You really shouldn’t mess with ICE agents. Not only are they considered official officers, but time and time again they’ve shown that they act as if they are above the law. Under Trump and his administration’s mission to remove “illegal aliens,” ICE agents have been given incredible leeway. And with that leeway, many people feel that they have gotten away with doing horrible things, even resorting to outright assaults on civilians. A video recently shared on Reddit captured exactly that. It showed a confrontation between a distraught mother and an ICE agent in New York. In the clip, you can hear her half-crying, half-pleading as she tries desperately to reason with the officer.
Moments before, her husband had been dragged away by masked ICE agents. They did not identify themselves, they did not present a warrant, and they gave no lawful grounds for his detention. As the New York woman tried to get answers, the agent suddenly snapped. He slammed her into a wall, then shoved her violently to the ground.
The most heartbreaking part is that this all unfolded in front of her child, who immediately ran to her mother’s side in tears. The video cut off shortly after that, leaving it unclear what happened next to both the mother and the daughter. What was clear, however, was the reaction online. The internet erupted in anger, with most people agreeing that what they had just seen was an assault in broad daylight.
“These guys LOVE beating up women. The amount of videos I’ve seen of ICE agents physically attacking specifically women is disgusting yet unsurprising,” one user wrote. Others pointed out that this was just one more example of how ICE operates without accountability.
Of course, not everyone saw it that way. Supporters of MAGA rushed to defend the ICE agent, saying that the New York woman had gotten in the way of an officer and “deserved” to be treated like that. But for most viewers, that excuse didn’t hold up. They argued that she wasn’t a threat and wasn’t assaulting anyone, and that the officer was clearly the one who escalated things.
Many commenters hoped that the video evidence could be used to hold the agent accountable, or even sue him for assault. Yet at the same time, there was a heavy dose of skepticism. “Pretty bold to be assaulting someone in front of what, 5-8 cameras? I’d say good thing they were there to record this, but that would imply there would be accountability. And there will be no accountability for any of this,” one Redditor wrote.
Others criticized DHS for its hiring practices. They argued that ICE had been mass-hiring with little vetting, no real qualifications, weak assessments, and minimal training, which led to the agency being filled with people more interested in power than integrity. “This is what you get when you do mass hiring requiring no qualifications, assessments, or sufficient training, and you give these unqualified people massive authority and immunity. These guys think they are walking gods. Untouchables,” one user explained.
