Overview
- Masked ICE agents in unmarked vehicles confronted a Houston family, and the 16-year-old, Arnoldo Bazan, says an agent put him in a chokehold as another restrained his father with a knee to the neck.
- Bazan, a U.S. citizen, says he told agents he was a minor and could not breathe during the restraint, and he later sought treatment where hospital records show trauma evaluation for neck injuries.
- Agents confiscated the teen’s phone containing video of the encounter, and the device was later found in a used‑electronics vending machine near an ICE detention center; the footage was recovered and backed up.
- A DHS spokesperson alleged the father rammed a federal vehicle and that the teen elbowed an officer, but ProPublica reporting and video do not support the ramming claim, and the teenager denies elbowing an officer.
- The family says agents threatened to charge the teen unless his father agreed to deportation, and they report the father is now in Mexico.