Americans Under Attack: A Rising Number of U.S. Citizens Are Being Wrongfully Detained in Trump’s Deportation Crackdown

Washington, D.C. — Trump’s mass deportation agenda has descended into chaos, as new research from ProPublica reveals more than 170 documented cases of U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents during the first nine months of Trump’s second term – and the true number is likely far higher, since the federal government refuses to track these violations.

Immigration agents have detained U.S. citizens outside their workplaces, at flea markets and at gas stations. At least three pregnant women have been detained, one man was tased in the face, and nearly 20 U.S. children have been detained – two of whom have cancer.

The dragnet is making us all less safe – and the American people know it. Trump’s mass deportation agenda is becoming increasingly unpopular – as polling shows ICE favorability plummeting, making it one of the least-trusted federal agencies.

As Republican leadership continues to feign ignorance about the ensnaring of U.S. citizens, the stories of Americans caught in Trump’s deportation machine tell the true story – one of violence, constitutional violations, and families torn apart.

Below are just 20 of the hundreds of examples of U.S. citizens across the nation wrongfully detained during Trump’s ruthless deportation agenda:

• Marimar Martinez – A U.S. citizen shot five times by Border Patrol agents in Brighton Park, Chicago. Body-camera footage shows an officer saying “Do something, b—-” before pulling over and shooting Martinez, contradicting government claims that she drove toward officers.

• Jackie Merlos and Her Four U.S. Citizen Children – An immigrant mother and her four U.S. citizen children went missing after visiting Peace Arch Park along the U.S.-Canada border. The Trump administration took 12 days to disclose the family’s location. The children were released four days later from conditions that witnesses described in a congressional hearing as “psychological torture.”

• Sabrina Medina – A 28-year-old pregnant U.S. citizen arrested by ICE agents searching for her undocumented husband in Huntington Park, California. Federal agents blew the front door off her home during the raid.
• Medina: “They’re stalking me”

• U.S. Citizen Family in Oklahoma City – A U.S. citizen mother and her three daughters had their home raided by approximately 20 armed federal agents in the middle of the night. The search warrant was for previous residents. Agents confiscated their phones, laptops, and all their cash savings, ordering them outside in the rain in their undergarments.
• Mother: “We’re citizens. That’s what I kept saying. We’re citizens. They were very dismissive, very rough, very careless.”

• Luis Hipolito and Andrea Velez – Two U.S. citizens detained during the same downtown Los Angeles sweep. Hipolito, 23, was tackled and held by four masked, plainclothes agents, with one agent’s arm around his neck as he struggled to breathe for more than two minutes. After being pulled up, his body shook violently in what appeared to be a seizure. Velez, 32, a Cal Poly Pomona graduate, was carried to an SUV with her knees tucked to her chest and held for two days without water for 24 hours.
• Velez: “They didn’t identify themselves. I was just going to work, and everything happened so fast.”

• Rafie Shouhed – A 79-year-old U.S. citizen from Los Angeles, California, who was slammed to the ground by ICE agents.

• Edgar Ruiz – A U.S. citizen, his U.S. citizen brother, and his undocumented father were detained in Chicago, Illinois. Ruiz was tased in the face by ICE agents.

• Juan Ramirez Diaz – A U.S. citizen detained in Oxnard, California, after recording federal immigration agents arresting his father. Ramirez Diaz was tased while filming and taken into custody alongside his father.

• Rob Potylo – A U.S. citizen who was detained while protesting by ICE in Portland, Oregon. He was shot repeatedly in the chest with pepper-spray balls by Department of Homeland Security rooftop snipers.

• Three Teenage U.S. Citizens in Hoffman Estates – Three teenage U.S. citizens detained for hours in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, after one was thrown to the ground by what appeared to be a federal agent. Despite telling agents they were U.S. citizens, they were held before being released.
• Parent: “They were telling them they were U.S. citizens, and they didn’t care. It was very scary to see that video.”

• 15-Year-Old U.S. Citizen – A teenage U.S. citizen detained by Customs and Border Protection agents in Chicago, Illinois, and held for five hours in a federal facility garage.
• Attorney Antonio M. Romanucci: “This is not law enforcement; this is the playbook of authoritarian regimes.”

• Warren King – A 19-year-old American citizen was tackled and arrested in Chicago, Illinois by immigration officers inside a Walgreens while shopping with friends and family. Agents appeared to be in search of somebody else.
• King’s relative: “He’s a citizen! He’s a citizen!”

• Isaias Pena Salcedo – A U.S. citizen – and aspiring U.S. Marine – detained during an immigration raid in Bell, California while monitoring and protesting the operation.
• Pena Salcedo: “I just felt people grabbing me and yanking me from all sides. I didn’t even have a chance to think or speak or nothing. I gave them my passport, but they didn’t care.”

• Frank Miranda – A U.S. citizen detained by plainclothes officers in Portland, Oregon and held at the city’s ICE building for hours. Masked officers did not identify themselves and told Miranda he was “on an overstay.”
• Miranda: “What do you mean, overstay? I don’t know what that is.”

• Unnamed U.S. Citizen – A Chicago resident detained by immigration enforcement officers during a late-night encounter at his home around 10:30 p.m. He told journalist Don Lemon that agents treated him more harshly than officers had during a previous incarceration at Cook County Jail.

• Maria Greeley – A 44-year-old U.S. citizen detained by federal immigration agents in Chicago despite carrying documentation proving her citizenship. Agents restrained her hands behind her back with zip ties and questioned her for about an hour outside her workplace.

• Dariana Fajardo – A 23-year-old U.S. citizen pulled from her car by Border Patrol agents in Waukegan, Illinois. The mayor stepped in to help secure her release. Fajardo said she felt targeted because of the Mexican flag on the hood of her car.

• Leo Martinez – U.S. citizen volunteer activist with VC Defensa who monitors immigration enforcement activity in Ventura County, California. ICE agents rammed Martinez’s truck while he was observing their operation, then detained him for several hours at the federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles.

• Debbie Brockman – A producer for Chicago television station WGN-TV violently apprehended by border patrol agents. DHS stated she was arrested for assaulting a federal law enforcement officer, but filed no charges. Witnesses reported agents appeared to be targeting men working on a nearby property.

• Miguel Angel Ponce Jr. – A U.S. citizen born in College Station, Texas, detained by ICE on his way to work in Houston after being mistakenly identified as a wanted violent offender. Ponce was handcuffed and held for up to two hours despite repeatedly insisting he was a U.S. citizen. After agents finally acknowledged their error, they suggested he shave his beard to avoid being confused for the suspect again.
• Ponce: “I’ll never shave my beard, that was disrespectful, the audacity.”