U.S.-Born Students Tell Congress About Lasting Toll of Harrowing ICE Encounters
Unable to sleep and concentrate on school, teens say they are increasingly anxious 鈥� and have trouble planning for the future.
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Zip-tied, separated from their parents, taunted with slurs, their pleas for help ignored.
That鈥檚 how children 鈥� all U.S. citizens 鈥� and their parents described their treatment by federal immigration agents in accounts delivered in Washington, D.C., Tuesday at a joint House and Senate hearing.
The teens told lawmakers these encounters have left them unable to sleep, concentrate on school, plan for their future or feel safe in any setting.
鈥淲henever I hear sirens or I see an officer, my heart starts racing,鈥� said Arnoldo Bazan, 16, who described a violent incident with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Oct. 23, 2025. 鈥淚 don’t even know when I’ll see my father again. This is not the America I know.鈥�
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, replied to requests for comment. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said they would need more time to respond.
Bazan said he was assaulted by ICE agents on his way to school with his father last fall when they stopped at a McDonald鈥檚 to celebrate him making a varsity team. Just then, Bazan said, a car with tinted windows and flashing lights pulled them over.
Soon, multiple unmarked vehicles approached.
鈥淎rmed men with masks jumped out and started banging on the windows,鈥� Bazan said. 鈥�They never identified themselves or explained why we were stopped. We didn’t know who these men were. I started recording on my phone. One of the unmarked cars rammed into our car multiple times. I even felt our car lift.鈥�
Agents grabbed his father and Bazan ran to help.
鈥淥ne officer put me in a choke hold and told me, 鈥榊ou’re done,鈥欌�� the boy said, taking short breaks to compose himself. 鈥淗is grip was so tight, I wondered if I would even make it out alive. With all of my strength, I screamed that I was underage and from the United States. When the officers finally stopped, I began telling everybody who could hear me that these officers had tried to flip our car, and that I had proof of my phone.鈥�
Federal agents confiscated his cell, he testified.
鈥淭he officer put me and my dad in the car,鈥� Bazan said. 鈥淭hey mocked us. They told me that I was gay for crying, an illegal, an illegal idiot, a border hopper, and other demeaning words.鈥�
Bazan said the officers drove them to his house where he and his father, who was subsequently deported to Mexico, 鈥減rayed for one last time. I tried to hug him, but he couldn’t hug me back because he was handcuffed.鈥�
He said his backpack was returned but not his phone and when he traced it, it turned up inside a kiosk that sells electronics. Bazan said local police told him they couldn鈥檛 take any action against federal officers.
Bazan, who suffered a neck injury, was taken to the hospital that day and given morphine for his pain, he said. He told the committee his body ached after the incident, that he couldn鈥檛 sleep and missed school.
He was one of three teens who spoke at the forum called by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
鈥淥ur efforts to document and elevate the stories of this regime’s heartless actions against children will continue, and we know that there are thousands more stories to be told,鈥� Blumenthal said at the start, thanking the students and their parents for speaking and remarking on their bravery.
The lawmakers released a minority staff report Tuesday entitled , saying it documents the cases of “128 children who have been injured, left unattended, or otherwise put at direct risk of harm due to operations of the Department of Homeland Security.”
Their action comes amid Democrats鈥� ongoing campaign to curtail federal immigration agents. They’re refusing to fund DHS, which is now in the second month of a partial government shutdown, until reforms and greater public accountability are put in place.
An 18-year-old, who used the pseudonym Fernando Hern谩ndez Garc铆a, said he has been living on his own for more than a year after his parents were deported to Mexico 鈥斅爐aking his medically fragile U.S.-born sister with them. The girl cannot access treatment there because she is not a Mexican citizen, her brother said.聽
Garcia, recalling their apprehension, said it all began when the little girl woke up and said her head hurt.
鈥淢y parents took this very seriously because the year before, she had an emergency surgery to remove a tumor,鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淢y parents and my five siblings got in the car and drove from South Texas to Houston so she could see a specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital. On the way, government officials stopped them at a checkpoint and deported everyone 鈥� even though my parents told them about my sister’s condition, even though my siblings are U.S. citizens.鈥�
Garcia wasn鈥檛 with them, but his family had made this same trip many times before President Donald Trump took office for the second time and had no problems, he said: They鈥檇 present the girl鈥檚 proof of citizenship and a letter from the hospital explaining her medical needs and would be on their way.
鈥淲hen I heard the news I couldn’t breathe,鈥� the teen said. 鈥淚 didn’t know what I was going to do. My mom worried about me returning to our home in South Texas alone, but I had to finish high school and I wanted to make sure I could do everything in my power to stay on top of the bills and keep the home my mom and dad had sacrificed so much for.鈥�
Garcia had planned to attend college but instead spends all of his time working.
鈥淚 can’t think about the things my peers are doing because I honestly can’t relate,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he situation is a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.鈥�
His family already missed his high school graduation, a milestone he thought they鈥檇 share.
