U.S. Citizen Detained by ICE in Oregon Despite Proving His Nationality
Posted on10/13/25 at 16:13
- ICE Wrongful Arrest Sparks Outrage
- ICE Questions His Citizenship
- Case Ignites Legal Debate
Francisco Miranda, a US citizen of Latino origin, recorded on his own phone the moment he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Portland, Oregon, during an immigration raid ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The arrest took place outside his workplace last Thursday and was partially recorded before agents confiscated his cellphone.
The video — later shared by his attorney with The Oregonian/OregonLive — shows Miranda being interrogated by several masked ICE officers.
The Willamette Week newspaper was the first to report the case, which is now raising serious legal and political questions about federal overreach in immigration operations.
ICE Arrests US Citizen in Controversial Operation
Frank Miranda, a U.S. citizen, abducted by ICE at work. #Portland
Miranda: “They (ICE) were not looking or acting professional at all.” https://t.co/AFalVtR0qz
— Carol Fenton (@cfpdx) October 10, 2025
In the video, Miranda can be heard asking in disbelief: “What do you mean by overstaying?”
An agent coldly replies, “An excessive stay.”
Visibly confused, Miranda responds: “I don’t know what that means.”
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The interrogation escalates as one agent presses him about his birthplace: “Where were you born? Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m from California,” Francisco Miranda answers firmly.
Case Revives Debate Over Unjust Detentions
Francisco Miranda, a U.S. citizen caught in an immigration raid under the #Trump administration, managed to record his arrest in Portland before ICE agents confiscated his phone. He was later released. pic.twitter.com/LNP2CaMEgZ
— ZuritaCarpio (@ZuritaCarpio) October 10, 2025
The agent insists again, raising his tone: “Don’t lie. Where were you born?”
“California,” Francisco Miranda repeats, visibly frustrated by the baseless questioning.
Despite confirming his US citizenship, Miranda was detained without cause and taken into custody.
He lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, and is part of a Latino community that reports feeling increasingly targeted and harassed by ICE operations.
Growing Number of Arrests in Immigration Raids
Although this is not the first case of a US citizen wrongly detained, Francisco Miranda’s is the first publicly documented in Oregon under the Trump administration.
Last month, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed ICE to use race or “ethnic profiling” as part of its detention criteria.
This was a decision that civil rights groups say opens the door to discriminatory arrests like Miranda’s.
A 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that between 2015 and early 2020, ICE arrested 674 people identified as potential U.S. citizens.
Among them, 121 were held in detention centers and at least 70 were wrongly deported.
The report urged ICE to improve tracking of wrongful arrests and strengthen agent training to prevent such violations.
In Oregon, immigration raids have increased significantly.
According to the Immigration Monitoring Panel, which compiles data from UCLA and UC Berkeley, at least 306 people were arrested between January and July of this year.
Experts believe the real number may be higher, as the Trump administration continues to withhold key data about arrests and deportations.
The ICE wrongful arrest in Oregon case of Francisco Miranda reignites the debate over civil rights violations in the US immigration system and highlights the urgent need for independent oversight of ICE operations.