Kristi Noem said immigration agents haven’t arrested or detained US citizens. That’s Pants on Fire!

During a press conference about a Midwestern immigration enforcement operation, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said federal agents have not detained U.S. citizens. 

Chicago, the center of the effort dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, is the latest target in the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown. Agents have arrested more than 3,000 people during the operation. Noem said the effort covers the area "that the field office is covering," and local news outlets reported that the Chicago Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office also includes Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky and Kansas.

"There’s no American citizens have been arrested or detained. We focus on those that are here illegally" Noem said during the Oct. 30 press conference in Gary, Indiana. "And anything that you would hear or report that would be different than that is simply not true and false reporting."

Noem didn’t say whether she was referring to Operation Midway Blitz specifically or the nationwide immigration crackdown more broadly, and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to our questions about her statement. 

By either measure, Noem’s wrong. News reports and lawsuits show that U.S. citizens have been detained during Operation Midway Blitz, and a ProPublica investigation documented 170 cases of U.S. citizens who have been arrested by immigration agents across the country since Trump started his second term. 

Homeland Security addressed such reports in an Oct. 1 statement: "We have said it a million times: ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens."

But DHS has also released several statements and posted on social media explaining why U.S. citizens have been detained or arrested.

Here are some examples.

Several U.S. citizens in Chicago say they’ve been arrested by immigration agents

The detentions and arrests of U.S. citizens during Operation Midway Blitz have included people who DHS said were obstructing law enforcement, and people who were released after showing proof of U.S. citizenship. 

Journalists in Chicago sued the Trump administration saying federal agents have illegally stopped, detained and "arrested hundreds of people, including many citizens." 

The suit names Steve Held, a U.S. citizen who the lawsuit says was arrested and later released without charges.

Another lawsuit details the detention of U.S. citizen Julio Noriega, who said he was taken into custody by federal immigration agents and held overnight in an ICE processing facility. Immigration officers released Noriega after looking in his wallet and seeing his identification.

Noriega is among 22 people the American Civil Liberties Union is representing against the Trump administration, alleging unlawful arrests and detentions by ICE. Immigration agents failed to properly verify Noriega’s citizenship and did not document his arrest, the lawsuit says.

Federal immigration agents also detained Debbie Brockman, a U.S. citizen who works for a Chicago TV station, before releasing her. 

"Deborah Brockman, a U.S. citizen, threw objects at Border Patrol’s car," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN after video of Brockman’s arrest went viral. Brockman was released without charges and denies wrongdoing, and witnesses have disputed the DHS account.

ICE has arrested U.S. citizens across the country

The detention of U.S. citizens hasn’t been restricted to Operation Midway Blitz. 

In New Mexico, Border Patrol arrested Jose Hermosillo in April and kept him in custody for about 10 days. DHS said Hermosillo answered "yes" when officers asked if he was in the U.S. illegally.

Agents released Hermosilo after his family produced a birth certificate and Social Security documentation and a federal judge dismissed a criminal case against him. Hermosillo’s parents told CBS News that their son has an intellectual disability and can’t read or write.

In Florida, Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, a 20-year-old born in Georgia, was arrested after a traffic stop and briefly held on charges tied to a Florida immigration law. The charges were dismissed after his mother presented his birth certificate, state ID and Social Security card.

During an immigration raid in Hawthorne, California, ICE agents detained pregnant citizen Cary López Alvarado, releasing her later that day. 

"Cary Lopez was arrested because she obstructed federal law enforcement by blocking access to a car that had two Guatemalan illegal aliens in it," McLaughlin told NBC News. 

In Alabama, Leonardo Garcia Venegas said he was working at a construction site when masked agents entered the area, according to ProPublica. When his undocumented brother asked to see a warrant, Garcia Venegas started recording on his phone. 

He kept filming until officers turned on him. In the footage, agents try to take him down as he shouts, "I’m a citizen!" They pulled out his Alabama REAL ID — which is issued only to legal residents — but dismissed it as fake, according to ProPublica. 

Garcia Venegas was handcuffed and held for more than an hour before being released. His brother, who is not a U.S. citizen, was later deported. 

Our ruling

Noem said "No American citizens have been arrested or detained" during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns.

That’s wrong. 

Lawsuits, news reports and DHS statements show that numerous U.S. citizens have been detained or arrested by immigration agents in and around Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. A ProPublica investigation documented 170 cases of federal immigration officers detaining U.S. citizens nationwide under the Trump administration.

We rate Noem’s statement Pants on Fire! ​