Are ice taking legal citizens or people who are going through legal immigration processes?

1. Extracting the core allegation: Who is being taken by ICE and why this matters

The central claim under review asks whether ICE “takes” legal citizens or people undergoing legal immigration processes; the available analyses show two distinct problems: ICE has both mistakenly detained and deported U.S. citizens, and routinely arrests lawful permanent residents and visa holders who are legally present but may be subject to removal because of alleged criminal history or database flags. ProPublica’s investigation documented more than 170 U.S. citizens held by immigration agents in recent reporting, including cases where individuals produced proof of citizenship but were still detained ^{[1] [6]}. At the same time, news reporting and case examples show that green‑card holders and people in the process of naturalization have been targeted during sweeps, demonstrating that lawful status does not immunize individuals from enforcement action ^[5]. The distinction matters because wrongful detention of citizens raises constitutional and civil‑rights issues, while targeting of lawful immigrants raises questions about administrative error, discretionary enforcement, and statutory deportability definitions.

2. Evidence that U.S. citizens have been detained or deported: patterns and documented cases

Investigations and oversight reports document concrete instances where ICE and related programs have arrested or detained U.S. citizens. NPR’s fact check and ProPublica’s reporting cite at least 170 reported cases of Americans held by immigration agents, along with lawsuits and personal accounts alleging mistreatment, inability to contact counsel, and detentions lasting days ^{[2] [1]}. The American Immigration Council and a GAO audit found that between 2015 and 2020 government records identified dozens of citizens arrested, detained, or even deported due to database errors and misidentification—70 deported, 674 arrested, and 121 detained in that period per the GAO figures cited by the Council ^[3]. These patterns implicate faulty data systems and insufficient verification processes, not isolated anecdotes.

3. Evidence that lawful immigrants and people in legal processes are detained: scale and characteristics

Separate from citizen‑specific errors, reporting shows a substantial population of lawful permanent residents and visa holders in ICE custody, often because prior criminal convictions make them removable or because administrative record flags them for enforcement. Recent data analyses show that a large share of detainees have no criminal convictions—indeed, one dataset cited indicates 71.5% of current detainees lack criminal convictions—while ICE detention totals remain high, with thousands in custody ^{[7] [4]}. The Los Angeles Times and other outlets documented enforcement sweeps that apprehended long‑term green‑card holders, including elderly residents and individuals who have been in the U.S. for decades ^[5]. These cases highlight how immigration law’s narrow categories of “removable” conduct and the agency’s enforcement priorities produce detention of people with otherwise long‑standing lawful ties.

4. System failures and legal rulings: how error‑prone systems produce wrongful detentions

Multiple sources trace wrongful arrests and detentions to error‑prone databases, insufficient training, and programs like Secure Communities that relied heavily on fingerprint matches and automated detainer requests. The American Immigration Council notes that Secure Communities prompted law‑enforcement to arrest many individuals who were U.S. citizens or otherwise not deportable, a practice a federal judge later found constitutionally problematic when used without individualized probable cause ^[8]. GAO and advocacy reporting documented systemic verification failures and inconsistent training that contributed to misidentification and erroneous deportations ^[3]. ProPublica and NPR emphasize that the government does not comprehensively track all such errors, meaning public tallies likely understate the full scope of wrongful detentions ^{[2] [1]}.

5. Competing narratives, policy implications, and what’s omitted from public claims

Government and some political narratives emphasize removal of “criminals” as ICE’s focus, but the empirical record shows a mismatch: many detainees lack criminal convictions, lawful residents have been targeted, and citizens have been caught in enforcement nets due to database flaws and profiling ^{[4] [3]}. Coverage and legal actions reveal ongoing litigation alleging racial profiling, civil‑rights violations, and demands for better verification and oversight ^{[2] [8]}. Missing from many public statements is acknowledgment of the systemic sources of error—database reliability, cross‑agency communication, and accountability mechanisms—issues repeatedly flagged by investigative reporting and government audits. The evidence supports the conclusion that ICE does sometimes detain U.S. citizens and does detain people who are legally in the immigration process, either by administrative error or because immigration law renders some lawful residents removable.