ProPublica: 170+ USCs Detained by Immigration Authorities

ProPublica is "an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force." Their mission is to "expose abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing."

Today, ProPublica published a searing report: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. They identify the following highlights:

• Americans Detained: The government doesn’t track how many citizens are held by immigration agents. We found more than 170 cases this year where citizens were detained at raids and protests.
• Held Incommunicado: More than 20 citizens have reported being held for over a day without being able to call their loved ones or a lawyer. In some cases their families couldn’t find them.
• Cases Wilted: Agents have arrested about 130 Americans, including a dozen elected officials, for allegedly interfering with or assaulting officers, yet those cases were often dropped.

Those may be the big picture highlights, but the investigation contains so much more – including the mistreatment and detention of pregnant, minor, and elderly USCs. Definitely worth a full read!