How many U.S. citizens have been detained by ICE according to the HSGAC subcommittee report, and which cases were documented?
Executive summary
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations concluded that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been held by federal immigration agents during the current Administration, and the subcommittee’s report catalogs multiple individual incidents and patterns of conduct that undercut official claims that no citizens were detained [1] [2]. The report documents named and described cases — including several high-profile local incidents reported to the subcommittee — and situates those cases inside a broader pattern of wrongful or excessive detentions reported to congressional investigators [3] [4] [5].
1. How many U.S. citizens does the subcommittee report say were detained?
The HSGAC Permanent Subcommittee’s report states that “more than 170 U.S. citizens have been held by immigration agents,” a figure the subcommittee cites in its outreach to the department and in follow-up letters to DHS leadership [1] [6]. That tally is presented as the subcommittee’s working count compiled during its inquiry and is referenced throughout the report as the baseline for its findings about systemic problems and official obfuscation [2] [1].
2. Which individual cases are documented in the report and public testimony?
The subcommittee and related reporting highlight several named examples: Javier Ramirez, detained in Montebello, who testified to the subcommittee about being taken into custody during an operation [3]; Andrea Velez, a U.S. citizen detained during an early-June operation in downtown Los Angeles who described being grabbed while on her way to work [3]; and at least one incident in Los Angeles involving agents detaining and shoving a pregnant U.S. citizen, described in letters the subcommittee sent to agency officials [4]. The report and the subcommittee’s public materials also point to incidents in Illinois and Minnesota where U.S. citizens were detained during immigration actions, including reporting of “two US citizens violently detained by ICE in Minnesota” in press coverage cited by the subcommittee [6] [5].
3. What patterns and corroborating evidence does the subcommittee associate with those cases?
The subcommittee’s analysis emphasizes recurring patterns: agents detaining people arbitrarily or with excessive force, agents asserting they were assaulted when video and witness accounts contradict those claims, and a broader failure by DHS to track or acknowledge instances of citizen detentions — including a public denial by DHS leadership that no citizens had been arrested or detained (which the subcommittee sought to rebut) [2] [6]. The report uses a combination of witness testimony, local reporting, and agency correspondence to argue that these are not isolated mistakes but a consistent set of troubling practices [2] [1].
4. Limits of the public record and what the report requests from DHS
The subcommittee repeatedly sought, and criticized DHS for failing to provide, comprehensive internal data on how many U.S. citizens have been detained, noting that agency responses were incomplete or absent and urging DHS to begin systematic tracking and to produce requested records [6] [1]. The public report presents the subcommittee’s count and selected case summaries, but it also notes gaps where DHS cooperation was lacking; where reporting or the subcommittee’s materials do not provide full documentation of every alleged incident, the report frames those as ongoing inquiries rather than closed factual adjudications [2] [1].
5. Alternative views and political context the subcommittee surfaces
The report explicitly frames its inquiry against public statements from DHS leadership denying any citizen detentions, and it cites media reporting and congressional letters challenging that denial; Republicans and DHS officials have defended enforcement actions and asserted compliance with standards, while congressional Democrats and advocacy groups cite the report as evidence that ICE and CBP are operating with dangerous impunity [6] [5] [7]. The subcommittee characterizes the problem as both operational (mistaken arrests, use of force) and administrative (failure to track and report), but the Administration’s public position denying citizen detentions is a key disputed fact the report aims to refute [2] [6].