In a statement yesterday, current Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem said:
"There's no American citizens that have been arrested or detained. We focus on those are here illegally. And anything that you would hear or report that would be different than that is simply not true." (MSNBC. 2025)
Despite her comments on the ongoing Trump administration's immigration crackdown, there have been reports of multiple U.S. citizens caught in process. According to The Washington Post earlier this year, over a dozen citizens have been wrongfully detained or deported including children and veterans, since Trump's inauguration (The Washington Post. 2025).
Without data provided by the government, it's difficult to determine the true scope of wrongful detentions. However, USA Today relays information collected by ProPublica, an investigative journalism organization, that more than 170 similar incidents have occurred "during the first nine months of President Donald Trump's second administration" (USA Today. 2025). Although immigration agents justify such cases under reasonable suspicion or assault of immigration officers, only a "handful of citizens have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors" and almost all detained under suspicion have been Latino (USA Today. 2025).
