Are US citizens also being deported under ICE
Executive summary
Yes — multiple government audits, legal clinics, news investigations and court filings show that U.S. citizens have been mistakenly arrested, detained and in documented cases removed from the country by immigration authorities; the Government Accountability Office found evidence of arrests, detentions and at least 70 removals in its reviewed period while advocacy groups and law clinics have catalogued many individual wrongful-deportation cases [1] [2] [3].
1. The hard numbers and what federal auditors found
The U.S. Government Accountability Office reviewed ICE and CBP practices and data and concluded that while policies exist, agencies do not systematically track encounters involving potential U.S. citizens, and ICE’s own available records show arrests, detentions and removals of some people later asserted to be U.S. citizens — the GAO’s analysis identified at least 70 removals in the period it examined [1].
2. Case files and clinic investigations: patterns of mistake and harm
Long-form reporting and academic clinics document a pattern of misidentification, protracted detention and, in multiple reported instances, removal: independent clinics and lawyers have reported cases like Andres Robles and Roberto Dominquez who were wrongly detained or expelled and later fought successful legal claims or settlements [3] [4].
3. Recent high-profile allegations and congressional pushback
In 2025 and thereafter, attorneys and civil-rights organizations publicized cases — including children and adults who lawyers say were deported with minimal process — prompting members of Congress to demand investigations and oversight of ICE’s practices for handling possible citizens [5] [6].
4. The department’s denials and contested narratives
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have publicly disputed many allegations and issued statements asserting that ICE does not arrest or deport U.S. citizens, and DHS has characterized at least some lawsuits as based on inaccurate facts or false claims — examples include DHS rebuttals and a DHS statement about a dropped ACLU-supported suit [7] [8].
5. Court rulings, defective processes and one-off defiance of orders
Federal courts and civil-rights suits have both found ICE actions unlawful in specific cases — court orders and rulings have criticized wrongful detentions — and advocacy groups contend there are instances where ICE removed people despite pending federal litigation or orders, raising concerns about adherence to judicial protections [9] [10].
6. Why the true scale remains unclear and what that implies
Available reporting and government reviews repeatedly emphasize incomplete tracking and inconsistent guidance inside ICE and CBP, meaning public tallies (such as the GAO’s minimum figures or TRAC’s higher counts) are likely undercounts and make precise nationwide accounting difficult without better agency record-keeping and transparent oversight [1] [2].
7. Bottom line and competing readings
The preponderance of audited evidence, legal clinic records and news investigations demonstrates that U.S. citizens have been wrongfully caught up in immigration enforcement — sometimes arrested, detained and in documented cases removed — even as DHS maintains that its policy forbids deporting citizens and disputes particular allegations; because agency tracking is incomplete and some claims remain litigated or contested, the answer is factually “yes” for documented cases, while the scale and causes continue to be disputed and under investigation [1] [2] [7] [5].