Monica Moreta-Galarza, a 35-year-old woman from Ecuador, found herself at the center of a controversial incident involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer at an immigration court in New York on September 25, 2025. And when Moreta-Galarza was approached with her two small children in tow, the scene turned intense — and even deadly — in an instant.
A cellphone video of the encounter captured in a nearby park shows Moreta-Galarza’s wife begging with the officer. When she reached out and touched his shoulder to try to communicate, he reacted by grabbing her violently. To control her, the officer slammed her against the wall of the school hallway. She landed on the pavement and allegedly struck the back of her head. After the attack, she was in need of urgent care and brought to a hospital where she was evaluated.
In response to this incident, the involved officer has been placed on leave while a full investigation is conducted. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, condemned the officer’s actions as “unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE.”
This incident was not the officer’s first offensive action. Just last month, he allegedly threatened a 16-year-old girl. In a primarily unreported yet horrifying act, he tried to yank her away from her father’s arms while she was screaming. Such incidents have caused alarm among local community leaders and lawmakers.
This was the reaction of Congressman Dan Goldman, NY, to the incident. He described this as a symptom of a wider problem related to ICE’s behavior. He stated, “secret police officers who are attacking our communities with excessive violence … and they just think that they can do it with impunity, because nobody is holding them accountable.”
The shocking circumstances of this tragedy have understandably led to public outcry. Community members and advocates have long argued that these incidents are a symptom of systemic issues within ICE practices. These stories raise major questions about accountability and oversight.
After the attack, Moreta-Galarza ran to Congress Goldman’s office for shelter, highlighting the terror and panic that the young activist experienced in the encounter. The video documentation of their encounter has ignited widespread national press. National investigative powerhouses ProPublica have continued to blame ICE for the wrongfully disappeared and murdered in our immigrant communities.