Skip to content

Friday, Apr. 25, 2025

Is every person arrested by ICE undocumented?

Isabella Aldrete, The Nevada Independent
no

There are examples of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) mistakenly arresting people who are U.S. citizens, or arresting people who had legal status until their visas were unexpectedly revoked, according to a federal database.

In April, Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a U.S. citizen, was mistakenly arrested by ICE. 

While ICE does not publicly report the legal status of people it arrests and an ICE database that tracks alternatives to ICE detention said legal stage data is unavailable, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that hundreds of students have had their visas revoked in recent weeks, with many detained afterwards. 

ICE has broad authority to arrest noncitizens who are in the country without permission after issuing an administrative warrant signed by an immigration enforcement supervisor, or without a warrant if an officer has “reason to believe” they are in violation of the law and likely to escape. 

See a full discussion of this at The Nevada Independent

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

The Nevada Independent is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news and opinion website founded in 2017 by veteran political journalist and commentator Jon Ralston. The site and its supporting channels are focused on ethical, unbiased and transparent journalism. In general, we aim to gather and disseminate important public information and increase civic engagement. We are supported by corporate donations, memberships, event ticket sales and sponsorships and foundation grants. We disclose all our members and donors. Donors have no influence over our content, ever. The Nevada Independent is the dba for Nevada News Bureau, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Thompson, who now serves as one of The Nevada Independent's managing directors and its Editor.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.