Have there been recent cases or reports (2023-2025) of U.S. citizens wrongfully deported or detained by immigration authorities?
Executive summary
Recent reporting and litigation from 2023–2025 show multiple documented instances where people were detained or removed in error, including a 2023 ACLU case in which U.S. citizen Mark Lyttle was wrongfully deported to Mexico (settlement reported Feb. 27, 2023) and high‑profile 2025 cases such as Kilmar Ábrego García, whom courts found was wrongly deported to El Salvador and whose challenge proceeded in July 2025 [1] [2]. Advocacy groups and courts say the problem is systemic: watchdogs and nonprofits have identified dozens to potentially hundreds of mistaken arrests, detentions, and removals tied to inconsistent agency practices and incomplete tracking [3] [4].
1. Documented U.S. citizens wrongfully deported: named cases and settlements
Advocacy groups and courts have identified concrete examples. The ACLU reported that Mark Lyttle — an American with severe cognitive and psychiatric disabilities — was detained and deported to Mexico despite evidence of U.S. citizenship and later settled a federal case [1] [5]. In 2025, courts took up the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García, a man the government removed to El Salvador despite prior judicial protections; a federal judge allowed his legal challenge to proceed [2] [6]. These named cases show the phenomenon occurs across administrations and can lead to litigation and judicial rebukes [5] [2].
2. Courts and judges have criticized recent removals as unlawful or botched
Federal judges have in several instances described recent removals as unlawful or criticized government candor in discovery, particularly regarding the Abrego Garcia case where a judge said the administration attempted to obstruct the truth [6] [2]. Reporters and court rulings in 2025 also show judges ordering returns or expressing alarm when removals violated prior court orders or procedural protections [2].
3. Patterns identified by advocates and watchdogs: training, tracking, and safeguards
Independent reviews and advocacy groups point to recurring system flaws. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and nonprofit analyses find ICE lacks consistent training on identifying potential U.S. citizens and does not systematically track encounters where citizenship is in question — gaps that researchers say help explain mistaken arrests, detentions, and deportations [3] [4]. The American Immigration Council cited data suggesting ICE may have deported dozens of U.S. citizens in recent years, noting incomplete agency records hamper precise counts [3].
4. Children, people with disabilities, and vulnerable populations repeatedly appear in reports
Reporting and litigation emphasize that vulnerable people — children, people with disabilities, and those with limited ability to advocate for themselves — are overrepresented among wrongful‑removal victims. The ACLU highlighted Lyttle’s cognitive disabilities; other 2025 reporting and NGO statements describe U.S. citizen children and seriously ill people who were detained or removed alongside relatives [1] [7].
5. Government response and competing official claims
Federal agencies have pushed back in some instances. DHS and ICE statements in 2025 publicly denied systematic wrongful removals and disputed some reporting, with DHS at times framing lawsuits as baseless [8] [9]. At the same time, agency data pages and official statistics acknowledge complexities in categorizing arrests by citizenship and emphasize enforcement categories and processes [10]. This creates competing narratives: independent advocates and judges cite concrete errors and systemic gaps, while some agency statements insist citizens are not deported and defend procedures [5] [8].
6. Scale is contested; available data are incomplete
Estimates of scope differ. Some analyses and media reporting suggest dozens to potentially hundreds of wrongful actions (one analyst cited up to 70 deportations in a prior multiyear window), but researchers warn agency records are incomplete, making firm tallies impossible without improved tracking [3] [4]. Available sources do not provide a definitive, up‑to‑date national count for 2023–2025; they emphasize methodological limits and point to the need for better data [3] [4].
7. What courts, advocates, and watchdogs recommend next
Legal and policy advocates call for concrete safeguards: mandatory supervisory interviews when citizenship is claimed, systematic electronic tracking of citizenship investigations, legal representation for vulnerable detainees, and tighter oversight when local law enforcement cooperates with ICE — recommendations reflected in GAO findings and in litigation outcomes [4] [11]. Courts have sometimes ordered remedies or rebuked agencies when procedures failed [11] [2].
Limitations: this review uses reporting, advocacy releases, GAO findings and court reporting available in the cited sources; available sources do not include a single, audited national tally for 2023–2025 and do not resolve every disputed agency claim [3] [4].