A federal agent pushes the wife of the detained man from Ecuador to the ground on September 25, 2025 in New York City.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
In the span of less than 72 hours, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Victor Mojica went from being widely vilified and placed on administrative leave — to being returned right back to his old job.
On a Friday in September, Mojica was caught on several cameras roughly pushing a woman into the hallway and then to the ground, as the woman screamed.
The incident at an immigration court in New York rapidly circulated online and prompted the Homeland Security Department to place Mojica on administrative leave – a rare instance of such leave being publicly announced.
By the following Monday, Mojica was back on the job, without any further explanation from the agency.
NPR has now learned that he returned to work before the Homeland Security Department’s internal watchdog had concluded a review into his behavior. The DHS Office of Inspector General ultimately decided — nearly two months later — that the incident did not merit a criminal probe.
The disclosure of the probe raises questions about the adequacy of DHS oversight mechanisms to investigate employee misconduct. It comes as the department has gutted some internal oversight agencies and faces consistent pressure from Trump officials to ramp up deportations.
Critics of the administration, and former ICE personnel, also worry the lack of transparency about DHS’s disciplinary practices can further erode trust in federal law enforcement.
“That’s the scary part, that this is just one small case of a larger systemic issue of how law enforcement is being hyper-politicized,” said Jason Houser, former ICE chief of staff under President Biden. He said the incident adds to the negative view of ICE officers.
DHS has not responded to NPR’s questions about its investigation process and procedures.
When Mojica was first suspended, DHS issued a statement that criticized his behavior.
“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of media affairs at DHS, said at the time. “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.”
NPR had also documented this officer’s previous use of force while on the job.
But a few days later, Mojica returned to “full active duty” at ICE, according to media reports at the time. The news was re-shared on social media by Trump advisers, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, seen as one of the architects of Trump’s aggressive immigration policy. No further explanation was provided.