Following disturbing reports of federal immigration agents detaining U.S. citizens, top Democrats on Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and House Oversight demand answers from Noem
[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and U.S. Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform today opened an inquiry into the increasing detention of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents. In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Blumenthal and Garcia demanded information and records from the agency following increasingly frequent reports of unconstitutional detentions of U.S. citizens by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), often using disproportionate force.
“Since his inauguration, President Trump has embraced the use of federal immigration agents to terrorize communities nationwide whose politics he disfavors, a campaign that has increasingly ensnared U.S. citizens. It was reported last week that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by federal immigration agents in the last nine months, a count that includes nearly 130 citizens arrested for allegedly assaulting or impeding officers (charges that often are dismissed or wilt under any scrutiny), and more than 50 citizens held after federal immigration agents questioned their citizenship,” Blumenthal and Garcia wrote.
Citing Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s recent Supreme Court opinion that effectively allowed federal immigration agents to racially profile individuals during immigration sweeps, Blumenthal and Garcia pointed to concerning examples of DHS detailing U.S. citizens, “In a pattern symptomatic of a disregard for civil rights by DHS, U.S. citizens have faced extended periods of detention. George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who grew up in Southern California and served in Iraq, was held by ICE for three days without being permitted to make a phone call or see an attorney. Andrea Velez, another U.S. citizen detained in downtown Los Angeles, was held in ICE custody for two days and deprived of water for 24 hours. Recent reporting has found that at least two dozen U.S. citizens have been held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones.”
The full text of Blumenthal and Garcia’s letter is available here and below.
Dear Secretary Noem:
We write regarding the disturbing and increasingly frequent reports of unconstitutional detentions of U.S. citizens by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), often using disproportionate force. Reports of excessive, shocking behavior by CBP and ICE agents directed at U.S. citizens have been rampant under the current Administration.[1] As the Ranking Members of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (House Oversight), we are conducting a bicameral inquiry into the increasing detention of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents. We write to request information and records regarding your Department’s detention of U.S. citizens from the start of President Trump’s term.
Since his inauguration, President Trump has embraced the use of federal immigration agents to terrorize communities nationwide whose politics he disfavors, a campaign that has increasingly ensnared U.S. citizens. It was reported last week that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by federal immigration agents in the last nine months, a count that includes nearly 130 citizens arrested for allegedly assaulting or impeding officers (charges that often are dismissed or wilt under any scrutiny), and more than 50 citizens held after federal immigration agents questioned their citizenship.[2] This number, however, is at best a gross undercount, as new stories of ICE and CBP agents detaining U.S. citizens on the flimsiest of rationales emerge daily.[3]
The impact of these arrests has not been evenly distributed across the country, and cities like Chicago, Portland, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles have been targeted heavily by ICE and CBP. Troublingly, the pattern of U.S. Citizen arrests coincides with an alarming increase in racial profiling—particularly of Latinos—which has been well documented in Los Angeles.[4] Justice Kavanaugh justified this policy on the false grounds that “[i]f the officers learn the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.”[5]In a pattern symptomatic of a disregard for civil rights by DHS, U.S. citizens have faced extended periods of detention. George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who grew up in Southern California and served in Iraq, was held by ICE for three days without being permitted to make a phone call or see an attorney.[6] Andrea Velez, another U.S. citizen detained in downtown Los Angeles, was held in ICE custody for two days and deprived of water for 24 hours.[7] Recent reporting has found that at least two dozen U.S. citizens have been held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones.[8]
It is also entirely unclear how a wrongly ensnared U.S. citizen is supposed to prove their citizenship to federal immigration officials, particularly if they have a Latino surname or appearance. Leo Venegas, a U.S. citizen and construction worker in Alabama, has incredibly been detained by ICE agents twice in workplace raids due to questions about his citizenship, despite having his REAL ID driver’s license—an identity card available only to U.S. citizens and legal residents—on his person both times.[9] Agents reportedly dismissed his identification as fake.[10] Maria Greeley, a U.S. citizen born in Illinois, was reportedly detained by ICE in Chicago for hours due to questions about her citizenship.[11] Greeley had her passport on her person at the time of her detention, but the agents did not believe it was authentic because they determined that Greeley (who is Latina) did not “look like” someone with the last name Greeley.[12]
To assist our committees’ understanding of CBP and ICE’s increasing detention of U.S. citizens through the use of disproportionate force and fundamentally flawed rationales, please provide the following information to PSI and House Oversight by November 3, 2025:
In addition, please provide PSI and House Oversight with the following records[13] by November 3, 2025, and any subsequently records responsive to these requests on a bi-weekly basis thereafter:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has a broad mandate to study or investigate “the efficiency and economy of operations of all branches of the Government.”[14] If you have any questions about this request, please contact Oversight Committee Democratic staff at (202) 225-5051 or PSI Democratic staff at 202-224-4751. Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.
Sincerely,
-30-