Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has issued a stern call for accountability after new evidence revealed that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been unlawfully detained, warning that such actions mark a chilling moment for civil rights and due process in America.
In a video posted by @CBSLA, Bass said the evidence should alarm every American — regardless of immigration status.
“We now know that there is evidence of over 170 U.S. citizens who have been detained,” she said. “And it’s important that we say today that what is happening to undocumented immigrants is also happening to U.S. citizens — which means this can happen to anyone, to all of us, at any period of time.”
The mayor’s remarks underscore a growing national concern over reports that U.S. citizens — many of them Black, Latino, or from immigrant families — have been wrongfully detained by federal immigration authorities due to data errors, racial profiling, or misidentification.
A Legal Crisis of Identity
It has been confirmed from official ICE records that U.S. citizens were directly targeted and detained by Trump immigration officials.
ProPublica has reported that the U.S. government presently, as of 2025, does not track how many citizens have been detained by immigration agents. The Cato Institute confirmed the Trump administration was committing racial profiling.
The Immigration Act of 1990 makes it illegal for federal officials to even question or interrogate anyone at all within the USA about their rights to be in the nation unless they have a judicial warrant or reasonable cause to believe they are an alien.
Notable detained US citizens included a group of actively working firefighters protecting homes near Olympic National Forest, who were ordered to depart.
From Error to Erosion of Trust
Mayor Bass, a former member of Congress and longtime advocate for justice reform, warned that the detentions threaten public trust in law enforcement and government institutions.
Her comments come amid rising tensions nationwide over immigration enforcement tactics and the use of automated databases that critics say rely on outdated or inaccurate records.
Civil rights watchdogs have previously warned that these systems — especially when paired with aggressive enforcement policies — can sweep up lawful residents and citizens alike, particularly people with foreign-sounding names or bilingual documentation.
Human Impact: “It Could Be Any of Us”
For those wrongly detained, the consequences can be devastating — lost jobs, trauma, family separation, and lasting fear of government institutions.
In several reported cases, citizens spent weeks or months in detention before proving their status, sometimes needing family members to track down birth certificates or passports from multiple states.
“This isn’t an abstract policy issue,” Bass said in follow-up remarks. “It’s a human rights issue. No one should live in fear of being detained in their own country.”
A Call for Oversight and Reform
Bass’s demand for a formal investigation could place pressure on both federal and state lawmakers to strengthen safeguards within immigration enforcement systems.
Advocates are calling for:
- Automatic cross-verification protocols between federal and state citizenship databases before any detention;
- Independent oversight bodies to review wrongful detention claims;
- Compensation mechanisms for citizens harmed by false detentions.
As Bass noted, the broader implication goes beyond immigration.
“This isn’t just about one community,” she said. “It’s about what kind of nation we are becoming — and whether our laws still protect us equally.”
