Ranking Members Raskin, Jayapal Renew Demand for Answers from DHS, ICE on Wrongful Detainment of U.S. Citizens

Washington, D.C. (October 21, 2025)-Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, sent a letter renewing their demand for answers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding their continuing and escalating wrongful arrest and detainment of U.S. citizens. The Administration has failed to address the Committee's concerns, even in light of worsening abuses.

"Why do you continue unlawfully detaining U.S. citizens? In February 2025, we wrote to express our serious concerns that U.S. citizens were being wrongfully detained during immigration enforcement operations. Unfortunately, your response was flippant and unserious. Rather than address the specific questions we posed, you simply reiterated existing policy-without providing any assurance that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel are actually following that policy. DHS and ICE are doing nothing to acknowledge or protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens during immigration raids," wrote the Ranking Members.

ICE policy explicitly prohibits the detainment of U.S. citizens when conducting immigration enforcement and requires that any U.S. citizenship claims by detainees be promptly and carefully investigated. Yet, DHS and ICE continue to wrongfully detain U.S. citizens-sometimes with violent force-while failing to investigate these cases with the urgency and care required.

Since the Administration's response to Judiciary Democrats' February letter, which contained empty assurances that "ICE has significant protections in place to ensure U.S. citizens are not mistakenly arrested, detained, or removed," the Administration has wrongfully detained a growing number of U.S. citizens. For example, in Chicago, Rodrick Johnson, a 67-year-old U.S. citizen, was detained during an immigration raid on an apartment building. His door was broken down, and he was dragged out in zip ties and left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours. Another U.S. citizen, Leonardo Garcia Venegas, was detained by ICE twice during worksite raids in Alabama. Agents refused to release him even after he produced his REAL ID.

In the wake of these unlawful detainments, the Ranking Members renewed their demand for details on each incident where a U.S. citizen was detained during immigration enforcement activities since the start of the Trump Administration, as well as information on the policies ICE currently has in place to prevent the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens.

Click here to read the letter.

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Issues: Civil Rights, Immigration