The Department of Homeland Security says it’s not detaining Americans.
asserted
it → say → Americans
In written statements, it has said that “allegations that ICE is arresting and deporting U.S. citizens is FALSE.”
asserted
ICE → write → citizens
It has said that “when individuals are briefly questioned under ‘reasonable suspicion’ and are found to be U.S. citizens, they are immediately released.”
asserted
they → say → suspicion
And it has said that “U.S. citizen agitators are only held while they actively remain a safety threat to our officers and the public.”
asserted
they → say → officers
But ProPublica has identified more than 500 citizens detained since President Donald Trump returned to office.
asserted
Trump → identify → office
Among them is an elderly car wash owner whom agents repeatedly knocked to the ground as they detained several of his workers.
asserted
they → knock → workers
A 6-year-old whose mother says still has nightmares after agents pointed guns at him and his siblings.
asserted
agents → say → him
A high school senior who was detained after she tried to stop officers from questioning her autistic younger brother.
asserted
she → detain → brother
A dad who was held for several days and missed his daughter’s third birthday.
asserted
who → hold → birthday
Over the past year, several of these people shared the lingering effects of what happened to them with ProPublica.
asserted
what → share → ProPublica
In September 2025, Ana Michelle Ramirez Sanan learned that ICE agents had intercepted members of her family as they drove one of her uncles to a court hearing.
asserted
they → learn → hearing
Ramirez Sanan, then 17, said she rushed to the scene and discovered agents had broken the car windows and pulled her two uncles, her mother and her younger brother out.
asserted
agents → say → uncles
Video of the incident showed agents kicking and slamming Ramirez Sanan’s mother to the ground and then twisting her arms to handcuff her.
asserted
agents → show → her
Ramirez Sanan said she saw other agents questioning her brother against a fence, threatening to arrest him if he couldn’t prove he had legal status.
asserted
he → say → status
“Him being a 13-year-old with autism, he doesn’t understand these things like we do.
asserted
we → understand → things
He didn’t know what ‘a legal status’ is.
asserted
status → know → ?
He’s not able to tell them: ‘Yes, I have a legal status.
asserted
I → ’ → status
I’m born here,’” Ramirez Sanan said.
asserted
Sanan → bear → ?
She said that when she rushed toward her mom and brother, begging agents to let them go, they detained her.
asserted
they → say → her
“It was really scary thinking that they might have taken us and deported us to Guatemala, where we don’t have anything.”
uncertain
we → think → anything
DHS said that its agents intercepted the car in order to detain the uncle who was going to court that day, and that they “used the appropriate force necessary.”
asserted
they → say → force
He was facing charges of sexual assault on a child and remains in ICE custody.
asserted
He → face → custody
He has pleaded not guilty.
asserted
He → plead → ?
As for Ramirez Sanan, her mother and her brother, they were released the day of the incident.
asserted
they → release → incident
Her mother, who has lived in the United States for 20 years and has a green card, was treated at a hospital for a concussion, bruising and nerve damage in one of her arms.
asserted
who → live → arms
DHS denies that they were ever detained.
asserted
they → deny → ?
“We have so much trauma just from the 30 minutes we were held,” said Ramirez Sanan, who struggled with anxiety and depression after the incident.
asserted
who → have → incident
“I lost my whole senior year fighting this.
asserted
I → lose → this
In June 2025, Andrea Velez was dropped off at work at a shoe company in downtown Los Angeles and inadvertently walked into an immigration raid on street vendors.
asserted
Velez → drop → vendors
She said one of the masked agents rushed toward her, grabbed her and slammed her to the pavement.
asserted
one → say → pavement
Velez said she attempted to shield herself with her work bag.
asserted
she → say → bag
“Throughout the whole time, I kept saying I was a U.S. citizen,” Velez recalled, saying that agents called her an “alleged U.S. citizen” even after they checked her ID.
asserted
they → keep → ID
“They kept saying how many ‘bodies they got’ that day.”
asserted
they → keep → bodies
Velez said that she was detained for two days, and that she was denied an opportunity to call family or a lawyer for most of that time.
asserted
she → say → time
The government charged Velez with assault.
asserted
government → charge → assault
DHS said she “made physical contact” with agents and tried to impede them.
asserted
she → say → them
A judge ultimately dismissed the case.
asserted
judge → dismiss → case
After her arrest, Velez said she was so afraid of being detained again that she worked remotely and avoided going outside.
asserted
she → say → arrest
In January, not long after immigration agents in Minneapolis had shot and killed an American woman named Renee Good, Quentin Williams, a teaching assistant at nearby Roosevelt High School, was guiding students toward buses when more agents arrived outside his building.
asserted
agents → shoot → building
Williams said that agents began confronting students and staff.
asserted
agents → say → students
…and 159 more, not listed.
The Aporia
