Another day, and yet another report of ICE’s brutal use of force surfaces. The victim this time is a 16-year-old boy. Arnoldo Bazan, a tenth grader, has accused ICE agents of choking him and confiscating his phone, which they later allegedly sold.
The incident took place in Houston, Texas, in October 2025. It was a usual day for Arnoldo, who was headed to school with his father, Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo, in their family car.
The two stopped to eat at a McDonald’s, where ICE agents, wearing masks, got out from unmarked vehicles and started knocking on their car doors. Instead of coming out, Arnulfo chose to drive away as he does not have legal documents to reside in the country.
Tenth grader Arnoldo Bazan and his father were getting McDonald’s before school when immigration agents pulled them over. After a pursuit, agents slammed Bazan’s father to the ground & put the teenager in a chokehold. Arnoldo is 16 years old & a U.S. citizen. pic.twitter.com/AOZlMrtR7y
— Uptown Collective (@Uptowncollectiv) January 14, 2026
The agents followed them, and a chase ensued through the streets of Houston, while Arnoldo recorded it all on his phone. The video of the incident reportedly shows ICE agents hitting Arnoldo’s car multiple times.
Arnulfo eventually stopped the vehicle at a restaurant and ran inside to prevent his arrest. The ICE agents followed him and pinned him down on the ground.
One of the agents allegedly placed his knee on Arnulfo’s neck, a move that has been widely restricted following the George Floyd incident in 2020.
When Arnoldo saw his father’s plight, he started screaming. According to the teenager, an agent then choked him, and he could not breathe.
Recalling the incident, Arnoldo said in an interview with ProPublica, “I started screaming with everything I had, because I couldn’t even breathe. I felt like I was going to pass out and die.”
The boy also tried to tell the agents that he was a legal citizen of the U.S. and was a minor who was just going to his school, but the officers did not heed his statements.
Meanwhile, his phone was taken away from him. Fortunately, Arnoldo did not pass out and only suffered minor injuries, including a bruise on his neck.
His family had to take him to the Houston Police Department’s office after the authorities refused to file a report over calls. Arnoldo told the police that he had recorded the whole incident on his cell phone, which was in the ICE agents’ custody.
When the teenager used the Find My Phone feature to track the phone, it was found in a vending machine, hinting that the ICE agents had sold it.
The police department finally found the video on the device; however, they are still not investigating the case, citing that they cannot do anything against federal agents.
⭐ ICE violently detained a father & his 16-year-old son on their way to school in Houston.
The teen — Arnoldo Bazan, a U.S. citizen and star football & soccer player at Alief Hastings High — cried out “I’m underage!” before being hospitalized with back & neck injuries. This is… pic.twitter.com/YZI9inA9vF
— Carolyn Barber, MD (@cbarbermd) October 28, 2025
On the other hand, the Department of Homeland Security has claimed that Arnoldo smashed an ICE agent’s face with his elbow and had to be detained.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson of the department, stated, “The federal law enforcement officer graciously chose not to press charges.” However, Arnoldo has denied these allegations.
The incident has raised questions about ICE’s detention protocol. Arnoldo is not the only one who has suffered choking at the hands of an ICE agent.
According to ProPublica, more than 40 such cases have been recorded in the country. The news comes at a time when the enforcement is already under fire for the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
