What Happened: A congressional investigation out today has found that, contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, immigration agents have frequently detained and mistreated U.S. citizens.
The report by Senate Democrats, which was prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, included interviews with nearly two dozen Americans.
Citizens told congressional investigators that immigration officers had dragged them from cars, detained them for days, fabricated claims of assault, routinely used excessive force and denied medical care.
The investigation also found that agents “treated children with reckless disregard for their safety and wellbeing.”
One citizen recalled that federal agents pointed guns at her youngest children, ages 6 and 8, and dragged her 14-year-old daughter out of a pickup and zip-tied her.
The citizen, Anabel Romero, told investigators that an agent threatened to “fucking blow your head off” during the chaotic raid at a rural Idaho racetrack. Romero also said agents “wouldn’t let people get diapers or food for their kids.”
Romero and her children were born in Idaho.
Five other citizens are giving their accounts publicly Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
What They Said: The citizens’ accounts paint a dire picture, the senator behind the report told ProPublica in an interview.
“What most struck me is the brutality and physical violence involved in every story,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “This is stuff that should be unrecognizable as America. It should make everyday Americans outraged that their fellow citizens could be treated this way.”
Background: ProPublica reported in October that agents have detained more than 170 Americans this year. More than 20 citizens said they were held for at least a day without being able to contact a lawyer or their loved ones. We also found that nearly 20 American children were detained. Four were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to a lawyer.
Why it Matters: The government does not track the number of Americans wrongly detained by immigration agents. The Trump administration in turn has denied that it happens. “No American citizens have been arrested or detained,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last month.
The citizens’ firsthand accounts in the congressional report show that is not true.
The issue is all the more critical since the Supreme Court issued a temporary order this fall allowing immigration agents in the Los Angeles area to stop civilians without clear cause.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued that citizens had no reason to worry. “If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen,” Kavanaugh wrote, “they promptly let the individual go.”
The congressional investigation found that one citizen was actually held for four days.
Response: In response to ProPublica’s request for comment about the report, DHS again denied targeting Americans. “We don’t arrest US citizens for immigration enforcement,” wrote an agency spokesperson.
