US citizens detained by immigration agents describe how they were treated

William Brangham:

Tonight at midnight, the Department of Homeland Security will begin shutting down, except for essential operations.

Democrats here in Washington refuse to fund the agency unless it changes the way it carries out its campaign against immigration. Part of the protest was regarding the agency’s treatment of American citizens.

We have more on that from Lisa Desjardins.

Lisa Desjardins:

William, there was an uproar last month after Renee Judd and Alex Pretty were killed by immigration officers. But videos from around the country showed months of other violent interactions, including with American citizens.

We reached out and heard from three of them.

George Ritts, a US citizen arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

My name is George Ritis. I — I was born and raised here in Ventura, California, and I’m 26 years old and I’m an Iraq veteran.

Alia Rahman, a US citizen detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

My name is Alia Rahman. I was born in northern Wisconsin and grew up in Bangladesh. I now live in Minneapolis.

Jenna Christ, a US citizen arrested by Customs and Border Protection:

My name is Jenna Christ. I live in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

George Ritis:

I was going to work as usual. I show up. The ice is there. There is some kind of roadblock. Get out. I introduce myself as an American citizen, and I’m just trying to get to work.

Alia Rahman:

So I ran into a traffic jam and quickly realized it was ICE.

Jenna Christ:

I was on my way to work, and I honestly thought I would be watching or trying to help slow something down.

George Ritis:

I’m trying to leave.

I’m getting ready to leave and they surround my car, start banging on it, and start shouting these contradictory orders.

Alia Rahman:

I was told: “Move. I will break your window.”

And I couldn’t get a clear answer on where they wanted me to move to.

Jenna Christ:

There are people all around my car. So I raise both hands to either side of my face. I’ve got both my hands up on either side of my face and I’m–You can’t hear me.

(shouting)

Alia Rahman:

Very quickly, I was taken out of that car. I fell twice, once outside the car as you can see, and once behind the car face down.

Jenna Christ:

An ICE agent broke my driver’s side window, the glass, reached inside, opened my door, dragged me out the door, told me to get on the ground, handcuffed me, and now gas, grenades, and pepper spray.

George Ritis:

Even though I didn’t give them any reason, they still felt the need – one customer knelt on my back while another knelt on my neck. During that time, I’m just pleading with them that I can’t breathe.

Alia Rahman:

I am disabled. I am autistic. I have a brain injury. When I hit that face first on the ground, I felt severe pain in my neck and head. My vision became blurry.

Jenna Christ:

There was no need. They swerved to catch me. They could have kept driving. Their cars were next to mine. They passed my car, jumped out of their cars, arrested me and kept going.

Alia Rahman:

What happened to me in detention was much worse than what happened to me in front of the camera. What happened to me in detention was a complete stripping of my rights.

Jenna Christ:

Once upon a time I was kind of stuck, it was more like, do you have water? Are you comfortable? How is the temperature? It was a very dissociative experience. And I spent an enormous amount of time, most of it in my head, trying to figure out what was really going on.

George Ritis:

I was isolated. I was in this concrete cell. I was stripped naked like a hospital gown. They leave the lights on 24/7.

Alia Rahman:

No one knew I was there. I wasn’t told where I was going. I did not receive a phone call. And I’ll pass out and wonder, is this it? They call us corpses. Is this it for me? Am I going to die?

George Ritis:

They just came out and said I was violent and that I assaulted customers. Why lie when everything that happened is on video? Why lie?

Jenna Christ:

I mean this is crazy. This is not something that can be accurately referred to as two bad apples, which is what we’ve heard for years and years and years.

Alia Rahman:

I want to live in a country where people who enforce the law treat people humanely.

Lisa Desjardins:

In response to our request, DHS sent a statement about these three cases. Here are some key quotes.

The agency stressed:

“If an American citizen is arrested, it is because he obstructed or assaulted law enforcement.” In many cases, even after arrest, charges are never brought. They were not presented in these cases. The agency said there could be myriad reasons for this, but did not provide any.

William, some of the statements they sent us contradict the evidence we’ve seen. For example, the agency referred to Alia Rahman as an instigator. We know she was on her way to work. There is no other evidence about it. The Department of Homeland Security added that George Ritis, in their view, is a veteran, and they said he refused to move his car.

The video shows him moving his car. I bring this up because, as Tom Homan says it’s de-escalating in Minnesota, right now, DHS is seeking to blame Americans without evidence.

William Brangham:

Lisa, you were present at two of the hearings on Capitol Hill this week where ICE and federal officials were asked about some of these matters. How did they respond?

Lisa Desjardins:

Well, ICE leaders said some things, like pepper spraying inside a car or using a can as a weapon, are wrong unless there is another defense for the officer.

But they did not acknowledge any specific errors or address any insight into the systemic problems here. Specifically regarding our story, ICE Director, Acting Director Todd Lyons, was asked about the detention and treatment of American citizens.

Todd Lyons, Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Under Title 8, no American citizen is subject to civil or racial enforcement, and this does not happen. There are multiple guarantees this way. If a US citizen is detained during an immigration investigation, he or she will be quickly released. We do not take any action regarding US citizens.

Lisa Desjardins:

But the interviews we just told contradict that. This is not entirely true.

We know that CBP has repeatedly acted against American citizens. And some – these are just a few examples of stories. There is more. Alia Rahman said her point was that if this is how American citizens like her are treated, what about people who are not citizens?

William Brangham:

right.

And another part of the problem here that people may not realize is that the people who go to court in these cases, they don’t have the same rights that we expect? He explains.

Lisa Desjardins:

This is because of federal law, which is a specific law that, in fact, relates to civil rights when they are violated.

Here, I want to take a look at this. This is a section of code about who you can sue for civil rights violations. “Those who act by law or decree,” she says, meaning law enforcement, “act for the government.”

But look at this. It says “if that government is a state or territory.” So, William, it doesn’t say the United States itself. For this reason, the courts have said that there is a very narrow corridor that you can use to prosecute US officers. This is not a difficult solution. It’s something people want to include in the negotiations going on right now over the Department of Homeland Security.

But talking to some experts, especially some of the experts from Cato, a guy named Mike Fox, he told me that he thinks what the Democrats are actually asking might do less than change this.

Mike Fox, Cato Institute:

If I told you that you can’t wear masks, but nothing happens when you wear them, what would that do? That’s why it’s so important that Congress add a component that allows you to sue for constitutional violations and thus prevents actors, agents of the government, from taking advantage of immunity.

Lisa Desjardins:

Advocates are pushing for this to be part of the conversations, but my report is that there is no evidence of that.

William Brangham:

Well, Lisa Desjardins, thank you very much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You’re welcome.