House Democrats announced on Wednesday the opening of an investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who held a Virginia mother at gunpoint, accusing her of attempting to run officers over.
Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), James Walkinshaw (D-VA) and their colleagues met with the woman, Carolina Molina, on Capitol Hill following an incident involving ICE in Falls Church, Virginia.
“What happened to Carolina Molina cannot be dismissed as an ordinary interaction between ICE and a member of the public,” the members wrote in a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche.
House oversight committee Robert Garcia (D-CA), House Judiciary Committee Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and House Homeland Security Committee Bennie Thompson (D-MS), all ranking members on their respective committees, also signed on to the letter calling for an investigation into the incident.
The situation unfolded on Aug. 10 when Molina was visiting with immigration lawyers, as she is a licensed counselor who assists with immigration cases. While driving through a business complex, Molina saw ICE officers arresting two men.
Molina then yelled profanities at the officers before driving off. Dashboard camera footage posted to social media by Molina shows her driving through the parking lot when two vehicles block her in, and a masked officer approaches her.
The officer has his gun drawn and accuses Molina of following them and attempting to run the officers over, captured in a video recorded by Molina. Molina denies the officer’s claim, and the officer then threatens to arrest her. Molina informs the five officers outside her vehicle that she is a U.S. citizen.
Following the incident, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement calling Molina an “anti-ICE agitator” and alleging she “weaponized” her vehicle against the officers.
“This dangerous and dishonest nonsense unfortunately matches what we’ve seen from ICE not just in Virginia, but across the country,” Beyer said at a press conference with Molina at his side, claiming that there has been a string of incidents in which ICE officers were captured displaying aggressive behavior. “We want these agents off our streets and out of our communities.”
In the letter, the Democrats note that ICE’s response is similar to previous incidents that have garnered media attention of officers yelling at, injuring, or even shooting individuals, such as in the killings of Ruben Ray Martinez, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
“The similarities suggest that Department personnel are intentionally, nefariously, and systematically engaging in illegal intimidation and violence against American citizens under cover of false claims of danger,” the letter reads.
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The group of Democrats requested a civil rights investigation be opened into the incident involving Molina and requested DHS put the officers involved on administrative leave.
The Washington Examiner reached out to DHS for comment.