A man in Galveston, Texas, was pulled over by ICE agents for no apparent reason other than that they believed he was “here illegally.” During the heated back-and-forth, one of the agents was seen snatching the man’s ID from his hand.
Jose, also known as mpar.jose, shared the interaction online. He often shares photos and videos, most of which were recorded inside his truck. The clip attached above became his biggest video to date. In a day, it garnered 10.2 million views, 790,100 likes, and more than 19,800 comments.
The Texas man was driving his truck when ICE agents instructed him to pull over. He complied, and as soon as the agents approached his door, he asked for the reason for the stop, just as they asked for his ID. One of the agents said that they had “reason to believe” that Jose was in the United States illegally. That same agent asked for documentation that proved Jose’s citizenship.
Jose quickly noticed that the ICE agent in question appeared to have Latino roots. He said, “Look at your Brown [expletive]. That [expletive] is embarrassing. Look at you.”
Profiling Accusations
Moments later, Jose took out his ID and held it. The young ICE agent on the right, however, was recorded snatching the ID out of Jose’s hand. According to many viewers, the snatching was illegal and violated the 4th Amendment.
As two agents began looking up Jose’s identity, he asked whether the other ICE agent felt any shame about what they were doing. The man answered, “No, I do not.” Jose continued to complain about what he deemed was a baseless traffic stop. Another ICE agent said that they were only doing their job.
The Texas man believed that his vehicle pulling a work trailer was what triggered the traffic stop. He wrote in the clip’s description, “ICE is profiling work trucks with trailers.” The ICE agent denied this when confronted with the accusation.
Texas Locals React
The video sparked many responses, with many viewers bashing the agents’ behavior. One said, “Snatching the ID would’ve set me tf off.” Another one commented, “Ridiculous. Can’t wait for them to get their karma… I voted blue to stop this.”
Other viewers, however, were on the ICE agents’ side, agreeing that they were only doing their job. One wrote, “Cooperate and go about your day. It can all be so simple.” Another one added, “Good job, officers.”
Eventually, Jose was free to go after the ICE agents learned he was, in fact, an American citizen.
