The U.S. Senate's Permanent Committee on Investigations released a report on December 9 titled, “Examining the Trump Administration's Extrajudicial Immigration Detentions of U.S. Citizens.” It contains 22 accounts, from across 10 states, of U.S. citizens detained by Immigration and Customs and Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol from June to November of this year—from across the nation.
The report was released in conjunction with a shadow hearing hosted by House and Senate Democrats.
“Americans should have a hard time recognizing our great nation in these shocking, stomach turning stories of fellow Americans assaulted brutally by agents of the United States government," said U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal who authored the report and spoke during the hearing on Tuesday.
Blumenthal notes that the stories compiled in the report and hearing are just some amongst hundreds that exist.
There are four new accounts included in the report relayed by U.S. Citizens who have never spoken with the media about their kidnappings. Julian Cardenas, Alberto Nila, and Ceasar Saltos were kidnapped in the area of Southern California. Their stories were shared for the first time. L.A. TACO will release a separate article, including these accounts tomorrow.
Of the 22 individuals, 11 of them were detained in the Los Angeles area including the aforementioned three: Cary Lopez Alvarado, Job Garcia, Brian Gavidia, Adrian Andrew Martinez, Javier Ramirez, Rafie Ollah Shouhed, Andrea Velez, Andreina Mejia, and her 15-year-old son.
The report does not include the testimonies of green card holders or visa recipients who have been taken by federal immigration agents. An article by Pro Publica detailed at least 170 instances of U.S. Citizens having been detained by federal immigration agents, which prompted the investigation by Senate Democrats.
L.A. TACO found that there have been at least 15 U.S. citizens detained in at least 96 “Kavanaugh Stops” in Southern California–which have been the result of the Supreme Court’s stay on the temporary restraining order on racial profiling by federal immigration agents in Los Angeles and surrounding counties.
The report describes patterns that investigators found during their interviews: Seven of the 22 individuals interviewed were held for longer than 24 hours; the detention of and reckless treatment of children; the routine use of excessive force; the denial of medical care and basic needs; violent reactions to community observers; denied claims of citizenship; the widespread use of agents using clothes to conceal their identities; causing fear; and agents fabricating assault claims.
L.A TACO has reported on the brutal detainment and initial disappearance of Adrian Andrew Martinez into federal immigration custody in June, and was the first outlet to speak with his family.
This comes at a time when the Supreme Court is reviewing birth right citizenship, which is a constitutionally protected right. DHS has been clear about their agencies aims, through their propagandistic tweets calling for people to “remigrate,” a term associated with the far-right conspiracy of “the great replacement theory,” according to CNN.
It is a term rooted in white supremacy and the ethnic cleansing of anyone who is not white. The DHS X account is home to a slew of anti-immigrant, racist, and xenophobic comments distributed by the federal agency.
DHS has lied to the U.S. public, denying claims that U.S. Citizens are being racially profiled.
It is clear in our reporting here at L.A. TACO, and in this Senate Probe, that U.S Citizens are being detained and their’ civil liberties are being violated, resulting in countless human rights abuses.
The abuse of U.S. citizens, with protected legal status, is another chilling indication that the treatment of people without legal status is significantly much worse. This past year has seen the highest rate of death in detention in decades, with three additional deaths occurring in ICE custody this month in Texas.
“The Trump Administration is seeking to build a nationwide paramilitary force with vast resources that lawlessly detains citizens based on its own whims—an effort which has a number of unfortunate and obvious historical parallels,” states the report.
Children detained by federal immigration agents
“M”, a 6 year-old child with autism, lured and kidnapped by ICE agents (September 16, 2025)
“M” was kidnapped from her family's car by armed ICE agents in Massachusetts. Agents held her on the edge of her family's lawn in an attempt to lure her parents off of their private property. Agents took her to the local police department where she fell ill and was not provided with medical treatment. When she was released she had to be taken to the emergency room for treatment, had to miss school, and now suffers from nightmares.
14-year-old zip-tied and six and eight year-olds held at gunpoint by unidentifiable men (October 19, 2025)
“I’m gonna fucking blow your head off, “ masked agents told Anabel Romero.
Romero told investigators that masked agents threatened to shoot her point-blank after she asked them to identify themselves during a violent encounter–which resulted in her children being ziptied and held at gunpoint. One of the children has special needs.
This occurred during a horse race in Idaho where Anabel Romero was confronted by masked men. Her daughter sustained bruised ribs after the men pulled her out of the truck. She and her children were held separately.
15-year-old with special needs, kidnapped at gunpoint in front of school (August 11, 2025)
“At least you’ll have an exciting story to tell when you go back to school, ” a federal immigration agent told a 15-year-old, after a case of mistaken identity.
While in the parking lot of Arleta High School, Andreina Mejia’s 15-year-old son with special needs was removed at gunpoint from her car and handcuffed by federal immigration agents. Los Angeles police officers told the federal agents to pick up the bullets they left scattered on the floor of the vehicle, and an agent told the police officers to use them to “practice their shooting.”
Cary Lopez Alvarado (June 8, 2025)
“Do you want to get killed?” an agent asked Lopez when she dialed 911 while they were attempting to detain her family members.
Lopez Alvarado was nine months pregnant and sitting in her car in Hawthorne, as part of her daily routine of leaving lunch for her husband and cousin. Her husband called her and said federal immigration agents were following them. She left her vehicle and walked over to where her family members were surrounded by unmarked vehicles and agents. She began to record, told agents they were on private property, and called 9-1-1.
She was shoved into the side of the truck, by federal agents, clutching her belly to protect her baby. She was handcuffed by agents and became dizzy. They were all taken to a location in Commerce.
