Virginia Woman Says ICE Agent Pointed Gun at Her Head
Carolina Molina, 36, said she shouted an insult at a federal immigration agent in Falls Church before he blocked her car and drew a firearm; DHS says she tried to use her vehicle to harm officers.
A Virginia woman said Wednesday that a federal immigration agent pointed a firearm at her head during an encounter in Falls Church earlier in the week, and she denied the government's claim that she tried to run agents down.
Carolina Molina, 36, said at a press conference organized by immigrant advocacy groups that she was visiting local law offices to network and drop off business cards when she noticed unmarked vehicles and federal agents making arrests.
Molina said she drove past an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and shouted an insult out her window.
"I do feel as an American citizen, I have a right to my First Amendment," she said.
According to Molina, an ICE agent then blocked her vehicle, got out of his car and pointed a gun at her head while demanding to know why she was "following them around." She said she was simply trying to leave and continue distributing business cards.
Molina said the encounter shifted when she took out her cell phone to record it.
"That is when it feels like the situation changed," she said. "It feels like then he started planting the seed of, 'You are trying to run us over. She was trying to run us over,' etc., etc. And that is not the case."
She said she was "shocked" to see the agent draw his weapon. "I said, 'Are you really?' Meaning, like, are you really doing this? Like, I can't really believe it, and that's where things went."
In a statement to ABC News, the Department of Homeland Security said Molina "began to drive her car in circles around our ICE officers and then attempted to harm officers by weaponizing her vehicle against them — all in an attempt to help illegal aliens get away."
"Fearing for their safety, ICE officers conducted a vehicle stop of the driver," the DHS spokesperson said. "Necessary background information of the driver was taken and she could face criminal prosecution as a result of her actions."
Molina has not been charged, according to the account given at the press conference. The competing descriptions of the encounter have not been resolved publicly.
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