Citizens detained by ICE

ProPublica count: immigration agents have held 506 U.S. citizens since January 2025

506 citizens held, Jan. 2025 to Sept. 2026 (ProPublica count)

A ProPublica database published Oct. 6, 2026 identifies 506 U.S. citizens held against their will by immigration agents between January 2025 and September 2026. It counts only warrantless detentions away from airports and the border, needs at least two sources per incident, and calls itself an undercount. It includes more than 100 people held after agents questioned their citizenship, at least 70 children and teens, 36 people held a day or more with no call to family or a lawyer, and about a dozen deported. ProPublica’s first count, in October 2025, was more than 170.

Their response: DHS statement to ProPublica (2026): “DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted. We do our due diligence,” adding that anyone who obstructs agents “will of course face consequences which include arrest.” Of its Chicago surge DHS said there were “no administrative arrests of U.S. citizens”; ProPublica found more than 120 citizens detained in Illinois in that period. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin (October 2025): “We don’t arrest US citizens for immigration enforcement.”

Sources: ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026) · ProPublica, “Immigration Agents Have Held More Than 170 Americans Against Their Will” (Oct. 16, 2025)

ICE told Congress it arrested 131 U.S. citizens in the Minnesota surge; 14 cases were still active

131 citizens arrested, Jan. 8 to May 20, 2026 (ICE’s own count)

In an Aug. 18, 2026 letter to Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar, ICE said that between Jan. 8 and May 20, 2026 it arrested 131 U.S. citizens in Minnesota under Operation Metro Surge for alleged assault on or interference with officers (18 U.S.C. 111). Prosecutors accepted 44 of the cases and 14 were still active; ICE said the other 117 were dismissed, diverted or declined. ProPublica’s database, which counts only people it can identify, includes 77 citizens detained in Minnesota by this site’s count of its list, 75 of them between December 2025 and February 2026, including people stopped over their citizenship, a group ICE’s figure does not cover. The Star Tribune counted 36 Minnesotans federally charged, with 13 cases dismissed by June 2026.

Their response: ICE, in the same letter: “ERO is not aware of arresting any individuals who were later found to be U.S. citizens,” and “ICE officers and agents may arrest U.S. citizens for certain violations of U.S. criminal law.” Asked how many agents had been reprimanded for racial profiling, it answered: “Zero. No agents have been found to have engaged in racial profiling.”

Sources: ICE letter to Reps. Craig and Omar, signed by acting head David Venturella (Aug. 18, 2026) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026) · Minnesota Star Tribune, “Tracking federal anti-ICE assault cases” (June 6, 2026)

The government keeps no count of citizens held by immigration agents; auditors flagged it in 2021

674 arrested, 121 detained, 70 removed, FY2015 to March 2020 (GAO)

No federal agency publishes how many U.S. citizens immigration agents stop, arrest or hold; ProPublica and USA Today both report the government does not track or release it. The Government Accountability Office found in July 2021 that ICE arrested 674, detained 121 and removed 70 potential U.S. citizens from fiscal 2015 to March 2020, and that ICE did not know the true extent because officers were not required to update citizenship data. ICE policy requires a supervisor’s involvement when someone claims citizenship and bars arrest when evidence of citizenship “outweighs evidence to the contrary.” A Senate subcommittee’s Democratic staff interviewed 22 detained citizens and wrote in December 2025 that they were a subset of “likely hundreds.”

Their response: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin to ProPublica (October 2025): “We don’t arrest US citizens for immigration enforcement.” DHS statements quoted by ProPublica in 2026: “DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake.” Border czar Tom Homan said in July 2025 that ICE had made “collateral arrests” of American citizens in “many” instances, according to the Independent.

