Justice Brett Kavanaugh assured Americans that immigration enforcement stops targeting individuals based on their appearance would be brief and harmless—citizens would “promptly” be released after proving their status. A new ProPublica investigation reveals the disturbing reality: more than 170 American citizens have been detained, dragged, beaten, and held for days without access to lawyers or even phone calls during the first nine months of President Trump’s second administration.

The Reality Behind the Court’s Promise

When the Supreme Court cleared the way for federal immigration officials to use what amounts to racial profiling in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, Justice Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion provided crucial support for the practice. He wrote reassuringly that when citizens are stopped, authorities “promptly let the individual go.”

ProPublica’s investigation tells a very different story. The investigation documented more than 170 cases where U.S. citizens were detained at raids and protests—a number that is “almost certainly incomplete” since the government does not track how often immigration agents hold Americans.

Who Is Being Detained

The investigation reveals the human cost of “Kavanaugh Stops”:

  • Nearly 20 children were detained, including two with cancer
  • More than 50 Americans were held after agents questioned their citizenship documents, with almost all being Latino
  • Approximately 130 Americans were arrested for allegedly interfering with or assaulting officers, including a dozen elected officials, though these charges were often dropped
  • More than 20 citizens were held for over a day without being able to call their loved ones or a lawyer

The Brutal Details

The investigation documented cases where Americans were:

  • Dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, and shot by immigration agents
  • Held with agents’ knees on their necks
  • Detained outside in the rain while wearing only underwear
  • Held in immigration facilities overnight despite presenting valid identification

Leonardo Garcia Venegas was detained twice despite presenting a REAL ID. Agents dismissed his identification as fake and kept him handcuffed for over an hour during a construction site raid.

George Retes, a disabled combat veteran, disappeared into the immigration detention system for three days during a marijuana farm raid. His family couldn’t locate him through official channels and only found him through a TikTok video showing his vehicle amid tear gas at the detention site.

Andrea Velez was held for more than two days without any outside contact after being accidentally caught in a street vendor raid. The federal assault charges against her were later dismissed by a judge.

The Government’s Non-Response

When confronted with these findings, the Department of Homeland Security offered only that agents “do not arrest US citizens for immigration enforcement.” Yet Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino acknowledged that agents consider individuals’ appearance when making stops—exactly the racial profiling the Supreme Court has now sanctioned.

The government maintains no official count of how many citizens are detained during immigration enforcement operations, making ProPublica’s documentation essential to understanding the scope of this practice.

The Disconnect

Justice Kavanaugh envisioned brief encounters where citizens would be “promptly” released. The reality is citizens handcuffed in holding cells overnight, children with cancer separated from their families, combat veterans lost in the system for days, and dozens held without the most basic right to contact a lawyer or loved one.

This is not the theoretical framework Kavanaugh described in his concurrence. This is the practical result of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow federal agents to stop and detain people based on how they look.

Why This Matters for Court Reform

When the Supreme Court sanctions racial profiling, then provides legal cover with assurances that don’t match reality, it demonstrates how a captured judiciary endangers all Americans’ constitutional rights. The fact that nearly 20 children—including two with cancer—have been swept up in these operations should shock the conscience of anyone who believes in equal protection under law.

As MSNBC’s coverage notes, these “Kavanaugh Stops” represent the stark gap between the Court’s sanitized legal reasoning and the harsh realities faced by Americans whose only “crime” is looking like they might be undocumented.

The Supreme Court’s current composition has made clear it will prioritize enforcement over constitutional protections. When the highest court in the land writes opinions that fundamentally misunderstand—or deliberately misrepresent—how their rulings will be implemented on the ground, reform becomes not just desirable but essential.

More than 170 American citizens and counting have learned this lesson the hard way.