That video makes me laugh every time I watch it. It is not as if the cat ‘surprise attacked’ him, the cat made it very clear that it was not happy, felt threatened, and was about to strike out. I am an animal person and I know from experience that when you fail to listen to the animals you do so at your peril.
There were two holding signs that seemed to indicate just that. One was “I might be Illegal ... but I am not a criminal” and the other said “Undocumented and Unafraid”. (you can head to the source to see them).