Democratic congressman claims Trump's ICE is 'primarily going after innocent people, including US citizens'

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Democratic congressman claims Trump's ICE is 'primarily going after innocent people, including US citizens'

Rep. Seth Magaziner disputed Trump administration's claims about targeting 'worst of the worst' illegal immigrants

Marc Tamasco Fox News

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December 4, 2025 3:02pm EST

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Democratic congressman claims Trump's ICE is 'primarily going after innocent people, including US citizens'

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., appeared on "CNN News Central" on Thursday, where he claimed that the Trump administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been "primarily going after innocent people, including U.S. citizens."

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Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., claimed Thursday that under the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been "primarily going after innocent people, including U.S. citizens" in their deportation efforts.

"CNN News Central" host Sara Sidner noted that Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the latest ICE raids would focus on targeting "the worst of the worst" and asked Magaziner whether he believed the department had kept its word.

"Absolutely not. And they’ve been lying about this from the beginning," the Democratic lawmaker responded. "You know, Secretary Noem said the same thing — ‘We’re going to go after the worst of the worst’ — during her confirmation hearing a year ago. And that is not what they have done."

DHS SAYS FOUR HOUSE DEMOCRATS 'CHOSE TO STAND WITH CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS' AFTER VISITING ICE DETAINEE

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., and CNN host Sara Sidner on the set of "CNN News Central" on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (Screenshot/CNN)

"They have been going after grandmothers, children. They deported a 4-year-old U.S. citizen child with cancer so that he couldn't get his cancer treatment. They are deporting veterans, legal green card holders who have served this country honorably," the congressman added.

In April, The Washington Post reported that three American citizens from two different families, ages 2, 4 and 7, were deported along with their mothers from a Louisiana facility. The report alleged that the 4-year-old, who has stage 4 cancer, could not reach his doctors, according to the family’s lawyer.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later denied those claims, saying the children were not deported; rather, their mothers — who were in the country illegally — chose to take them along.

"That’s a misleading headline. Three U.S. citizens, aged 4, 7 and 2 were not deported. Their mothers were legally deported, and the children went with their mothers. They can come back to their father or someone who wants to assume them. Ultimately, it was the mothers who were here illegally. You guys make it sound like ICE kicked down the door and grabbed the child and threw them on an airplane, and it’s misleading and that is not true," Rubio said.

DHS TORCHES 'BAMBOOZLED' DEMS FOR CALLING ICE CRACKDOWN ‘VICIOUS LIES’

Rep. Seth Magaziner speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Magaziner claimed that 70% of all individuals detained by ICE this year "were not convicted of any crime," before arguing the federal government should focus deportation efforts on violent offenders.

"By all means, get rid of the worst of the worst. If someone is here illegally, and they’ve committed a violent crime, by all means, those people should be deported and must be," he asserted. "But what is happening is that Stephen Miller has set an arbitrary quota of the number of immigrants who he wants to see removed from the country. He does not care whether they are legal immigrants, illegal, whether they are naturalized, whether they’ve committed crimes or not."

The congressman continued, "So the administration has been totally indiscriminate in going after not just the worst of the worst, which we should be going after, but primarily going after innocent people, including U.S. citizens, including legal green card holders, people who are just trying to work for a living and diverting resources away from other important homeland security priorities."

ICE LEADERSHIP SHAKEUP EXPOSES GROWING DHS FRICTION OVER DEPORTATION TACTICS, PRIORITIES

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) knocks on the door of an alleged suspect during an ICE Raid in Chicago, Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (Christopher Dilts/Getty Images)

Magaziner said DHS is "a lot more than immigration enforcement," and that instead of focusing on issues like terrorism or retail theft, it is "pulling resources away from all of that to go after gardeners and grandmothers and children."

"And I have no reason to believe that they’re going to change course in that approach," he concluded.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS, ICE and the White House for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

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Fox News' David Spector contributed to this report.

Democratic congressman claims Trump's ICE is 'primarily going after innocent people, including US citizens'

Democratic congressman claims Trump's ICE is 'primarily going after innocent people, including US citizens'

Rep. Seth Magaziner disputed Trump administration's claims about targeting 'worst of the worst' illegal immigrants

Democratic congressman claims Trump's ICE is 'primarily going after innocent people, including US citizens'

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