ICE, CBP and Border Patrol agents carried out a tense operation in the Florida Keys that ended with the arrest of an American womandespite the fact that she repeatedly shouted that she was a citizen. The incident, captured on video by a Miami Herald reporter, shows the moment the feds forcibly remove her from a white Toyota Corolla and force her to the ground before handcuffing her.
“I’m an American citizen, please help me! This is unfair. Why are you doing this to me?” the woman is heard saying, visibly desperate, while several agents surround the vehicle. Minutes later, and after reviewing the driver’s license that remained inside the car, the officers confirmed that she was indeed a citizen and released her without pressing charges.
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the woman refused to roll down her window or identify herself during the traffic stop. A spokesperson further indicated that the car she was driving was registered to an “undocumented alien” and that she ignored “repeated lawful orders” to cooperate with agents.
However, the agency avoided explaining under what criteria they were stopping vehicles that day. “We cannot go into details about what we are going to look for,” was the only response to questions about the operation.
The intervention was part of a larger deployment that, according to authorities, remained active between 7:00 am and 11:00 am in the area of Rowell’s Waterfront Park, near mile marker 104.5. Drivers passing through the area reported delays and indicated that the agents asked to move forward without stopping when the lines grew due to onlookers who slowed down.
The incident occurs amid a notable increase in immigration enforcement in the Keyswhere several raids have been carried out in recent days. This week alone, fourteen “undocumented aliens” were arrested, some with criminal records for domestic violence, assault, illegal carrying of weapons, and illegal re-entry into the country, according to CBP.
Even so, the Federal authorities have not offered a clear explanation as to why a US citizen ended up on the pavementhandcuffed and temporarily detained during an operation that, in principle, searched for immigrants with arrest warrants or criminal records.
What they do recognize is that these deployments have intensified since the tightening of immigration policies under the Trump administration, and that the Key Largo area has recently become an “area of interest,” where operations will continue in the coming weeks.
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