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How often does ICE mistakenly detain or deport U.S. citizens according to DOJ or DHS reports?
Executive summary
Available government reporting and agency statistics do not publish a simple, authoritative count of how often ICE mistakenly detains or deports U.S. citizens; DHS and ICE maintain detention and removals datasets by “citizenship” but do not supply a vetted, public tally of erroneous citizen detentions or deportations [1] [2]. Independent reviews, media investigations and advocacy groups have documented many individual cases and compiled tallies — for example, the American Immigration Council reported ICE may have deported as many as 70 U.S. citizens over five years [3] and news outlets and local researchers have documented 100+ citizen detentions in 2025 alone [4] [5].
1. No neat DOJ/DHS single-number exists — the agencies’ public data aren’t framed to count “mistakes”
DHS’s statistical programs and ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations publish tables on arrests, detentions and removals that are organized by reported country of citizenship and criminality, but those operational datasets are not designed to produce a confirmed count of wrongful citizen detentions or deportations; the Office of Homeland Security Statistics updates monthly but does not release a validated “mistaken citizen” metric [1] [2]. Analysts note ICE updates records and retroactively changes fields, which complicates efforts to measure errors directly from ICE’s public files [6].
2. DOJ or DHS reports cited by press do not provide an authoritative “mistake” tally
Search results here do not include a DOJ report giving a single figure for mistaken detention/deportation of citizens. Instead, coverage relies on piecing together ICE records, FOIA-produced datasets and journalism or advocacy group compilations to estimate errors — showing a reporting gap between agency operational statistics and a confirmed count of wrongful treatment [7] [6].
3. Independent tallies and media investigations document dozens to hundreds of citizen detentions
Multiple non-government sources and news investigations have compiled individual cases. The American Immigration Council estimated ICE may have deported up to 70 U.S. citizens in the previous five years [3]. Local and regional reporting and compilations found “more than 170” U.S. citizens held by immigration agents in 2025 in one review [4], while Axios and other outlets documented multiple instances of citizens held — in one reported case for 10 days — and noted ICE has not been releasing up-to-date statistics on such detentions [5].
4. DHS publicly disputes some media narratives while acknowledging operational issues
DHS has pushed back strongly against some reporting, issuing statements that “ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens” and asserting officers are trained to verify status; this is DHS’s official line to rebut certain articles [8]. At the same time, reporting and court records cited in the available sources document detentions of people later identified as citizens, and fact-checkers have found DHS statements inconsistent with documented incidents [9].
5. Root causes identified by investigations: databases, misidentification, and rushed operations
Investigations cited here trace many wrongful detentions to error-prone databases, outdated records, and procedural failures: a Los Angeles Times probe previously documented ICE’s reliance on incomplete records leading to erroneous detentions [10]. Recent reporting describes accelerated enforcement, heavier use of expedited removal, and overwhelmed processing infrastructure — factors that increase the risk of mistakes [11] [12].
6. Why the gap matters: legal consequences and undercounting risk
Absent a government-tracked “wrongful citizen detention” metric, victims rely on lawsuits and media exposure to secure release or remedies; that creates an undercount risk because many cases never reach national visibility or litigation [4] [13]. Advocacy groups and Congress have called for DHS to produce internal reviews and count such incidents; members of Congress requested briefings and records on how many U.S. citizens were stopped, arrested, detained or placed in removal proceedings in 2025 [14].
7. Competing narratives — safety claim vs. rights-and-errors claim
DHS emphasizes training, higher detention standards, and that arrests of citizens (when claimed) involve other offenses [8] [15]. Civil-rights groups, journalists and legal filings present a contrary empirical picture: documented examples and compiled case lists showing citizens detained or nearly deported, and systemic data practices that enable errors [5] [10] [4].
8. Bottom line and what to watch for next
Available sources do not provide a single DOJ or DHS figure for mistaken detentions or deportations of U.S. citizens; independent counts and reporting show dozens to potentially hundreds of documented incidents in 2025 and recent years [3] [4] [5]. If you want an authoritative government number, press Congressional requests and DHS/OHSS monthly tables and FOIA-accessed ICE datasets are the places to watch — but current reporting shows a persistent measurement gap that favors case-by-case investigations over a consolidated official tally [1] [7].