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The US immigration and customs enforcement agency took one of the agents off the streets after being caught on video of her throwing her distraught mother on the floor of a New York City courthouse on Thursday in front of her two children.
It was not the first time the video used violent forces to film scenes of immigration agents to carry out the Trump administration’s deportation campaign. But the video of this incident – one of the things I filmed for Propublica seemed to stir up something different. In a rare move, the government publicly rebuked officers for such conduct.
“The officer’s actions in this video are unacceptable and are under the ice men and women,” said Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. “Our ICE law enforcement agencies are held to the highest occupational standards and this officer is relieved of current obligations when conducting a full investigation.”
Video shot by Till Eckart shows officers throwing Moreta Galarza into the ground inside the courthouse. Credit: Up to Eckert/Propublica. Edited for privacy by Propublica.
I was only in the US as a reporter for eight weeks, so I barely arrived. I’m from Germany and am on the staff of Correctiv, a nonprofit investigative newsroom. I’ve been wary of videos of masked ice agents cleaning scenes I never thought I’d ever seen in the US. I wanted to report on how the administration’s immigration crackdown is unfolding from the forefront.
Since arriving, I have spent time reporting in immigrant neighborhoods, emergency rooms, churches, Icefield offices and, more recently, federal courthouses in lower Manhattan. I’ve been there almost every morning for the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, I watched the ice separate some migrants from their families. They were all sobbing and pleading to the police to not let them separate from their loved ones.
But what happened on Thursday was a shocking escalation.
I heard a woman’s plea when I came out of the elevator on the 14th floor. She sounded terrifying. I walked down the corner and saw what was going on. At the end of the hallway, I saw a woman, Monica Moreta Galarza, standing in front of the agent. She was crying as her husband was in custody. She told her agent she was worried that her husband might get injured. She wanted to go with him.
I began recording and caught an agent barking a woman. “Adios,” he said again and again. When she didn’t, he grabbed her. The rest, including her child’s screams, is commemorated online.
The federal agent cried out and shook his fingers at Moreta Galarza after throwing her into the ground. Credit: Graham Macindoe
I went to the hospital following Moreta Galarza. She is an immigrant from Ecuador and has been living in Coney Island since last year. Speaking in Spanish, she said the government had routinely defeated the people of her home country. “I didn’t think I’d come here to America and the same thing would happen to me.”
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This morning I returned to court with the goal of speaking with the agent who worked on Moreta Galarza. I’ve heard other ice agents refer to him as Victor, but I don’t know if that’s his real name. But by the time I got there he was gone.
Propublica’s mission is impact. I don’t think any of us would have thought that we would help bring that with my video. The question now is what the government will do when this happens next.
I asked DHS how many agents this year have been disciplined for being misused. They didn’t answer that question.
If the court has any hints about new ice enforcement tactics, I’d like to hear from you. Access via signal (Tilleckert.90) or Propublica.org/tips.
