City Comptroller Brad Lander and U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman are demanding an oversight inquiry into Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem after she reinstated the ICE supervisor who was caught on video shoving a mother to the ground at 26 Federal Plaza last week.
The two Democratic pols are fuming after it became clear that the infamous ICE agent involved in the viral shoving of an Ecuadorian mother in the hallway of immigration court would be returning to work.
In a statement issued on Sept. 26, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed that the fed in question would be suspended pending an investigation.
“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,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
That investigation proved to be short-lived, however, after news broke Monday evening that the agent in question had been reinstated, and was back on the job at 26 Federal Plaza — where for months, ICE agents have seized immigrants attending court-mandated hearings.
Lander and Goldman said Noem has explaining to do as to why the ICE supervisor, who still has not been publicly identified, was brought back on duty so quickly after he was purportedly suspended.
“With yesterday’s reinstatement of an ICE agent who violently threw a bereft woman to the floor and today’s assault on members of the press, it’s back to business as usual for the Trump Administration — because, after all, the cruelty is the point,” Lander said on Sept. 30. “These heinous actions cannot go unanswered, which is why I am demanding answers from Secretary Noem and the Department of Homeland Security on the conduct of ICE agents and their use of excessive force.”
The officials also alleged that ICE is hiring agents with little experience or expertise and without proper training. They are also critiquing Noem for not publicly releasing the findings of the DHS investigation into the shoving incident.
“The Department’s decision to reinstate this officer is outrageous, especially in light of their own acknowledgement last week that his conduct was unacceptable,” Goldman said. “This officer deserves criminal investigation, not a paycheck from the taxpayers, and it has become clear that giving him a pass for this behavior is incentivizing other rank and file agents to commit violence against civilians.”
The announcement from Lander and Goldman came hours after masked ICE agents accosted members of the press documenting an arrest at 26 Federal Plaza.
