Stories
- Leo Garcia Venegas, a U.S. citizen was detained twice at his workplace at a construction site in Alabama. Despite showing his Alabama-issued REAL ID driver’s license, an identification card only given to U.S. citizens and legal residents, the immigration agents “told him the ID card was fake”. Venegas says “I just want to work in peace. The Constitution protects my ability to do that.”
- The Institute of Justice is representing him and his case. This is their statement.
- At least two adult U.S. citizens and four U.S. citizen children were detained in the largest raid in Chicago history in a South Shore neighborhood apartment. Isaiah Johnson, one of the U.S. citizens that was arrested said he was detained for almost two hours with plastic zip-tie handcuffs.
- Chicago Sun-Times: Another U.S. citizen, Rodrick Johnson who was also detained said, “I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up…I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.”
- Cary López Alvarado, a U.S. citizen who is nine months pregnant, was hospitalized after being detained by ICE while they were there to target her husband in their home in Hawthorne, California.
- Lopez’s interview: “I wasn’t resisting or anything…you’re going to handcuff me, but I’m not, I’m not, I can’t fight back. I’m pregnant.”
- Joe Botello, resident of Elgin, IL, was detained in his own home by masked immigration agents without being read his rights. He was part of an ICE raid video shared by the DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on X.
- Chicago Sun-Times: “I told them I was a U.S. citizen, that my ID was in my wallet.”
- Rodrigo Almendarez, born in Los Angeles, California, was working as a driver for JB Wholesale Roofing and Supplies and immigration agents tried to detain him. Only after his coworkers intervened and persuaded the agents that he was a U.S. citizen, he was let go.
- Fox 11 has a video of the abuse along with the interview of Almendarez saying, “They just got me by surprise. I didn’t know what was going on, who they were. What did I do wrong? They never told me who they were or who they were looking for or anything”.
- George Retes, a veteran, was on the way to his work in Ventura County, CA when he was detained on his way to work by immigration agents. Even though he had clear identification of his citizenship in his wallet, the agents dismissed it and didn’t bother to check and confirm. He was detained for three days and three nights without access to a phone call or to a lawyer.
- Retes’ San Francisco Chronicle op-ed: “Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in his opinion that: “If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter. My story shows that isn’t true. It would have taken them two minutes to check my papers and confirm that I was a citizen. Instead, they arrested me because I was there.”
- A military veteran was detained during a raid in New Jersey at a seafood store while working. The store owner, Luis Janota, states that, “It looked to me like they were specifically going after certain kinds of people — not every kind, because they did not ask me for documentation for my American workers, Portuguese workers, or white workers”.
- Ramiro Martinez, resident of Dexter Township, MI was arrested and thrown on the ground by immigration agents outside of a courthouse after he paid off his traffic ticket. He was not allowed to show his identification that would have proven his citizenship and was handcuffed. Once the agent went through his wallet, Martinez said that one of the agents said “s—, he’s a citizen” and let him go with no apologies.
- Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez was detained for 24 hrs in Tallahassee, FL, during a traffic stop as a passenger on the way to work. The trooper accused him of being undocumented, even when he showed his social security card and his driver’s license. He was only released after his lawyer was able to prove his citizenship through his social security card and his U.S. birth certificate.
- “They didn’t give us anything to eat all day yesterday” while he was at Leon County Jail.
- Ernesto Campos was detained in Bakersfield, CA while driving to work. An unmarked immigration enforcement vehicle followed him and pulled him over. The immigration agent was in possession of his driver’s license and was arrested for “alien smuggling” because his fellow driver was also arrested on suspicion of being undocumented. The agents proceeded to slash his tires and break his windows, despite their cooperation.
- Jose Hermosillo was detained for 10 days at a private detention center in Arizona. He was detained after being released from the hospital for suffering a seizure when he asked a Border Patrol officer for help in getting back to his girlfriend’s place because he is visiting from New Mexico. Due to his learning disabilities, he asked for help and instead was met with aggression and accusation of being undocumented because of his race.
- Mother Jones: ‘“Since his release, Hermosillo has struggled. “When I dream, I dream I’m still in there,” he said.’
- Kenny Laynez Ambrocio, a senior at Palm Beach Lakes Community High School in Florida was detained at a traffic stop while he and two co-workers were being driven to their landscaping jobs by his mother. The trooper called for backup from the border patrol and that’s when he began to record the arrest of him and his fellow coworkers. The video footage showed the aggressive tactics used by the border patrol where Ambrocio mentions that he was “born and raised here” telling them he is a U.S. citizen. The officers continued to berate him saying, “you have no rights… you’re a’migo’ brother”.
- Miami Herald: In the same video footage, it shows officers saying, “They’re starting to resist more now…We’re going to end up shooting some of them.”
- A 70 year old Air Force veteran, Dana Briggs was arrested and thrown on the ground by ICE when he was peacefully protesting outside the Broadview Detention Center in Illinois.
- CBS News: ‘“They didn’t give me time to move,” Briggs said this week. “All I saw was a hand coming at me after I handed my phone off.”
- Andrea Velez was detained when her mother and sister were dropping her off at work when an ICE raid was happening during that time. The plainclothed agent proceeded to detain Velez for “interfering with what he was doing, so he was going to arrest” her, regardless of her notifying the agent that she was a U.S. citizen. The agent also falsely stated that they did not need to show her his badge or a warrant to arrest her. While she was detained for two days, she was not given water for 24hrs.
- NBC News: Velez states this has “traumatized her…and that she has not been able to physically return to work”.
- Elzon Lemus was detained while he was on the way to work in Nassau County, New York. Despite being a U.S. citizen, he says that he “has been on high alert, limiting his travel around town out of fear”.
- CNN: “The electrician believes he was pulled over because he and his coworker look Hispanic, a community that has often been targeted by Trump’s mass deportation efforts.”
