Recent cases of US citizens deported by ICE in 2025
Executive summary
Reporting from 2025 documents a string of high-profile mistakes and alarming detentions in which U.S. citizens — and in some cases people who appear to have been treated as citizens — were detained by ICE, and at least a few cases resulted in erroneous removals; advocates and some news investigations say the government does not reliably track how often this happens [1] [2]. Government sources emphasize a focus on criminal removals and expanded enforcement that year, while watchdogs, legal groups and outlets like ProPublica and Reuters documented both wrongful detentions and administrative failures that led to deportation or coerced self-deportation [3] [4] [1].
1. The headline cases: named Americans who were detained or deported
Publicly reported incidents in 2025 include the deportation of Souvannarath, which the Louisiana ACLU called “a catastrophic failure” and which advocates said demonstrated U.S. citizens were directly targeted or mistakenly processed by immigration officials [1]; the mistaken removal of Kilmar Armando Abrego García — an action the administration later called an “administrative error” after he was sent to El Salvador despite withholding of removal protections and a U.S. citizen spouse fighting for his return [2]; and multiple other episodes where people identified as U.S.-born or long-time residents — including Miguel Angel Ponce Jr. and Jensy Machado — were detained based on alleged deportation orders or mistaken identity, sometimes without warrants or clear paperwork [1] [2].
2. Patterns behind the errors: data gaps and aggressive enforcement
Investigations and advocacy groups warn the trend is partly structural: ProPublica and the Louisiana ACLU reported that the government does not comprehensively track how many U.S. citizens are detained by immigration agents, creating an accountability gap when mistakes occur [1]. At the same time, ICE’s public posture and expanded enforcement capacity in 2025 — including record detention numbers and a declared priority on removals — increased the volume and aggressiveness of operations, which Reuters and government statistics show contributed to more arrests and raised the risk of erroneous detentions [4] [5] [3].
3. Why some citizens get swept up: identity, paperwork, and denaturalization threats
Mistaken identity, clerical errors, and reliance on local jails to process detainees were recurring explanations in reporting: in several reported arrests ICE agents detained U.S.-born people after being shown photos or detainer paperwork that matched someone else [1]. Separately, legal commentary flagged a distinct legal pathway that affects naturalized citizens: the Justice Department announced in 2025 a push to prioritize denaturalization in certain cases, an action that does not apply to U.S.-born citizens but complicates the landscape for some people who might otherwise be treated as citizens [6].
4. Conflicting narratives and the limits of available reporting
The administration framed 2025 as a campaign against criminal noncitizens, pointing to large numbers of arrests and removals and touting expanded capacity [7] [3], but independent trackers and civil-rights groups flagged widespread incidents involving people with little or no criminal history and numerous procedural failings [8] [1]. Reporting also emphasizes caution: while multiple concrete examples of wrongful detention and at least a few erroneous removals were documented, available datasets are incomplete and journalistic sources acknowledge gaps in ICE’s public accounting — meaning the full scope of U.S. citizen detentions and removals in 2025 cannot be precisely quantified from the public record [1] [8].
5. What accountability looks like — and where reporting points next
Advocates won court orders and public rebukes in several cases, and news outlets pressed for greater transparency after detailed incidents such as the return-to-custody orders and legal challenges described in reporting [2] [1]; however, researchers and watchdogs recommend systemic reforms — from better tracking of citizen detentions to limits on jail-ICE information-sharing — if such errors are to be reduced, a claim supported by analysis showing jails’ central role in facilitating deportations [8] [1]. Given inconsistent public data and the administration’s expansion of enforcement, journalists and researchers say monitoring should remain a priority to determine whether these documented cases are outliers or part of a broader pattern [8] [5].