An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent has been reinstated, days after he was suspended over a widely publicized incident outside a New York City court.
As reported by CBS News, the ICE agent has returned to duty after a preliminary review of the matter.
The agent was filmed shoving a distraught Ecuadoran woman to the ground as she struggled to block her husband's arrest.
Videos of the confrontation went viral on social media, as critics used the footage to assail Trump's immigration crackdown as cruel and excessive.
The Department of Homeland Security initially relieved the agent of duty, saying his behavior was "unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE," but the administration has apparently reversed course after an investigation.
The woman's husband, Ruben Abelardo Ortiz-Lopez, is a "criminal illegal alien" who ICE became aware of after he was arrested for "assault and criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation," officials told CBS News.
"President Trump and Secretary Noem are not going to allow criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens," a DHS official said. "If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will arrest you and you will never return."
Ortiz-Lopez was arrested after a scuffle outside the immigration court at the 26 Federal Plaza building in New York. The man's family clung to him as ICE struggled to detain him in a hallway.
The man's wife continued to confront ICE after he was taken away. In one video of the incident, the woman is seen telling an agent to "take me too" in Spanish.
The woman is seen touching the agent, who tells her to stop before pushing her to the floor moments later.
The confrontation sparked debate, with some condemning the officer's response as excessive, while others said the woman instigated the conflict.
The woman and her husband are both living in the United States illegally.
Democrats have made resisting immigration enforcement a focus of their opposition to President Trump's agenda, as Trump ramps up arrests of illegal immigrants at courthouses, worksites, and other target-rich locations.
The aggressive approach has sparked backlash, even as Democrats continue to use rhetoric toward ICE agents that many consider extreme.
Republicans have blamed the left for a recent deadly attack at an ICE facility in Texas, where two detainees were killed by an anti-ICE sniper.
