Rubén Abelardo Ortiz López was arrested by federal immigration agents outside his hearing at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City. His wife, Monica Moreta Galarza, was thrown to the ground by an officer as she tried to stay with him, an incident that went viral and led to the officer being temporarily suspended. The government said Ortiz López had entered the country without authorization in March 2024 and had been arrested that June on an assault charge, defending the arrest as targeting a violent individual. Moreta Galarza, who said she fled hardship in Ecuador, said the officers "treated us like animals" and that the experience echoed the injustices she thought she had escaped.