Virginia Dem spotlights case of US citizen detained by ICE

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) highlighted a U.S. citizen on his social media page after the individual said he was wrongfully detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Wednesday while driving in to work. 

“ICE detained a U.S. citizen in Northern Virginia with guns drawn. He offered to show ID and told the officers he was an American citizen, but they handcuffed him anyway,” Beyer wrote in a Friday post on social platform X.

“The man is a [President] Trump voter, but says he is reconsidering his support after he was targeted for being Hispanic,” the post continued.

Jensy Machado, a naturalized citizen, said he was put in handcuffs after being stopped by police officers who said they had a deportation order for someone who was listed under his home address.

“I voted for Trump last election, but, because I thought it was going to be the things, you know, like … just go against criminals, not every Hispanic looking, like, that they will assume that we are all illegals,” Machado told Telemundo 44, who first reported the story. 

“That’s what they’re doing, now. They’re just following Hispanic people,” he added.

ICE said they apprehended Machado because he fit the description of the individual they were searching to find.

“ICE encountered an individual who matched the description of the subject of an operation while conducting a targeted enforcement action. ICE officers engaged the individual to verify his identity based on reasonable suspicion, including a likeness to the description of the target,” the agency said in a statement to The Hill.

“ICE officers immediately determined not to detain the individual after confirming he was not the person of interest and not subject to removal.”

The Trump administration has ordered the agency to ramp up the search for immigrants lacking permanent status in an effort to carry out the largest deportation in the country’s history. 

Beyer is not the first lawmaker to express concern about the detainments. Last month, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) demanded answers from ICE officials after seeing an uptick in reports of wrongful detainment.

“If you’re not out looking for criminals based on crimes committed, but undocumented immigrants based on their looks, you’re going to sweep up a lot of innocent people, including innocent citizens,” the Maryland Democrat said, according to a statement obtained by NBC News.

“We’ve already seen cases of racial and ethnic profiling leading to the unlawful detention of U.S. citizens. That’s why I’m demanding answers about some of these profoundly troubling stories we’ve heard about citizens being targeted, detained and questioned,” he added.

Updated at 3:58 p.m. EST.