Federal immigration agents detained at least 17 U.S. citizens in New Jersey between January 2025 and October 2026, according to a ProPublica investigation that documented more than 500 such cases nationwide.
The review, compiled from social media posts, court records and local news reports, identified at least eight incidents involving citizens detained in New Jersey.
They included a military veteran questioned during a Newark worksite raid and a mother tackled in front of her children in Asbury Park, then held for eight hours at an immigration detention facility before being released without charges.
The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that its agents do not mistakenly arrest U.S. citizens and that detentions of citizens are incidental to lawful enforcement operations.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said agents “may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting fieldwork and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity.”
The Trump administration says none of this is happening, according to the non-profit news agency.
“DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake.” “There are no ‘indiscriminate’ stops.” Allegations of “racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.” “The pattern is NOT of law enforcement using force.” “ICE does not zip tie or restrain children.”
ProPublica said that is precisely what is happening, and at a far greater scale than previously reported.
Newark raids and worksite operations
The earliest New Jersey incident documented in the review occurred Jan. 23, 2025, when ICE agents conducted a warrantless raid at Ocean Seafood Depot in Newark. Mayor Ras Baraka said agents detained both undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens, including a military veteran whose documentation they questioned. Baraka called the raid a “plain violation” of the Fourth Amendment.
A cluster of detentions followed in Newark in late May and early June 2026. Two citizens were detained May 26, and six were held in a single incident the next day. Individual detentions were also reported May 28, May 29 and June 5, according to ProPublica’s database. Further details were not immediately available.
Asbury Park mother detained as children watched
One widely publicized case involved Michelle Mendoza, a 27-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of two, who was detained April 15, 2026, in Asbury Park.
According to bystander video and NJ.com’s reporting, Mendoza went to the scene after her husband, Alejandro Rios, called to say he believed ICE agents were following him. By the time she arrived, agents had handcuffed Rios and two other men.
As Mendoza approached her husband, agents restrained her, tackled her to the ground, and handcuffed her. Video shows her 9-year-old daughter and a toddler crying in her vehicle as agents stood nearby. Mendoza identified herself as a U.S. citizen on camera.
She was taken to Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility in Newark, and held for about eight hours before being released without charges.
NJ.com reported that Mendoza was detained on suspicion of assaulting an agent. Mendoza told reporters she suffered bruises and that the encounter traumatized her daughter.
State Sen. Vin Gopal and Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, all Monmouth County Democrats, called the incident “horrific and unacceptable” and urged the state attorney general’s office to intervene.
Asbury Park Police Director John Hayes said local officers did not participate in the operation and could not interfere with federal enforcement actions.
Passaic bystander held for five hours
Brandon Domena, a U.S. citizen and lifelong Passaic County resident, was detained by ICE agents near his home July 23, 2026.
Domena told News 12 that he was watching agents arrest another man when a verbal confrontation occurred. DHS alleged that Domena spat toward an agent and kicked an officer.
Domena denied spitting directly at anyone and said he did not recall kicking anyone.
Domena said agents threw him to the ground, placed him in a vehicle, and held him for about five hours without water, access to a restroom, medical attention, or a phone call. He was released that day and, according to the reporting, was not charged.
“Every week, they are arresting a U.S. citizen,” Domena said. “This has to be talked about more. This has to be investigated.”
A national pattern
The New Jersey cases reflect a broader pattern documented by ProPublica. Among citizens detained nationwide after agents questioned their citizenship, nearly all were people of color. At least 70 children and teenagers were detained, some in handcuffs.
Of the more than 300 citizens detained for allegedly assaulting or obstructing agents, fewer than half were charged in federal court.
Many of those cases were later dropped or dismissed, ProPublica reported.
Experts have warned that aggressive immigration enforcement tactics would inevitably ensnare citizens.
Scott Shuchart, a former senior immigration official who served during the Biden, Obama and first Trump administrations, told ProPublica that earlier administrations used intelligence to target specific individuals.
The current approach, he said, deploys resources indiscriminately across communities and workplaces.
Cody Wofsy, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, offered a blunt assessment: “Any one of us could be next.”
ICE has acknowledged using 220 concentration camps as of February 2026, but an independent analysis by the Vera Institute of Justice found that ICE was actually detaining people in 456 facilities during the same month (excluding medical facilities), indicating a much larger operational footprint than publicly acknowledged.
DHS has repeatedly denied targeting citizens or engaging in racial profiling, calling such allegations “disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.”
Leave a Reply