Man in MAGA hat accused of pushing immigrant onto subway tracks charged with hate crime

A man wearing President Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” hat who was arrested for allegedly pushing an immigrant man onto the subway tracks in New York City was charged with a hate crime on Wednesday.

The man, William Ames, made derogatory remarks about Mexican-Americans at Union Square last month, getting into a heated argument with two men, BuzzFeed News reported.

“I don’t know why he targeted me. He started yelling that I was there to take his job and that we bring drugs here,” the victim, identified by the press as Luis Lopez, told the New York Daily News.

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Ames then reportedly dragged Lopez off the train, struck him three times on the subway platform and then knocked him onto the tracks.

Lopez’s friend managed to get him back onto the platform.

Ames fled the scene and got on another train after the incident but was later identified by surveillance video, according to the police.

Ames was charged with attempted assault in the first and third degrees as hate crimes, assault in the second and third degrees as hate crimes and aggravated harassment, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance.

“This defendant’s attacks on two New Yorkers were attacks on all New Yorkers, as alleged in the indictment,” Vance said in a statement obtained by BuzzFeed News. “Willie Ames is charged with selectively ambushing two young men on their way home from work for no other reason than their perceived nationality.”

Vance also noted that the First Amendment allows “bigots to spew hateful, fearful, anti-immigrant rhetoric on television and Twitter” but doesn’t allow acts of violence.