U.S. Citizens Detail “Unchecked” Immigration Detentions: “I Identified Myself as a Veteran, But That Didn’t Matter”

The testimonies delivered in Washington, D.C. laid bare an alarming pattern of unlawful detentions that should concern anyone who believes in constitutional protections. U.S. citizens described encounters with federal immigration authorities so extreme that they defy basic expectations of safety, due process, and human dignity. As Army veteran George Retes explained, “I identified myself as a U.S. citizen and a veteran, but that didn’t matter.” His words capture a devastating reality: individuals who hold full legal rights in this country were still swept into raids and treated as though those rights did not exist.

Witnesses described terror and confusion, begging for answers as they were taken into custody with no explanation. “I begged them to tell me who they were and where they were taking me,” said Chicago resident Dayanne Figueroa. Their stories appear in a Senate report titled Unchecked Authority: Examining The Trump Administration’s Extrajudicial Immigration Detentions of U.S. Citizens, which concluded that people were physically harmed, pepper-sprayed, denied medical care, and in some cases held for days without justification. 

As Senator Richard Blumenthal stated, “This report ought to shock America’s conscience.”

Lawmakers watched video footage of federal agents ramming Figueroa’s vehicle, followed by her descriptions of neglect so severe it risked her life. “I repeatedly told them that I was recovering from two recent kidney surgeries. No one took it seriously until I began to pee blood,” she said. Others described being deprived of water. “I was unable to access drinking water without first purchasing a cup. I was thirsty,” said Los Angeles resident Andrea Velez.

Retes’ own account was emotionally wrenching. After being detained during a workplace raid in Camarillo, he was stripped, placed in a hospital gown, and put on suicide watch. “My family had no idea where I was,” he said, adding that he was later released “without explanation and without a single charge.”

Reports indicate that roughly 130 citizens were arrested during raids and protests this year, many of whom later had their cases dropped. Retes asked the question at the heart of this crisis: “What can we do together to ensure this never happens again?” Yet the Department of Homeland Security still refuses to say how many citizens have been taken into custody, despite mounting evidence of unconstitutional practices.

Link: ABC7