ICE officer relieved of duties after violent confrontation in Manhattan courthouse
NEW YORK (WABC) -- An ICE officer has been relieved of his duties after video showed him tackling a woman to the floor at an immigration courthouse in Manhattan.
Several elected officials are demanding a criminal investigation and say it is not enough that the officer was fired, they say his actions in that video may well be criminal.
The violent confrontation happened in the hallway of 26 Federal Plaza where some politicians argue ICE has inhumanely detained thousands of immigrant New Yorkers in deplorable conditions.
In the video, federal agents are first seen struggling to arrest an Ecuadoran man as his traumatized family pleads for them to stop. Once the man is in custody, and dragged away, his wife confronts one of the officers who grabs her and shoves her into a wall.
On Friday afternoon, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani condemned the agent's actions.
"After taunting her with the response of 'adios, adios,' suddenly that agent threw her to the ground," Mamdani said. "The kids began to cry, traumatized by the sight of their mother being assaulted in a government building. And when she was released, she said, '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.'"
Homeland Security officials called the agent's actions "unacceptable" and said he has been "relieved of current duties" as the case is investigated.
Brooklyn Congressman Dan Goldman says that's not good enough.
"This conduct is unacceptable and we need to make a deterrent effect by seriously investigating it for criminal wrongdoing," Goldman said.
Mayor Eric Adams met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and then released a statement through his deputy press secretary.
"Like so many, we have seen the upsetting images," she said, "and we are pleased to hear this incident is being investigated. Our entire city is less safe when immigrants are afraid to use basic services and attend court hearings."
The incident has become a flashpoint in the race for City Hall.
Andrew Cuomo's campaign released a statement saying, "Unlike Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo has not just forcefully condemned the misuse of ICE for years, but took action, signing the executive orders restricting New York's cooperation with them on non criminal matters, successfully guarded NY's drivers license database from them and has continuously called out their abuses on the campaign trail. But if fraudster Mamdani is in a talkative mood, he should answer direct questions about his campaign promise to decriminalize prostitution, his refusal to apologize for calling the NYPD racist as promised and his vow to 'seize the means of production,' i.e. abolishing private property."
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa told reporters that otherwise law-abiding migrants should not be deported.
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