A woman in medical uniform, forcibly detained by federal agents in Key Largo during a immigration checkpoint in the Florida Keys, claimed that she obeyed the officers' orders at all times and that the version initially spread by federal authorities — stating that she refused to lower her window and provide her license — is “completely false.”
In a statement to the Miami Herald, the woman, a U.S. citizen, claimed that she rolled down the window “as soon as” they stopped her and that the video of the incident itself shows she complied from the beginning.
The incident occurred around 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday, December 3, in the southbound lanes of US-1, in front of the Pink Plaza shopping center (mile marker 103.4) in Key Largo.
A reporter from the Miami Herald filmed the moment a federal agent forcibly removed the woman from her white Toyota Corolla, while agents from ICE, CBP, and the Border Patrol could be seen present.
The woman, described as a behavioral therapist and of short stature, said she was on her way to work when masked individuals surrounded her vehicle, threatened to break her window, and then opened the door "without her consent" before dragging her out of the car.
According to her testimony, the encounter escalated quickly: she stated that they snatched the phone from her hand, took her to a grassy area, and threw her to the ground before handcuffing her, while she screamed for help and repeated that she was a U.S. citizen.
The woman stated that the agents did not identify themselves at any point, which heightened her fear and confusion, and she said that she panicked when surrounded by men with covered faces, in a context where—she explained—she has seen cases of people impersonating law enforcement agents.
The Miami Herald notes that it does not publish the woman's name for privacy reasons, but asserts that it has independently verified and confirmed that she is the person recorded in the video and detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the air and marine division of CBP in Key Largo.
In her statement, the woman claimed that this was the third time she had been detained in that same area for an "immigration inspection," although she emphasized that Wednesday was different due to the use of force and what she considers an unjustified escalation.
The initial official version, cited by the media, was provided on the same Wednesday by a CBP spokesperson, who stated that the woman initially refused to roll down the window and, after doing so, refused to hand over her driver's license.
When the Herald inquired with CBP on Friday about the detainee's account, a spokesperson declined to comment.
The woman, for her part, said that while she was searching for her identification, she was threatened and pulled out of the car before she could hand it over, and that she was then placed in an unmarked Ford truck while the agents searched her belongings—including her purse—without her consent, until they found her license; after verifying her citizenship, they released her.
The case reignited the legal debate over the limits of immigration controls in areas near the border.
The immigration attorney Magdalena Cuprys stated to the Miami Herald that, although within a 100-mile radius of the border agents may request documents of citizenship or legal status, this does not give them the right to search the car or bag without a warrant or probable cause, describing the reported incidents as a possible "unreasonable search and seizure" under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
In an additional statement, the woman's sister described the incident as a “kidnapping” and a “complete violation of human rights and dignity,” noting that her relative has experienced panic attacks, ongoing fear, and physical repercussions following the detention.
The woman agreed on that impact: she said that since then she has been unable to sleep, that her arms and body hurt from the way she was treated, and that she continues to relive the episode, while insisting that she refuses to allow her rights to be violated or her dignity to be taken away.
CBP announced in a statement that its agents arrested 14 undocumented immigrants during the operation on Wednesday in the Keys, and reminded that a previous operation at the beginning of the month resulted in 12 arrests.
Meanwhile, the woman's testimony —along with the widely circulated video— has fueled public outrage and raised questions about identification protocols, the use of force, and the treatment of individuals claiming to be U.S. citizens during these stops.
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