Cary said that all three of them were taken in the same car to “an isolated place” in the City of Commerce and, one by one, were ordered to step out of the vehicle. An agent asked her, “That baby’s from Mexico, right?”
Officers asked her where she was born. She told them here in Los Angeles, and provided them with her social security and I.D. Agents kept her outside of the vehicle for several hours, where she told them she needed to use the bath room. Agents then told her to squat between their cars, as some agents watched.
They were taken to the LAPD Harbor Community police station in San Pedro, where she was fingerprinted and photographed while undergoing severe stomach pain. She was not released until midnight, when a DHS agent informed her they would press charges against her. She went to the hospital to be treated for her abdominal pain and loss of feeling she was experiencing in some areas of her body.
She gave birth four days later, while her husband and cousin were still incarcerated.
Javier Ramirez (June 12, 2005)
“[J]ust get him, he’s Mexican,” masked agents told Ramirez when masked agents grabbed him on private property.
Ramirez had his I.D. and passport with him inside his pocket, when he was kidnapped from his work place in Montebello, California. He is diabetic and was held for over four days. He passed out in the back of the agents' vehicles due to a combination of violent blows and the refusal of access to his medication. He was denied access to counsel and communication with his family, as well. All charges brought by federal agents were dropped against him.
Andrea Velez (June 24, 2025)
“[My mom is] probably going to wait for me to come home, and I’m never going to come home," Velez told senate investigators. “I thought they were kidnapping me.”
Velez was being dropped off at her workplace in Los Angeles, by her family members when she was confronted by masked agents who did not identify themselves. She had her ID in her bag. She was violently arrested and pulled into an unmarked vehicle. In detention she met another U.S. Citizen, Luis Hipolito, a 23-year-old who alleged he had been severely beaten by agents. She was detained for more than two days, and was accused of assaulting a federal agent. Her charges were later dropped.
Job Garcia (June 19, 2025)
“I got another one,” a federal immigration agent, told Garcia as they were detaining him. “None of the agents bothered to check my status,” Garcia told investigators.
Garcia was detained in Hollywood after he began to film an immigration raid at a Home Depot from a distance. He was tackled by five agents and detained. He was taken to Dodger Stadium then taken to a detention facility. Job was moved to Dodger Stadium and then a detention facility, where he was held despite having proved he was a U.S. Citizen.
Brian Gavidia (June 12, 2025)
“They see me hugging him and they embarrassed us. They were laughing and bullying us,” Gavidia told investigators, about the moment when he consoled the brother of one of his co-workers who was the target of agents’ taunting.
Gavidia was detained by DHS agents at the tow yard he works at in Montebello. Agents pushed him against a wall despite him telling them he is a U.S. citizen. Agents responded by taunting him, and looking through his cell phone. His co-worker who was also a citizen was violently taken. The encounter lasted almost an hour. Gavidias’ ID, which agents confiscated during the interaction, was not returned.
Adrian Andrew Martinez (June 17, 2025)
20-year-old Martinez was brutally detained by federal immigration agents while speaking up for an older man who was being kidnapped in parking lot of a Pico-Rivera Walmart, where he worked. He was dragged and choked into the agent's vehicle.
Days into detention, Martinez was accused of assaulting federal agents. He was detained for three days in the Metropolitan Detention Center and was denied access to a phone call. Several charges were dropped, but he is still facing a charge of conspiracy to impede a federal officer.
Martinez was denied access to the $100 his sister had placed on commissary for him. The unused funds have not been refunded back to his family.
Rafie Ollah Shouhed (September, 2025)
“You don’t fuck with ICE. We are here,” agents told Ollah Shouhed while handcuffing him.
“I’m a United States citizen. What are you doing to me?” he replied.
79-year-old Ollah Shouhed was brutally detained by federal immigration agents during a warrantless raid on his small business in Van Nuys.”
He was thrown and held against the ground by three agents. He sustained broken ribs, trauma to his chest, cuts, torn ligaments, and a brain injury. He was denied medical care and was detained for almost twelve hours.
Wilmer Chavarria (July 23, 2025)
“[You] ha[ve] no constitutional rights at a port of entry,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers told Chavarria, while detaining him at the airport following a trip to visit family in Nicaragua.
Chavarria, who is a superintendent of the Winooski School District in Vermont, was interrogated by officers for hours in an isolated room, away from his husband–whom he was travelling with.
The customs agent initially told him he had been “flagged,” but no reason was given for the interrogation. He was coerced, pressured, and aggressively threatened into handing over all of his electronics, including passwords to his personal devices and later, to the devices that were school district property, which contained sensitive information about students.
Officers denied him access to a phone call or lawyer. Officers looked through and questioned him about personal messages between him and his husband, releasing him after five hours.
The reports of brutality present in these detentions of U.S. citizens, conducted by agents of the federal government, is the physical manifestation of years of dehumanizing rhetoric directed at immigrants and non-white people by Donald Trump.
Bullies rule by fear and violence, and that is exactly how federal immigration agents have been behaving under the Trump administration's “mass deportation” mandate. The actions taken by federal immigration agents are not mistakes–they suggest the intentional targeting of Americans with ill treatment, detention, and abuse as part of the direct mission of Border Patrol, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump and his immigration agency cronies feel threatened by the American melting pot, and anyone who is not in line with their vision of a White nation.
This pattern of violent civil rights abuses of U.S. Citizens is a blaring alarm bell–just the tip of an egregious iceberg of violations of due process, and often lack of probable cause.
Frankly, this behavior by the federal government is shameful, embarrassing, and unconstitutional: Donald Trump doesn’t make America great, he makes it worse.