Sources: GAO-21-487, “Immigration Enforcement: Actions Needed to Better Track Cases Involving U.S. Citizenship Investigations” (July 20, 2021) · ProPublica, “More Americans Will Be Caught Up in Trump Immigration Raids” (Mar. 18, 2025) · Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, minority staff report “Unchecked Authority” (Dec. 9, 2025) · ProPublica, “Immigration Agents Have Held More Than 170 Americans Against Their Will” (Oct. 16, 2025) · The Independent via Yahoo News (July 13, 2025) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026)

About a dozen U.S. citizens deported, most of them children; one adult was let back after five months

About 12 citizens deported, mostly children (ProPublica count)

ProPublica counts roughly a dozen citizens removed from the country since January 2025, mostly children sent out with a deported parent. They include a 10-year-old recovering from brain cancer, removed to Mexico with her parents on Feb. 4, 2025, and a 4-year-old with stage-four kidney cancer, his 7-year-old sister and a 2-year-old sent to Honduras from Louisiana in April 2025; their mothers sued, saying they were held without access to lawyers and did not consent. Brian Morales Garcia, 25, whose birth certificate says he was born in Denver, was stopped in Texas on April 3, 2026, held four days without a call and flown to Mexico. After he sued, the Justice Department let him re-enter on Aug. 30, 2026.

Their response: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin on the Louisiana children: “ICE asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or if they wanted ICE to place the children with someone safe the parent designates. The parents in this instance made the determination to take their children with them back to Honduras.” On Morales Garcia, DHS said its agents “did NOT arrest a U.S. citizen”; in court the Justice Department said he stated he was born in Mexico and freely signed a voluntary return, and denied he was coerced.

Sources: ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026) · Louisiana Illuminator, “Families with citizen children deported by ICE sue Trump administration” (Aug. 21, 2025) · NBC News, “U.S. citizen child recovering from brain cancer deported to Mexico” (Mar. 12, 2025) · USA Today, “US citizen deported to Mexico allowed home after nearly 5 months” (Sept. 6, 2026) · Texas Tribune, “ICE deported man to Mexico who says he’s a U.S. citizen” (Apr. 23, 2026)

At least 70 citizen children and teens detained; about 20 handcuffed or zip-tied, ProPublica found

At least 70 citizen minors detained (ProPublica count)

ProPublica’s October 2026 count includes at least 70 U.S.-citizen minors held by immigration agents, about 20 of them handcuffed or zip-tied. The largest case was an Oct. 19, 2025 raid led by the FBI and ICE on a horse track in Wilder, Idaho, where about 480 people were held and processed; ProPublica identified 30 citizens there, more than a dozen of them children, while witnesses put the number of citizens at about 200 or more. None of the 10 agencies involved would tell the Idaho Statesman how many citizens were detained. Agents also handcuffed a 15-year-old with disabilities outside a Los Angeles school in 2025, saying they had mistaken him for a gang suspect.

Their response: DHS told ProPublica that “ICE does not zip tie or restrain children,” and of the Idaho raid that ICE officers “didn’t zip tie, restrain or arrest any children.” The FBI told local media no “young children” were zip-tied. The FBI said the raid was an investigation into illegal gambling.

Sources: ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026) · Idaho Statesman, “How many Idaho citizens detained in Wilder immigration raid?” (Sept. 29, 2026) · Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, minority staff report “Unchecked Authority” (Dec. 9, 2025)

Army veteran George Retes, a citizen, was held three days without a phone call or a charge

On July 10, 2025, agents at a farm raid in Camarillo, California broke the car window of George Retes, an Iraq war veteran driving to his job as a security guard, pepper-sprayed him and pulled him out. He was held three days, ending at the federal jail in Los Angeles, with no phone call or lawyer, and released without charge, according to a Senate subcommittee minority report and ProPublica. After he published an op-ed in September 2025, DHS said for the first time that he had been arrested for assault. ProPublica found no federal charge against him as of 2026; he has started a damages claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Their response: DHS, in a post on X after his op-ed, said he was arrested for assault after he “became violent and refused to comply with law enforcement” (quoted by ProPublica). Retes denies it. Homeland Security officials did not answer the Los Angeles Times’s questions about the assault claim.

