Has ICE deported any US citizens
Executive summary
The short, evidence-backed answer is: yes—independent government review and multiple documented cases indicate that U.S. citizens have been deported or removed by U.S. immigration authorities, though the scale and circumstances are disputed and the federal government contests some specific reports (GAO; news reporting) [1] [2] [3]. At the same time, DHS and ICE publicly insist they do not deport citizens and highlight examples they say were misreported or involved voluntary departures, producing a conflicting official narrative [3] [4].
1. What the government watchdog found: GAO’s tally and limits
A Government Accountability Office review—cited by advocacy groups and reporters—concluded that up to 70 people identified as potential U.S. citizens were wrongfully removed between roughly 2015 and 2020, and that ICE and CBP arrested hundreds of people who later claimed citizenship; the GAO also flagged poor recordkeeping and inconsistent training as major contributors to the problem (American Immigration Council summary of GAO findings; GAO cited in reporting) [1] [2]. Crucially, those GAO numbers are not precise counts of confirmed citizenships lost to removal but reflect “potential” citizens and systemic data gaps that prevent definitive tabulation, a limitation emphasized in analyses of agency data [1] [5].
2. Concrete cases: documented removals and court fights
Beyond aggregate findings, several high-profile incidents have been reported where people with plausible claims to U.S. citizenship were detained and in at least some instances removed—sometimes in apparent defiance of court orders or while claims were pending—most notably reporting that Chanthila Souvannarath was deported to Laos despite a federal injunction and long-standing claims to derivative citizenship (Wikipedia and immigrant-rights reporting cataloguing the case; NIPNLG press release) [2] [6]. News outlets and legal advocates have also documented multiple other instances of U.S.-born children, veterans, and naturalized citizens caught up in enforcement actions and, in some accounts, swiftly removed alongside relatives (congressional summaries and media reporting) [7] [8].
3. Official denials and selective counter-evidence from DHS/ICE
DHS has pushed back forcefully against blanket assertions that it “deports U.S. citizens,” releasing statements categorically denying that routine enforcement operations result in citizen removals and disputing specific media accounts as inaccurate or based on misinterpretation of facts (DHS rebuttals and press statements) [3] [4]. The department has pointed to examples it says were voluntary departures or arrests for unrelated criminal conduct to argue that headlines alleging mass deportations of citizens are misleading, an old and consistent defensive posture that also carries institutional incentives to minimize reputational damage [3] [4].
4. Why errors happen: paperwork, profiling, and procedural failures
Investigations and legal advocates point to a pattern of mistakes traceable to incomplete data systems, inconsistent officer training on how to handle citizenship claims, reliance on local jails and arrest quotas, and racial profiling that increases the risk of U.S. citizens—often people of color—being treated as noncitizens (American Immigration Council summary; Prison Policy analysis) [1] [5]. The result, critics say, is a system where a credible claim of citizenship can be insufficiently verified before transfer, detention, or, in a minority of cases, removal—especially when detainees lack counsel or rapid access to documents [1] [5].
5. The bottom line and what remains uncertain
The available reporting and government reviews establish that wrongful detention of U.S. citizens by ICE and CBP is real and that a nontrivial number of removals of people later identified as U.S. citizens likely occurred, but exact counts, motives in individual cases, and whether some high‑profile incidents were voluntary or coerced remain contested between journalists, courts, advocates, and DHS; agency data gaps and competing narratives mean definitive, up-to-the-minute totals are not available in the public record (GAO-based estimates; DHS denials; case reporting) [1] [3] [6]. Transparency, better recordkeeping, and independent oversight are the threads every side points to as necessary to resolve what is now a documented problem with serious but currently uncertain scope [1] [9].