Blumenthal Releases New Report Featuring Firsthand Accounts of U.S. Citizens Assaulted, Illegally Detained by DHS

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), released a report highlighting firsthand accounts of twenty-two Americans who were physically assaulted, pepper sprayed, denied medical treatment, and detained – sometimes for days – by federal immigration agents. The report contains new details of accounts that have already been made public as well as several encounters that have not been shared previously.

The report, Unchecked Authority: Examining the Trump Administration’s Extrajudicial Immigration Detentions Of U.S. Citizens, was released ahead of a bicameral public forum hosted by Blumenthal and U.S. Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to receive testimony from five Americans who were unconstitutionally detained by agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“Americans should have a hard time recognizing our great nation in these stomach turning, heartbreaking stories of brutal assaults on our fellow citizens. Masked ICE and CBP agents chillingly seizing Americans isn’t the nation we know and cherish. Totalitarian tactics have no place in our democracy. I hope that elevating stories of abhorrent abuse will reinforce our resolve to preserve democratic rights,” said Blumenthal.

DHS continues to lie about its treatment of American citizens. In October, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem falsely claimed, “[t]here’s no American citizens that have been arrested or detained” and the account @DHSgov posted just last week, “ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens.”

The report released today presents accounts from nearly two dozen Americans who spoke with PSI staff about their personal experiences with immigration agents, which frequently took place while citizens were going about their daily lives. These stories, which took place during the summer and fall of 2025 and span the United States, reveal widespread abuses and clear violations of the law. The report identifies several trends including:

0. Detentions lasting several days, far longer than the short timeframe envisioned in “Kavanaugh Stops;”
1. Detentions of U.S. citizen children and the treatment of children with reckless disregard for their safety and wellbeing;
2. Routine and excessive force resulting in injuries to the citizens who have been detained;
3. The routine denial of medical care and other basic necessities to citizens who have detained, sometimes seemingly only to degrade those in custody;
4. Violent reactions to citizens filming their actions;
5. The ignoring or denial of claims of citizenship and refusal to release Americans who have valid proof of citizenship readily available;
6. Federal immigration agents frequently wear clothes designed to conceal their identities and refuse legitimate requests for identification; and
7. Repeatedly fabricated claims made by immigration agents about the U.S. citizens who were detained.

In October, Blumenthal and Garcia 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. Blumenthal and Garcia reiterated their request in another letter to Noem in November.

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