Sources: Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, minority staff report “Unchecked Authority” (Dec. 9, 2025) · ProPublica, “Immigration Agents Have Held More Than 170 Americans Against Their Will” (Oct. 16, 2025) · Los Angeles Times, “DHS accuses veteran of assault after he writes about his arrest” (Sept. 26, 2025) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026)

Two U.S.-born citizens jailed despite birth certificates: 25 days in one case, a day in the other

ICE arrested Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, 22, near her Maryland home on Dec. 14, 2025 and held her 25 days in detention centers in three states while her lawyers produced a Maryland birth certificate and hospital records. On May 27, 2026 DHS asked the immigration court to dismiss its case, and on June 1 she received a U.S. passport, her lawyers said. In Florida, Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, 20, born in Georgia, was arrested on April 16, 2025 under a state immigration law a judge had temporarily blocked, and was held about 24 hours on an ICE detainer even after a county judge examined his birth certificate and found no probable cause.

Their response: DHS statement on Diaz Morales (January 2026, to CBS Baltimore): she “is NOT a U.S. citizen” and “did NOT provide a valid U.S. birth certificate or any evidence in support of her claim that she is a U.S. citizen.” ProPublica reports DHS still maintains she claimed to be Mexican when she crossed the border in 2023. On Lopez-Gomez, DHS maintained that he had told officers he was undocumented, USA Today reported.

Sources: NBC4 Washington, “Maryland mother who says she’s a U.S. citizen is released from 25 days in ICE custody” (Jan. 9, 2026) · CBS Baltimore (Jan. 16, 2026) · Sanabria & Associates, statement on the end of immigration court proceedings (June 2026) · NBC News, “U.S.-born American citizen under ICE hold in Florida is released” (Apr. 18, 2025) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026)

U.S.-born Alabama construction worker detained at work sites three times; his REAL ID was called fake

Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a U.S.-born citizen, was tackled and held in handcuffs for more than an hour while filming a raid on his job site in Foley, Alabama on May 21, 2025, after agents dismissed his REAL ID as fake; soon after he returned to work, agents detained him again at another site. He was never charged. On Sept. 30, 2025 he filed a class-action suit with the Institute for Justice challenging warrantless raids on construction sites. ProPublica reported in October 2026 that he has now been detained three times and that the suit is ongoing.

Their response: DHS called the lawsuit “race-baiting opportunism.” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: “DHS law enforcement uses ‘reasonable suspicion’ to make arrests.” DHS earlier said he “physically got in between agents and the subject” during the first raid; ProPublica says the video does not show that.

Sources: ProPublica, “Immigration Agents Have Held More Than 170 Americans Against Their Will” (Oct. 16, 2025) · Associated Press, “US citizen files lawsuit against Trump-era workplace raids” (Oct. 1, 2025) · NBC News, “U.S. citizen with REAL ID handcuffed in Alabama immigration raid” (May 23, 2025) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026)

Tribal citizens detained in immigration sweeps in Arizona and Minnesota

Navajo Nation President Nygren said on Jan. 16, 2026 that ICE agents in the Phoenix area “aggressively detained” Peter Yazzie, a Navajo and U.S. citizen on his way to work, although he pointed them to his birth certificate and Certificate of Indian Blood. During the Minnesota surge, ICT reported that Jose Roberto Ramirez, a Red Lake Nation descendant, was held at the federal building in Minneapolis on Jan. 8, 2026 while relatives who came with his passport and birth certificate were turned away. ProPublica’s list also records two enrolled members of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe detained in a June 11, 2026 worksite raid in Bemidji.

Sources: Navajo Nation Office of the President, “President Nygren Responds to Detention of Dine Citizen by ICE” (Jan. 16, 2026) · ICT, “Five Native Americans detained by ICE during ongoing raids in Minneapolis” (Jan. 9, 2026) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026)

Minnesota police chief: federal agents stopped his off-duty officers, all of them people of color

At a Jan. 20, 2026 news conference, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said federal agents looking for proof of citizenship had stopped several of his off-duty officers, and that “every one of these individuals is a person of color.” In one case, he said, agents boxed in an off-duty officer’s car, demanded her paperwork and knocked her phone from her hands when she tried to record, leaving once she identified herself as police. He said other chiefs had similar incidents; the Hennepin County sheriff and St. Paul’s police chief joined him in calling for oversight of the federal agents in the Twin Cities.

