ICE's own policy states clearly: "As a matter of law, ICE cannot assert its civil immigration enforcement authority to arrest and/or detain a U.S. citizen." That policy exists because it's happened. Repeatedly. A government watchdog report found that over a five-year period, ICE arrested 674 people who were potentially US citizens. Of those, 121 were detained. 70 were deported. The real number is likely higher — ICE and CBP don't keep adequate records to know exactly how many people were wrongly targeted. Under Trump 2.0, with arrests surging and safeguards gutted, experts and immigration attorneys are now warning publicly: American citizenship is no longer a reliable shield.
Davino Watson Spent Three Years in an Alabama Detention Center. He Was American the Whole Time.
Davino Watson is a US citizen from New York. He was picked up by ICE and held in an Alabama detention facility for three years before being released. Without an attorney, he had to prove his own citizenship — alone, from inside a detention center. He eventually did. ICE let him go. No apology. No explanation. The case went to court. He lost on procedural grounds. He was never compensated. Watson's case is not an aberration. It is a documented outcome of a system that prioritizes speed and enforcement numbers over accuracy — and has no meaningful consequences when it gets it wrong.
The system has no reliable mechanism to quickly verify citizenship claims. ICE officers aren't required to stop and verify when a detained person asserts citizenship. Training materials contradict policy. Nobody is accountable when they deport an American.
Under Trump 2.0: Faster, Bigger, Fewer Safeguards.
The Vera Institute documented what's changed. ICE now arrests people at routine check-ins — meaning showing up to comply with legal requirements gets you detained. "At-large" arrests — agents pulling people from their homes, cars, and workplaces — increased 600%. Bond hearings are increasingly unavailable: a July 2025 ICE memo declared that anyone who originally entered without papers, regardless of how long they've lived in the US legally, cannot ask for release on bond. That policy goes against existing law. Courts are fighting it. ICE is doing it anyway. Discretionary releases from detention fell 87% by November 2025. The administration is also pursuing a plan to denaturalize up to 200 US citizens per month in 2026 — stripping citizenship from people who were naturalized — and separately trying to eliminate birthright citizenship entirely, which the courts have blocked. If birthright citizenship were eliminated, more than 250,000 children born annually in the US would not be granted citizenship at birth.
In Minneapolis, ICE Defied Court Orders and Detained People With Legal Status.
The Washington Post documented specific cases out of Minneapolis where ICE officers detained people who had valid work permits and legal temporary protected status — and continued making similar arrests after courts ordered otherwise. One 62-year-old dishwasher, a Salvadoran man named Jose Avendano who had a valid work permit, was yanked out of his car. He showed them his documentation. They detained him anyway. Officers are reinterpreting a 1996 law to claim they can detain anyone undocumented without bond — indefinitely. Courts disagree. ICE is doing it anyway.
Fifty members of Congress, led by Rep. Dan Goldman and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, sent a letter to DHS demanding an immediate investigation. They asked specifically: what protocols exist to prevent the arrest of US citizens? How long does verification take? What happens to officers who fail to verify citizenship claims? DHS declined to comment.
This post distinguishes between documented facts, allegations, and analysis. Where motive, intent, corruption, or illegality remains disputed in the public record, the text attributes that judgment to court findings, official records, direct quotes, or the reporting linked below.
- American Immigration Council: GAO data — ICE arrested 674 potential US citizens, detained 121, deported 70; Davino Watson case.
- Rep. Dan Goldman / Congress.gov: 50 members of Congress demand investigation into ICE detentions of US citizens.
- Vera Institute: 600% increase in at-large arrests; 87% drop in discretionary releases; denaturalization quota of 200/month; birthright citizenship threat.
- Washington Post: Minneapolis cases — ICE detaining people with valid legal status in defiance of court orders.