Chabria: Homeland Security says it doesn't detain citizens. These brave Californians prove it has.

"During a congressional hearing this month, Noem, our secretary of Homeland Security and self-appointed Cruelty Barbie, reiterated her oft-used and patently false line that only the worst of the worst are being targeted by immigration authorities. That comes after weeks of her department posting online, on its ever-more far-right social media accounts, that claims of American citizens being rounded up and held incommunicado are fake news or a hoax."

"Stop fear-mongering. ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens, Homeland Security recently posted on X. Earlier, at a different congressional hearing, a handful of citizens including two Californians told their stories of being grabbed by faceless masked men and being whisked away to holding cells where they were denied access to phones, lawyers, medications and a variety of other legal rights."

"Their testimony accompanied the release of a congressional report by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in which 22 American citizens, including a dozen from the Golden State, told their own shocking, terrifying tales of manhandling and detentions by what can only be described as secret police armed agents who wouldn't identify themselves and often seemed to lack basic training required for safe urban policing."

Federal immigration agents have detained and arrested dozens, possibly hundreds, of United States citizens during enforcement sweeps. Homeland Security officials have publicly denied that ICE arrests U.S. citizens, labeling reports fake news. Multiple citizens, including Californians, testified to being seized by masked, armed agents and taken to holding cells where they were denied access to phones, lawyers, medications, and other legal rights. A Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report compiled testimony from 22 American citizens describing manhandling and detentions by agents who often failed to identify themselves and appeared to lack basic urban-policing training. Immigration enforcement funding has increased and enforcement operations are set to expand.

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