ICE's Detention of US Citizens Violates the Constitution

The following is a summary of an article from the LA Times. Read the original article here.

Dayanne Figueroa was driving to work in Chicago last month when she unknowingly turned onto a street where an immigration enforcement operation was underway. As she tried to maneuver around the commotion, an unmarked vehicle struck her car. Masked men with guns drawn swarmed her, dragged her from her vehicle, and zip-tied her hands before throwing her into a van. Figueroa—who spent hours in ICE custody—was later released without charges. She is an American citizen. Her ordeal, captured on a viral video, underscores a disturbing pattern: U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up in immigration raids and detentions.

According to ProPublica, more than 170 American citizens—mostly Latinos—have been detained since January during enforcement actions at protests, workplaces, and neighborhoods. These citizens have been tackled, tased, beaten, or shot with projectiles. Some were denied access to lawyers or phones, including a 79-year-old man slammed to the ground in California, an Army veteran tear-gassed and held for three days, and a Cal Poly Pomona graduate jailed for two nights after being knocked down by agents. The true scope remains unknown because the government does not disclose data on wrongful detentions.

ICE’s own policies clearly state that agents “cannot assert civil immigration enforcement authority” over U.S. citizens and must promptly verify citizenship claims “with the utmost care.” Yet multiple incidents show that these protections are routinely ignored. Figueroa’s passport was dismissed as fake. An Alabama man was detained twice despite carrying a REAL ID. Americans with valid documents are still being arrested—evidence of systemic failures, not isolated mistakes.

These problems are exacerbated by a dramatic expansion of enforcement operations under Homeland Security and ICE, accompanied by reduced oversight compared with previous administrations. Despite this, top officials deny wrongdoing: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently insisted that no American citizens have been detained—an assertion rated “Pants on Fire” by PolitiFact and contradicted by ICE’s own press releases. Often, agents justify these arrests by alleging that citizens impeded or assaulted officers, but ProPublica found many of these charges were later dropped, as in Figueroa’s case.

Protecting the rights of U.S. citizens requires stronger oversight and accountability. Congress is right to demand detailed tracking of wrongful detentions and better training for agents to prevent jurisdictional overreach. With ICE now working from a $28-billion budget, these reforms are hardly unreasonable. At stake is not only the safety and civil liberties of citizens but also public confidence in federal law enforcement—already shaken, with 60% of Americans believing ICE arrests citizens at least “sometimes.” These unlawful detentions must stop before more Americans are harmed.