Overview
- In a six-page letter sent Dec. 2, the Illinois senator requested totals of U.S. citizens arrested since Jan. 20, body‑camera or audio footage, complaints, and training and record‑keeping documents.
- Durbin cited at least 170 wrongful detentions nationwide in the first nine months of the crackdown, including about two dozen citizens held more than a day without contact, and at least 40 citizens arrested in Illinois between late August and early November.
- He challenged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s late‑October assertion that no citizens were caught up in the raids, which local reporting and his office’s documentation contradict.
- The letter highlighted Chicago‑area incidents, including María Greeley being zip‑tied despite proof of citizenship and Dayanne Figueroa being pulled from her car after a collision with an unmarked vehicle, as well as raids in South Shore and Elgin.
- A DHS spokesperson did not immediately comment, and Durbin argued that federal agents have continued aggressive tactics even as Chicago judges issued rulings intended to curb enforcement practices.