Their response: A DHS spokesperson said the department “is able to find no record of ICE or Border Patrol stopping and questioning a police officer. Without a name, we cannot verify these claims. We will continue to look into these claims.” Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino did not answer directly when asked.

Sources: CBS Minnesota, “Off-duty Twin Cities officers among those ‘targeted’ by ICE agents looking for proof of U.S. citizenship, chief says” (Jan. 20, 2026)

Elected Democrats arrested at immigration sites: one charge tossed, one acquittal, one trial pending

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested outside an ICE detention center on May 9, 2025; prosecutors dropped the trespass charge within two weeks and a magistrate judge called the arrest a “worrying misstep.” Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted over the same scuffle; on Aug. 26, 2026 a divided Third Circuit panel let two counts go to trial and sent a third back to the trial judge. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested at an immigration court on June 17, 2025 and released the same day without charge, then arrested again with other officials on Sept. 18, 2025 and acquitted at a bench trial on June 11, 2026. Sen. Alex Padilla was pulled to the ground and handcuffed on June 12, 2025 after trying to question Secretary Noem in Los Angeles.

Their response: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Lander “was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer”; no such charge was filed. U.S. Attorney Alina Habba accused Baraka of trespassing and ignoring warnings to leave. DHS said the agents who handcuffed Padilla “acted appropriately.” McIver calls her case political; the appeals court, in an opinion by a Biden appointee, held that two of the alleged acts were not protected legislative activity.

Sources: New Jersey Globe, “Judge dismisses Baraka charges, reprimands prosecutors” (May 21, 2025) · New Jersey Globe, “Appeals court allows two charges against McIver to proceed to trial” (Aug. 26, 2026) · ABC7 New York, “Brad Lander found not guilty” (June 11, 2026) · The Guardian, “New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander arrested by Ice agents” (June 17, 2025) · ProPublica, “Immigration Agents Have Held More Than 170 Americans Against Their Will” (Oct. 16, 2025)

AP: none of 102 felony assault cases against immigration protesters ended in a trial conviction

0 trial convictions in 102 felony assault cases (AP analysis)

An Associated Press analysis published Sept. 12, 2026 tracked 167 arrests at immigration protests in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and Washington, D.C. Of 102 people charged with felony assault on a federal officer, 41% had the case dismissed and 34% pleaded to misdemeanors; all of the dozen cases tried ended in acquittal, mistrial or dismissal, and in Chicago all but one of 19 were dismissed. Ten people pleaded guilty to felony assault. ProPublica and Frontline found prosecutors dropped charges in at least 75 of 109 arrests they documented around Chicago, and often found officers’ statements contradicted by video.

Their response: Justice Department statement to the AP: “each case is based on the facts,” and “If there are mitigating factors identified in a case, then prosecutors must also act appropriately to inform the court, and in some cases downgrade or drop charges.” The AP also reported real convictions: nine of the 102 got prison time, and a man who threw a Molotov cocktail at a hotel housing federal officers was sentenced to five years.

Sources: Associated Press via Los Angeles Times, “DOJ went after protesters for felony assault, but juries, judges were unconvinced” (Sept. 12, 2026) · ProPublica and Frontline, “Mass Arrests by Trump’s ICE, CBP Repeatedly Fail Under Scrutiny” (Apr. 14, 2026) · Los Angeles Times, “‘Amateur hour at the U.S. attorney’s office’” (Apr. 3, 2026) · ICE letter to Reps. Craig and Omar, signed by acting head David Venturella (Aug. 18, 2026)

Secret ICE memo told agents they could force their way into homes without a judge’s warrant

A May 12, 2025 memo signed by acting ICE director Todd Lyons, disclosed by whistleblowers and reported by the AP on Jan. 21, 2026, told agents they may forcibly enter a home to arrest someone with a final removal order using only an administrative warrant issued inside the agency. Citizens have been held in home raids made without judicial warrants: on Jan. 18, 2026 agents broke open the St. Paul door of ChongLy “Scott” Thao, a citizen, and led him out at gunpoint in his underwear in subfreezing weather before bringing him back; the county attorney opened a kidnapping investigation in April 2026. Six people, including citizen Jeyli Salguero, sued on April 2, 2026; DHS has asked the court to dismiss the case, saying it has “paused” the policy.

