A confrontation involving two 17-year-old U.S. citizens and federal immigration agents in Alamo, Texas, has ignited a fierce political and media debate after video surfaced appearing to show one teenager being forcibly removed from a vehicle and struck on the ground.
The teenagers reportedly told reporters they were on their way to submit paperwork connected to plans to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps when they stopped near Santos Livas Elementary School, where ICE agents were conducting an enforcement operation.
But while the footage has generated immediate outrage, important questions about what happened immediately before the confrontation remain unanswered.
According to reporting from Telemundo, later picked up by outlets including The New Republic and The Daily Beast, the teenagers had stopped to record the federal operation near the school. The incident reportedly occurred last week in Alamo, a city in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.
