbelief and sorrow: “Over in Ecuador, they beat us there too. I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me.” Her words, first reported by ProPublica, have resonated deeply with immigrant communities and advocates across the country.
The fallout from the incident was immediate. On September 26, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the ICE officer involved had been “relieved of his current duties” and placed on administrative leave pending a full investigation. In a statement provided to CNN and NPR, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin condemned the officer’s actions: “The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE. 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.”
New York City officials and federal lawmakers swiftly weighed in. Rep. Dan Goldman, whose district includes the courthouse, confirmed that Monica and her two children “fled to my office for safety after she was assaulted by this ICE agent in an egregious act of excessive force.” Goldman called on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to “take appropriate disciplinary action and implement measures to prevent this from happening again.” He later reiterated, “The Secretary must take action to prevent something like this from happening again by DHS, here in NYC or anywhere in America.”
Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller and a longtime critic of ICE, was present at the courthouse during the incident. He described the scene with palpable anger: “An ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital.” Lander also criticized ICE agents for failing to identify themselves or present a warrant, adding, “Regardless of motive or targets, we must condemn political violence. 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.”
Other city leaders echoed these concerns. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York mayor, labeled the incident “sickening” on social media. The response from immigrant rights groups has been similarly forceful, with many pointing to the incident as emblematic of what they describe as an increasingly aggressive posture by federal immigration authorities.
The federal building where the incident occurred has become a focal point for immigration enforcement in New York City. It houses the immigration court, the FBI’s New York field office, and other agencies, and has seen a marked increase in ICE activity in recent months. As NPR reported, tensions between federal agents and the public have risen as ICE has ramped up arrests inside courthouses—actions that advocates argue undermine due process and public trust in the justice system.
This is not the first time the ICE officer in question has drawn scrutiny. NPR previously witnessed the same agent involved in a tense confrontation with a court observer in August 2025, during which the officer shouted profanities and physically pushed the observer. The observer was later cited for trespassing and failing to obey lawful commands, though advocates maintain she was simply monitoring the proceedings.
The Trump administration’s broader immigration agenda, which has prioritized the deportation of undocumented migrants and increased ICE’s presence in sensitive locations such as courthouses, provides crucial context for understanding the current climate. According to CBS News and the BBC, hundreds of immigrants have been arrested in New York City courthouses this year alone, raising alarms among legal advocates and local officials about the chilling effect on access to justice for immigrant families.
While the DHS investigation into the officer’s conduct is ongoing, the incident has reignited debate over the role and accountability of federal law enforcement in immigration proceedings. Critics argue that aggressive tactics erode the foundational principles of fairness and humanity that the U.S. justice system purports to uphold. Others, however, maintain that ICE agents face difficult and sometimes dangerous situations, and that isolated incidents should not overshadow the agency’s mission or the professionalism of its broader workforce.
For Monica Moreta-Galarza and her children, the trauma of September 25, 2025, remains fresh. The videos, now viewed by millions, have made her story a rallying point in the national conversation about immigration enforcement and civil rights. As the investigation continues and calls for reform grow louder, the events in that Manhattan courthouse serve as a stark reminder of the human stakes at the heart of America’s ongoing immigration debate.