Their response: Tricia McLaughlin told the AP that everyone served with an administrative warrant has had “full due process and a final order of removal.” On the Thao investigation a DHS spokesperson said: “ICE does not ‘kidnap’ people” and “This is nothing but a political stunt to demonize ICE law enforcement.” DHS said agents at Thao’s home were seeking two convicted sex offenders; Thao said they did not live there.

Sources: Associated Press, “Memo tells ICE officers they can enter homes without a warrant” (Jan. 21, 2026) · ACLU of D.C., “Immigrants and U.S. Citizens Sue DHS over Unconstitutional ‘Home Entry’ Policy” (Apr. 2, 2026) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026) · Associated Press, “US citizen says ICE took him at gunpoint in only underwear” (Jan. 20, 2026) · CNN, “Minnesota county investigates federal agents’ removal of US citizen from his home as a possible kidnapping” (Apr. 13, 2026)

Supreme Court let Los Angeles roving patrols resume; Kavanaugh wrote citizens are let go “promptly”

On July 11, 2025, District Judge Maame Frimpong found that people suing over Los Angeles immigration sweeps were likely to prove agents were “conducting roving patrols without reasonable suspicion” and barred stops based solely on apparent race or ethnicity, language or accent, location and type of work. On Sept. 8, 2025 the Supreme Court stayed her order without giving reasons, over three dissents. Justice Kavanaugh, concurring, wrote that when officers learn a person is a citizen “they promptly let the individual go.” ProPublica has since documented more than 100 citizens held after agents questioned their citizenship and 36 held a day or more without contact. In a December 2025 opinion Kavanaugh added that officers “must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity.”

Their response: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin on the district court order: “A district judge is undermining the will of the American people.” The administration prevailed at the Supreme Court. Justice Sotomayor, dissenting, wrote that people had been “grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labor.”

Sources: Supreme Court, Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, No. 25A169, order and opinions (Sept. 8, 2025) · Supreme Court, Trump v. Illinois, No. 25A443, order and opinions (Dec. 23, 2025) · CalMatters, “Judge orders halt to ‘roving’ LA immigration raids” (July 12, 2025) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026)

Judge found ICE made warrantless arrests in Chicago in breach of a consent decree; appeals court agreed

175 people released under the decree (plaintiffs’ lawyers’ count)

On Oct. 7, 2025, District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled that ICE arrested 22 people without warrants in violation of a 2022 consent decree and extended the decree; the complaint, filed in March 2025, covered 26 arrests, including a U.S. citizen, Julio Noriega, who was handcuffed and held for hours before agents checked his wallet. In November 2025 Cummings ordered 13 people freed and up to 615 more released on bond or monitoring. The Seventh Circuit blocked the mass release in December 2025 but, in a decision announced May 7, 2026, affirmed the extension of the decree, citing a “unilateral proclamation by a DHS senior official” telling officers to stop complying. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say 175 people have been released through the process.

Their response: Trump administration lawyers argued that the judge had no authority to extend the decree and that the administration should not be bound by an agreement its predecessor signed. One appeals judge, Thomas Kirsch, dissented in December 2025, writing that “democracy does not permit public officials to bind the polity forever.” The appeals court also faulted Cummings for ordering release of a class without individual assessments.

