“I do think that I was profiled. I think they were looking for someone of Hispanic descent.”

— Alandria London, a ride-share driver who was pulled over as she took a passenger to the Memphis, Tennessee, airport

On Oct. 8, a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper pulled over London, a Black woman and ride-share driver. As soon as the officer approached the car, he said, “Oh, I didn’t see your seat belt,” London recalled. He told her he needed to “call it in,” then let her go without asking for her driver’s license. She said a white van with “Immigration” written on the side pulled up behind the trooper’s motorcycle; she suspected the officer had stopped her after mistaking her ethnicity.

MLK50: Justice Through Journalism reporters Wendi C. Thomas and Katherine Burgess wrote about London’s experience for their recent story about how Trump’s police task force operations in Memphis are affecting Black residents. 

Neither the Tennessee Highway Patrol nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to questions about London’s experience.

The U.S. government doesn’t track how often immigration agents detain citizens. So ProPublica did. 

We found more than 170 incidents since the start of Trump’s second term. Americans have been kicked, dragged and held for days without access to lawyers. When the Supreme Court allowed immigration agents to consider race during sweeps, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that citizens shouldn’t worry because if they’re detained, agents will “promptly let the individual go.” 

For these Americans, that wasn’t true.

Watch video producer Haley Clark break down our reporting on federal agents holding Americans against their will, and read the full story by reporter Nicole Foy. 

In response to questions from ProPublica, the Department of Homeland Security said agents do not racially profile or target Americans. DHS has claimed that its enforcement operations are highly targeted and are not resulting in the arrests of U.S. citizens.