(CNN) — A confrontation captured on video between a woman who shouted insults at Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting immigration enforcement action in Northern Virginia escalated when one of the officers pointed a gun at her on Monday.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson described the woman in a statement as “an anti-ICE agitator” who drove 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.”
The woman, Carolina Molina, told CNN affiliate WUSA that she is a licensed counselor who was on her way to meet immigration lawyers in Bailey’s Crossroads when she said she saw the ICE agents handcuff two Latino men and escort them to an unmarked vehicle. The encounter is not visible on camera.
She also shared her account at a late afternoon news conference Wednesday.
“So, I rolled down my window and was like, ‘you guys are messed up,’” Molina told WUSA.
Molina said that she saw more agents as she continued to the attorney’s office.
Video from her dashboard camera shows she yelled, “You’re a hoe” and “you’re f**ked up” to the agents.
According to a post on Instagram where Molina shared the dash cam footage, she turned her car around to avoid drawing attention to the attorney’s office “where possibly immigrants could be.”
That’s when masked federal agents pulled up in a gray SUV in front of her and jumped out, with one shouting “are you following us?” and saying she “almost ran us over,” according to the dashcam footage and video Molina shot on her phone.
One of the agents threatened to arrest Molina and pointed a gun in her direction. The gun was out for much of the encounter, according to the video footage.
“I’m a legal citizen,” Molina responded, adding, “Run you over when? I got recording! I got dashcam! I got dashcam! That’s a lie … I never tried to run you over.”
The agents eventually returned to their vehicles and drove away.
DHS said in the statement to CNN that the agents were conducting an “operation targeting criminal illegal aliens, whose crimes included a hit and run and drug trafficking, and illegal aliens with final orders of removal.”
The agency also said the woman was trying “to help illegal aliens get away” and “could face criminal prosecution as a result of her actions.”
“Our officers are experiencing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats. When faced with dangerous circumstances, DHS law enforcement used their training to protect themselves, their fellow officers, and the public,” the DHS spokesperson said in the statement.
The confrontation is the latest incident in recent months in which DHS has made claims that were later called into question by video, other evidence, local police and/or judges. Its legal cases against people it accused of targeting federal agents have repeatedly fallen apart.
Molina denied DHS’ account of the incident.
“One thing I’m not is a liar,” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post sharing her dash cam video.
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, whose district includes Bailey’s Crossroads, just outside Arlington, said he has been in touch with Molina, whom he described as “a North Virginia native and a mother,” in a post on X.
He called for answers and accountability about the incident.
“While I am relieved that she is safe, the habitual dishonesty and dangerous and unjustified escalation seen in this video matches what we have seen from ICE agents across the country. This kind of misconduct and threat of force against members of our communities cannot be tolerated,” Beyer said on X.
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