Rep. Jerry Nadler's aide handcuffed while observing agents brutally detaining migrants
New York, New York - An aide to Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler found herself in handcuffs after federal agents detaining people outside an immigration courtroom barged into his office.
Federal agents on Wednesday entered Nadler's office in Lower Manhattan and confronted an aide, who has not been identified, briefly handcuffing and detaining her in an incident that was captured in a shocking video.
The newly-surfaced footage seems to have been recorded by someone sitting in the waiting room of Nadler's office – which is in the same Lower Manhattan building as the immigration courtroom.
Officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are seen grabbing and cuffing a woman in a white jacket as staff argue with agents.
"You're harboring rioters in the office," one agent can be heard saying, as the detained aide cries out in the background.
Per the New York Times, the DHS said it entered Nadler's office out of concern for his staff, since protestors demonstrating against the Trump administration's mass deportation program were present in the building.
It said "one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office," which led to her detention.
But Nadler and his staff rejected that story, claiming instead that agents were annoyed that the representative's team were observing them detaining people outside the courtroom – a tactic employed frequently in President Donald Trump's all-out war on immigrants' rights.
"I am alarmed by the aggressive and heavy-handed tactics DHS is employing," Nadler said in a statement. "If this can happen in a Member of Congress's office, it can happen to anyone."
"I call on President Trump and DHS to halt the use of these dangerous tactics and to abandon use of the expedited removal process which denies due process to immigrants and citizens alike."
Cover photo: IMAGO / UPI Photo