FILE PHOTO: A detained woman sits inside a vehicle surrounded by federal agents, as immigration enforcement continues after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on January 7 during an immigration raid, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
Federal immigration agents have detained at least 70 American children and teenagers since the start of this Trump administration, and about 20 of them were handcuffed or zip-tied, according to a ProPublica investigation published Tuesday.
The Department of Homeland Security has said otherwise, telling the outlet that "ICE does not zip tie or restrain children."
CBS News obtained images showing the bruised wrists of a 14-year-old U.S. citizen who was zip-tied during an October raid at an Idaho horse track while watching her younger siblings. The FBI's Boise office first called reports of zip-tied children completely false, then amended that to say no "young" children were restrained once a news outlet showed it the photo.
Months earlier, agents handcuffed a 15-year-old with disabilities outside a Los Angeles school. They said they mistook the teen for an alleged gang member.
ProPublica cataloged 506 U.S. citizens held against their will, then said the list is an undercount. At that same Idaho raid, witnesses estimated more than 200 citizens were detained. Only the 30 that reporters could identify by name made the tally.
More than a hundred Americans were held after agents questioned their citizenship, and nearly all of those were people of color. Thirty-six spent at least a day in custody without reaching a lawyer or family. About a dozen citizens were deported, mostly children.
Other DHS denials met the same fate. The agency said last fall's Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago produced no administrative arrests of citizens. ProPublica found more than 120 detained in Illinois at the surge's height. Raw Story reported then on South Shore residents who said agents broke down doors and held them in zip ties, children among them.
A federal judge reached his own findings Monday, ruling that ICE agents gave false testimony and falsified records to conceal an illegal arrest in New York, an operation that left a U.S. citizen with head injuries requiring stitches.
DHS defended its agents when presented with ProPublica's findings. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted. We do our due diligence," the department said, adding that anyone obstructing agents will face consequences including arrest.
Former officials reacted with anger and disbelief.
"I've never seen so many U.S. citizen encounters in all my years," said Darius Reeves, who ran ICE's Baltimore field office before retiring last year. "It's an embarrassment."