Sources: ACLU of Illinois, case page: Castanon Nava v. Department of Homeland Security · ACLU of Illinois, “Seventh Circuit Affirms Extension of Castanon Nava Consent Decree” (May 7, 2026) · Capitol News Illinois, “Appeals court won’t release detained immigrants amid warrantless arrest scrutiny” (Dec. 12, 2025) · Block Club Chicago (Oct. 7, 2025) · ProPublica, “ICE Ramps Up Warrantless, Legally Dubious Arrests” (Mar. 25, 2025)

Judge said Border Patrol commander lied about protesters; an appeals court later erased her findings

On Nov. 6, 2025, District Judge Sara Ellis in Chicago restricted federal agents’ use of tear gas, pepper balls and physical force against peaceful protesters and journalists and required visible ID numbers and body cameras. She said commander Gregory Bovino “admitted that he lied” about being hit by a rock before he threw a gas canister at a crowd, and that she did not find the government’s account credible. The Seventh Circuit stayed her injunction on Nov. 19; after the operation ended the plaintiffs dropped the suit, and on March 5, 2026 the appeals court vacated both the injunction and her fact-finding. Bovino was demoted in January 2026 after two citizens were killed in Minneapolis, ProPublica reported.

Their response: DHS did not immediately respond to the AP on the day of the ruling. In an earlier statement DHS said it “is taking reasonable and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers.” The appeals court, in staying the order, said the government would suffer irreparable harm and questioned the plaintiffs’ standing; it vacated the findings so they could not be used in later suits.

Sources: Associated Press, “Chicago judge says Border Patrol official lied about threats” (Nov. 6, 2025) · Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, Chicago Headline Club v. Noem (updated Mar. 9, 2026) · ProPublica and Frontline, “Mass Arrests by Trump’s ICE, CBP Repeatedly Fail Under Scrutiny” (Apr. 14, 2026)

The Trace: immigration agents have shot at people in 32 incidents, killing nine

32 shootings, 9 killed, 15 injured (The Trace count)

The Trace, using Gun Violence Archive data and news reports, counted 32 incidents in which immigration agents shot at people from the start of Trump’s enforcement operations through its Oct. 9, 2026 update, with nine people killed and 15 injured, plus 49 incidents of agents holding bystanders, protesters or others at gunpoint in questionable circumstances. It gives no total for citizens, but those shot include U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both killed in Minneapolis in January 2026, and Marimar Martinez, shot five times in Chicago in October 2025; charges that she rammed agents were dropped after video contradicted them. The latest DHS report showed 23 gun-related use-of-force incidents by ICE and Customs and Border Protection in all of fiscal 2023.

Their response: DHS, in a statement to ProPublica, said ICE and Customs and Border Protection personnel “are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and themselves.” The Trace reports that agents said Good tried to run them over, which video disputes.

Sources: The Trace, “How Many People Have Been Shot in ICE Raids?” (updated Oct. 9, 2026) · ProPublica and Frontline, “Mass Arrests by Trump’s ICE, CBP Repeatedly Fail Under Scrutiny” (Apr. 14, 2026)

DHS shut its civil rights office; ICE says about five profiling complaints led to no findings

About 600 civil rights investigations frozen (ProPublica)

On March 21, 2025, Secretary Kristi Noem closed the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and fired most of its roughly 150 staff, freezing about 600 abuse investigations, ProPublica reported. In an August 2026 letter to members of Congress, ICE said its Office of Professional Responsibility had investigated “approximately five allegations related to racial profiling” since January 2025 and closed all of them with no findings of misconduct. Over the same period ProPublica documented more than 100 citizens held after agents questioned their citizenship, nearly all of them people of color.

Their response: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin on the closure: “DHS remains committed to civil rights protections but must streamline oversight to remove roadblocks to enforcement,” adding that the office’s staff “often functioned as internal adversaries to slow down operations.” ICE to Congress: “Zero. No agents have been found to have engaged in racial profiling.”

Sources: ProPublica, “Trump’s Shuttering of DHS Civil Rights Office Freezes 600 Cases” (Apr. 8, 2025) · ICE letter to Reps. Craig and Omar, signed by acting head David Venturella (Aug. 18, 2026) · ProPublica, “Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens” (Oct. 6, 2026)