The mother that an ICE agent assaulted after they stopped her husband in the Immigration Court on Thursday begs the President Trump who has compassion, while her lawyer demands that the person in charge give accounts.
Mónica Moreta-Galarza, Ecuadorian Immigrant, broke into tears on Sunday when reviving the moment they threw her to the ground after begging for her husband’s return. He said that the incident was even more painful because at first he believed that federal agents were there to protect them, but instead they feel that they attacked her because of her ethnic origin.
“I never imagined it because they are authorities, people who, and I thought that as authorities defended us. But now I realize that it is not so. In this country I felt protected, but I see that I am really less than insignificant only for being Latin,” said Moreta-Galarza.
In an instant, the masked agents took their husband. When she faced an ICE supervisor, that agent pushed her to the ground in an aggression captured in the camera that quickly went viral on social networks.
Father Fabián Arias, a shepherd who usually attends immigration audiences in the 26th Federal Plaza, helped Moreta-Galarza to seek medical and legal attention.
According to the priest, Moreta-Galarza and his family crossed the border in 2024 and, after being processed, they even received their work permits. He added that Thursday’s audience should only be a routine procedure in the court and does not understand why they took her husband.
“They were happy and in two minutes everything changed, their life changed,” Father Fabián told our sister publication, Amnewyork.
Lina Stillman, lawyer from Moreta-Galarza, reviewed previous images captured by Amnewyork that shows the same ICE agent who also assaulted her by separating families and mistreating other women. He assured that this individual must account.
“This individual has a propensity for violence. I think it is not someone who should be working with immigrants. And, they know, it must be punished,” Stillman said. “I think we should all be outraged by this, right? I think everyone knows it. The reason why this video went viral is because it is outrageous, right? This shouldn’t happen to anyone. It shouldn’t happen anywhere.”
After viralizing the video of the aggression to Moreta-Galarza, the US Department of National Security announced that it relieved its functions to the ICE supervisor involved while the investigation progresses. The agency said that “ICE agents are governed by the highest professional standards.”
Meanwhile, her husband is still in ICE custody, and now she must fix them alone with her children.
“The only support and now the only livelihood is my children. Because thanks to them, the only thing that keeps me standing are my children. And now the fight is to be together. We are a family of four, as I always say,” said Moreta-Galarza.
At the same time, Moreta-Galarza addressed President Trump, begging him compassion, and recalled that she and her husband arrived in the United States looking for a better life for her children.
“I have seen many videos of him attending the Church,” said Moreta-Galarza. “Immigrants are many, almost the majority in this country, and all we come to do is work hard. Because in times of crisis, we clean. Sometimes we have to clean on your knees. I want the president to have compassion. May God soften his hard heart.”