鈥淚f my parents were still here, they would have pushed me to go to college, to dream big, and they would have helped me to make it happen,鈥� he said.
Michelle Ramirez Sanan, 18 and from Chelsea, Massachusetts, plans to attend college in the fall, but said Tuesday that memories of her family鈥檚 ICE encounter have left her shaken and distracted.
Sanan was restrained by federal agents after her mother and autistic 13-year-old brother, also a U.S. citizen, were dragged from their car while in their neighborhood and detained Sept. 26, 2025.
Officers arrested Sanan鈥檚 50-year old mother, who has legal status and has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years. The teen, in her emotional testimony, recalled coming upon the scene.
鈥淢y brother was crying next to my mom who was being pushed against the fence in handcuffs,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost ICE officers were wearing masks. I could see they had guns.鈥�
Sanan said she tried to run to them but was stopped by a federal agent.
鈥淢y brother doesn’t speak very much because of his disability,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e doesn’t know how to explain that he’s an American citizen. I tried to protect him by yelling out, 鈥楳y brother has autism鈥�, but instead of helping him, the ICE officer kept blocking me and told me to shut up.鈥�
Sanan, who has asthma, said she had trouble breathing.
鈥淪ince that day, I have had a harder time focusing in school, taking care of myself, and managing my anxiety,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have had trouble sleeping and headaches. I was so excited to enjoy my senior year before starting a new chapter in college. But now I spend so much of my time wondering why this happened to us.鈥�
Educators recognize students鈥� pain. Zena Stenvik is the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, which serves 3,400 children just north of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Among her charges is 5-year-old , who galvanized national opposition to Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown after he was photographed in a blue bunny hat, wearing a Spiderman backpack, being detained by federal agents in January with his father.
Liam languished in Texas鈥檚 for more than a week before he was released. He and his family, who hail from Ecuador, had their asylum claims denied this month and are now on a .
The impact of DHS鈥檚 Operation Metro Surge on her students has been profound, Stenvik said: Seven have been detained, including at Dilley, and all six who have returned came back sick 鈥� and emotionally frayed.
鈥淲e are seeing increased separation anxiety with students struggling to be apart from their parents during the school day,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re seeing heightened difficulty with transitions: One student who was detained in Texas now experiences distress when leaving the classroom to go to art or gym class. He reported that separation from their trusted teacher and classroom removes a sense of safety. We’re also seeing increased stress responses, such as fight, flight, freeze among students who experienced direct or indirect trauma.鈥�
Some of the impacted children, one parent said, are very young. Anabel Romero, a mother of four who was born and raised in Idaho, described a shocking attack on Hispanic residents in Wilder, Idaho, on .
Romero, her stepson and her three children, ages 14, 8 and 6, were among hundreds of people watching horse races that Sunday when they spotted a helicopter in the sky. A medical worker, Romero thought someone had been injured and it was there to help.
鈥淏ut then I saw people running and screaming, terrified,鈥� she said. 鈥淢en in military style gear stormed in with weapons at the ready. The first thing I did was call my daughter and tell her not to get out of the truck and to take care of her brother and sister. I ran and hid in one of the horse stalls.鈥�
Armed men grabbed and beat Romero, she said, punching her in the head and kicking her.
鈥淥ne of them threatened to blow my head off,鈥� she testified. 鈥淚 couldn’t breathe, and they zip tied me in the back. After that, they brought me up and I told them I needed to get to my children. One of them actually laughed and said they were taking better care of them than I was.鈥�
Her eldest daughter was also thrown on the ground, zip tied and suffered bruises all along her sides. Her two youngest were taken from the truck at gunpoint, she said.
鈥淭hey were alone and terrified,鈥� Romero said. 鈥淲hen my children were with me, I couldn’t comfort them. They were crying and I was still zip tied in the back with no answers for why I was being detained.鈥�
Her oldest daughter started having a panic attack, she said.
鈥淚 feared she might hurt herself if she fainted,鈥� Romero said. 鈥淚 asked them to zip tie her in the front. They did, but she was still having a panic attack. We waited like that zip tied and scared for three hours鈥� They herded us like cattle and tied us up so that ICE could check everyone’s immigration status. Hundreds of people were at this family event 鈥� grandparents, infants.鈥�
Her children are still suffering, Romero said.
鈥淭hat day completely changed our lives,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur sense of safety and security was demolished.鈥�
The committee heard, too, from Adreina Mejia from Arleta, California. She and her special needs 15-year-old son were separated, held at gunpoint and handcuffed by immigration agents outside of a local high school.
The agents had mistaken her boy for another child, she said.
鈥淭he person who was with me just told my son, 鈥極h, we just confused you with somebody else, but look at the bright side, you’re gonna have an exciting story to tell your friends when you go back to school,鈥欌�� she said.
The incident has not left her son, Mejia said.
鈥淗e will wake up crying,鈥� his mother said. 鈥淗e sees cars with tinted windows and he’s scared. He told me, 鈥楳om, is it them?鈥欌��
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