A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was relieved of duty after a viral video showed him slamming an Ecuadorian woman to the ground as she tried to cling to her husband has been given his job back, CBS News reported Monday.
"The officials, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal move that has not been publicly announced, said the ICE officer was placed back on duty after a preliminary review of the incident," said the report. "CBS News reached out to representatives for ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House requesting comment."
Just three days prior, DHS issued a statement saying that the officer's behavior was "unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE," and that "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."
According to the report, "The confrontation appeared to have started when the woman and her daughter tried to cling to her husband, whom federal immigration officers were attempting to take into custody. Officials were captured on video trying to separate the family, and one of the officers was seen grabbing the woman's hair. Footage shows the husband was ultimately detained by federal agents."
The woman reportedly begged the agent, "take me too," in Spanish and touched the officer, after which he shoved her to the floor and responded, "adios," in front of her children.
As ICE activity has ramped up under the Trump administration to fill the mass deportation goals, and as agents have been pulled off investigating serious crimes to round up day laborers for easier quotas, incidents like this have become a commonplace flashpoint.
In another incident, ICE agents were accused of lying about the circumstances of a fatal officer-involved shooting in Chicago, with body camera footage contradicting claims that an officer was seriously injured when the suspect dragged them with their car.