We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

When the Supreme Court recently allowed immigration agents in the Los Angeles area to take race into consideration during sweeps, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that citizens shouldn’t be concerned.

“If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote, “they promptly let the individual go.”

But that is far from the reality many citizens have experienced. Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. One of those women had already had the door of her home blown off while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem watched.

I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason.

On July 10, I was on my way to work when ICE agents engulfed my car in tear gas, smashed my driver-side window, and pepper-sprayed my face. They dragged me out, threw me to the ground, and even while I was complying, one agent kneeled on my neck and another kneeled on my back as others stood by and watched.

I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. During that time, I was never told what I was charged with, was not allowed to shower despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, had no phone call to my family, and no access to an attorney. I was placed on suicide watch and missed my daughter’s third birthday. No explanation. No charges. No apology. One day, I was just told, “you’re free to go.”

Federal agents knock down elderly couple during Portland protest

An elderly couple says they were charged and knocked down by federal agents as they peacefully protested on Saturday in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland, just blocks from their home.

Laurie Eckman, 84, said she and her husband Richard Eckman, also 84 and a Vietnam war veteran, were rushed by federal officers “for no apparent reason.” She said her husband was leaning on his walker and wearing his Vietnam veterans cap as he was pushed to the ground.

Using helicopters and chemical agents, immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Agents used unmarked trucks and a helicopter to surround the five-story apartment building. NewsNation, which was invited to observe the operation, reported agents “rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters.” Agents then went door to door, woke up residents and used zip ties to restrain them.

Musician playing ‘Ghostbusters’ outside ICE facility is arrested by agents: ‘Why are they targeting a clarinetist?’

Oriana Korol, 38, was playing “Ghostbusters” with her group — the Unpresidented Brass Band — during a massive protest outside the ICE facility in Oregon’s largest city Sunday evening when federal agents arrested her, her loved ones said. She has since been taken to a jail in Washington as her husband and bandmates demand answers about her arrest.

US ‘on a trajectory’ toward authoritarian rule, ex-officials warn

“The speed with which we have devolved away from a fully functioning democracy is startling to me,” Gail Helt, a former CIA analyst and a member of the Steady State, said on a call with reporters after the assessment was published on Thursday. “In most cases, it takes longer than nine months to get where we are.”

A US-funded nutrition program was helping to keep this woman’s baby alive. Days after the program was cut, he died

Earlier this year, the Trump administration froze foreign aid and cut support for programs aid groups deemed lifesaving – decisions that quickly turned into life-or-death realities for families like Usman’s. The nutrition program in Dikwa, which was funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), received a sudden stop-work order during the administration’s aid freeze, according to the nonprofit that implemented the work, Mercy Corps.

The Trump administration had previously canceled more than 80% of programs at USAID, which delivered US humanitarian aid overseas. It later essentially shuttered the agency, claiming it was engaged in waste and abuse, and moved foreign aid administration under the State Department, which critics say has not delivered on much of USAID’s legacy work.