An immigration agent who was fired last week for pushing and shoving a woman to the ground in a New York federal building has returned to work, CBS reported Monday, Sept. 29.
The network, which cites two officials with knowledge of the case, indicates that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, who has not been identified, was cleared for reinstatement after a preliminary review of the incident.
ICE agent returns to work after viral video
On the 🇺🇸de Trump: wife of detained foreign national confronts ICE agent, who repeatedly tells her “goodbye” and then pushes her and throws her to the ground in front of their children. 😡 pic.twitter.com/usPFWd9fS3
– Carlos Montero (@CMonteroOficial) September 26, 2025
The incident, which occurred on Thursday, September 25 and was captured on video, took place in a federal building in Manhattan where ICE offices and the Immigration Court are located.
In the video, which circulated on social networks, the plainclothes officer can be seen violently throwing a crying woman to the ground and begging him in Spanish not to arrest her husband.
In the images you can hear how, after the altercation, the officer tells him in Spanish “adiós” (goodbye) repeatedly.
Following the posting of the video on the networks, the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, under which ICE operates, Tricia McLaughlin, criticized the agent’s “unacceptable” conduct.
McLaughlin then asserted that ICE law enforcement conforms to the “most professional” standards and that the agent shown in the video had been “relieved of his duties.”
On Monday, September 29, ICE identified the woman’s husband as Ruben Abelardo Ortiz Lopez, who it said crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in March 2024.
He also indicated that he was wanted after being arrested in June by local authorities for “assault and criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation,” CBS further notes.
The agency added that his wife also does not have legal status in the U.S. and faces deportation proceedings.
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security has confirmed or denied that the agent returned to work.
Aseguran que el agente de ICE fue autorizado a reincorporarse tras una revisión preliminar del incidente
CBS News
With information from EFE
