New York, Chicago, Boston — A series of violent encounters between U.S. immigration officers and civilians in major cities this week has heightened tensions over President Donald Trump’s escalating immigration enforcement campaign.
On Thursday, video published by ProPublica showed an immigration officer in a New York City courthouse charging at and shoving Ecuadorian asylum-seeker Monica Moreta-Galarza to the floor as she pleaded with agents not to take her husband away. The incident drew rare public condemnation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Friday, adding that the officer had been relieved of duty pending investigation.
In Massachusetts the following day, immigrant-rights advocate Milagros Barreto said she witnessed federal agents pull a Guatemalan woman—identified only as Hilda—to the ground during an arrest in Chelsea. Barreto said the woman, a legal permanent resident, suffered shoulder abrasions and aggravated a prior back injury before being taken to the hospital. Reuters photographs from the scene showed the woman pinned face-down as her young son cried nearby. DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) declined immediate comment.
Chicago Confrontation
Also on Friday, demonstrations outside a detention center in suburban Broadview, Illinois, turned violent. According to witnesses, heavily armed ICE agents deployed tear gas, flash-bang grenades, pepper-ball rounds, and “less-lethal” munitions against protesters calling for the facility’s closure.
“People were peacefully standing behind the fence and for absolutely no reason, pepper balls were fired,” said Reverend Beth Brown of Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, describing the scene as agents patrolled the rooftop and helicopters hovered overhead.
DHS, however, said “over 200 rioters” had blocked access to one gate and that another group attempted to breach the property.
Intensifying Enforcement
The confrontations come days after a shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas left one detainee dead and two others critically injured. Authorities said the assailant intended to “terrorize” federal agents.
President Trump, who has pledged record deportations, has framed the crackdown as a law-and-order measure targeting criminals. But advocacy groups note that many arrests involve individuals with no criminal history. Some Hispanic residents allege they are being singled out solely for their appearance—claims the administration rejects.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court lifted an injunction that had restricted ICE from stopping individuals in Los Angeles based solely on ethnicity, language, or other factors, further emboldening federal operations.
Growing Backlash
Democratic officials and immigrant-rights organizations continue to push back. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation barring ICE agents from wearing masks, arguing that concealed identities reduce accountability. Trump officials counter that anonymity is necessary to protect officers from retaliation.
Meanwhile, grief is spilling beyond U.S. borders. In Michoacán, Mexico, the funeral of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez was scheduled Friday. Gonzalez was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier this month during a traffic stop in a Chicago suburb. Body-camera footage captured the agent saying his injuries were “nothing major,” despite DHS claims that the officer feared for his life.
With street protests growing in Democratic-leaning cities and federal enforcement intensifying, the standoffs underscore the deepening divide over immigration in America.
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