A video circulating on social media shows a woman being aggressively detained by two federal agents just north of Harrisonburg last Monday. Listeners should be advised that this report contains distressing audio. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The video begins with a view out of the back window of a stopped vehicle. A woman with her back to the car is speaking with an officer wearing a dark green vest that reads "police" on the front. He quickly reaches towards her, she leans back out of sight of the camera, and an impact can be heard on the outside of the vehicle. The person filming starts screaming.
PASSENGER: Mama! Ma! Ma!
The woman starts opening the driver's side door before another officer hits her arm down. The passenger gets out of the car, and the second officer holds up a hand as she comes around the front of the vehicle. The woman is now lying face down in the northbound travel lane of Route 11, with the first officer kneeling overtop of her, restraining her hands behind her back. A pickup truck goes around them in the middle lane.
Commercial and residential buildings in the background match those in the 2800 block of North Valley Pike in Rockingham County.
WMRA is withholding the woman’s name to protect her privacy. We contacted the woman's sister, who declined an interview but said the woman has a work permit and a pending application for a "U" visa, which is given to victims of certain crimes. She also said the passenger was the woman's 16-year-old daughter, whom the ICE officers left on the side of the road.
A representative at the Rockingham Harrisonburg Regional Jail confirmed that the woman was incarcerated there as of Tuesday, saying "we're just holding her for a courtesy for an ICE hold." The Virginia court database shows a 2017 misdemeanor conviction for driving without a license, but no current charges against her.
WMRA reached out to the regional ICE spokesman on Tuesday evening for more information and has not heard back.
The family has started an online fundraiser for the woman's legal fees and other expenses here.
