Sweeping U.S. citizens into immigration raids

A ProPublica investigation counted more than 170 U.S. citizens detained during 2025 enforcement actions, some held over a day without contact; several sued alleging unlawful seizure and racial profiling, while DHS denied wrongdoing and said anyone who obstructs agents faces consequences.

As the administration expanded worksite and community immigration raids in 2025, agents repeatedly detained U.S. citizens. Julio Noriega, a citizen with a learning disability, was seized outside a pizzeria in Illinois and held about ten hours in handcuffs despite his identification, and ICE later denied having any record of the arrest; Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a U.S.-born construction worker in Alabama, was detained twice in worksite sweeps, his Real ID treated as fake; Jose Hermosillo, a citizen from Albuquerque, was held ten days in an Arizona detention center. A ProPublica investigation documented more than 170 U.S. citizens detained during 2025 enforcement actions, some held over a day without contact.

Lawsuits filed on behalf of detained citizens allege the raids violated the Fourth Amendment's bar on unreasonable seizures and the Fifth Amendment's due-process guarantee, and that agents singled out Latino workers by appearance. A suit filed for Garcia Venegas cited nineteen further examples of citizens and lawful residents detained in similar circumstances and alleged that the government authorizes raids on 'the general assumption' that certain workers 'are likely illegal immigrants.'

The administration denied the characterization. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said 'ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens' and called racial-profiling claims 'categorically FALSE,' attributing detentions to obstruction or assault of agents; in several documented cases the detained citizens and their lawyers disputed those accounts, pointing to video. Sen. Alex Padilla called detaining Americans 'purely based on their race' unacceptable and a violation of Fourth Amendment rights.

Documented; lawsuits, news reporting, and an investigative tally

Multiple lawsuits allege Fourth and Fifth Amendment violations; the administration denies targeting citizens or profiling by race

2025 onward