Exclusive: Woman detained by feds in Keys says she was following agents’ orders
The woman in medical scrubs who was forcibly yanked from her car while on her way to work in Key Largo, screaming she was a U.S. citizen, said Friday she had obeyed the federal agents’ commands to roll down her window and the story immigration officials told was “completely false.”
“To clarify, I did roll down my window the moment they pulled me over, and any claim saying that I refused to do so is completely false,” the woman wrote in a detailed statement about the incident to the Miami Herald. “In the video of the incident, you can clearly see my windows rolled down as they opened my door, which further proves that I complied from the start.”
The woman, who is a behavioral therapist and was dressed in green medical scrubs, was on her way to work when the masked agents dragged her from her car at about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday. They had pulled her over to the southbound lanes of U.S. 1 in front of the Pink Plaza shopping center at mile marker 103.4 in Key Largo.
She is just shy of 5 feet tall and weighs 85 pounds, she said.
READ MORE: ‘I’m a U.S. citizen.’ Agents pull woman from car in Keys. Feds said she wouldn’t show ID
“Before I could even reach for my driver’s license, the individuals surrounding my vehicle threatened to break my window, creating fear and pressure instead of allowing me a moment to comply. Their tone and actions made it extremely difficult to remain calm or feel safe.”
The Herald is not publishing the woman’s name over concerns about her privacy. The Herald independently verified her name and that she is the woman who was pulled over by agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and CBP’s Air and Marine Operations in Key Largo.
Her statement is the first time she told her version of the incident, which has gained international attention and outrage after the Herald posted its video from the scene on its website.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Patrol told a Miami Herald reporter on Wednesday that the woman had refused to roll down her window initially, and after she did, refused to hand over her driver’s license. The Herald reporter was on the scene and filmed the incident.
When asked about the woman’s version of events Friday, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson declined to comment.
She says she’s been stopped twice before for immigration inspections in the same area; federal agents have ratcheted up immigration traffic stops in the Key Largo area over the past few weeks.
But on Wednesday it was different. The agents yanked her from her white Toyota and threatened to break her window while she was reaching for her license, she said. The agents then hoisted her up, carried her over to a grassy area and wrestled her to the ground while she kicked and screamed and was later handcuffed.
‘Snatched my phone from my hand’
“I’m a U.S. citizen. Please help me! This is unfair. Why are you doing this to me?” she yelled as passing drivers watched.
“From the very beginning of the encounter, there was clear intimidation,” the healthcare worker wrote.
She says that the agents were masked and never identified themselves, heightening her “fear, confusion and sense of danger.”
She rolled down her window, and was intending to comply, but the agents unlocked her car door and yanked her out of the car while she was reaching for her license, according to the statement.
They “dragged me out of my vehicle aggressively, snatched my phone from my hand, and handcuffed me,” she wrote.
READ MORE: After Key Largo detainment, experts weigh in on what to do during an immigration stop
“Being surrounded by masked, unidentified men was terrifying. I have seen many incidents online of people impersonating law enforcement, and in that moment, I panicked. My body began shaking, and I went into severe anxiety and possibly a panic attack, genuinely afraid for my safety,” she wrote.
She was detained in an unmarked Ford SUV and watched as the agents looked through her belongings, including her purse, which she says she did not consent to, until they found her license. Once they verified she was a U.S. citizen, they released her.
‘Unreasonable search and seizure’: attorney
“None of that is legal,” said Magdalena Cuprys, a South Florida immigration attorney, after a Herald reporter recounted the woman’s testimony. “If you’re within 100 miles of a border, which in theory in the Keys you are, they do have a right to ask you for citizenship documents or for legal status, but they still don’t have a right to go into your car, into your purse. That’s an unreasonable search and seizure.”
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says a search warrant is needed, based on probable cause, to search a person, their house or their documents.
The woman’s sister, who also shared a statement with the Herald, called the incident “a complete overstepping on human rights and dignity.”
Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that agents arrested 14 undocumented immigrants during Wednesday’s operation. The agency announced last week that a previous operation in the Keys conducted earlier in the month resulted in the arrest of 12 people.
In the days following the event, the woman says she hasn’t been able to sleep, is in physical pain from the way she was handled by the agents, and keeps reliving what happened.
“The way I was treated left me feeling traumatized, humiliated, degraded, and unheard,” she wrote.
“I want to make something absolutely clear: This is not the America that I grew up in, and this is not the America that we represent. I refuse to allow anyone — identified or not— to violate my rights or strip away my dignity.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM.
