Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) held a public forum to hear testimony from teens and their parents about harrowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) encounters. The teens described gut-wrenching experiences they faced after being assaulted by ICE agents and separated from their families on Tuesday at a joint House and Senate hearing. The teens, all U.S. citizens, agreed that the encounters have left a lasting impression on them, making them unable to go about their daily lives.
Among them was 16-year-old Arnoldo Bazan from Houston, Texas, who was physically assaulted by ICE agents on his way to school with his father. They had stopped at a fast-food restaurant to celebrate him making the varsity team. However, their celebration was cut short when a car with tinted windows, followed by multiple unmarked vehicles, pulled up.
Garcia: While you were being assaulted, you told the agents that you had filmed this on your phone?
Bazan: Yes.
Garcia: And that’s when they took your phone away. These agents didn’t just take your phone. They sold it. They pawned it at a kiosk for $250. Is that correct?… pic.twitter.com/aCiCJj7Zy4
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 25, 2026
“Armed men with masks jumped out and started banging on the windows. They never identified themselves or explained why we were stopped. We didn’t know who these men were. I started recording on my phone. One of the unmarked cars rammed into our car multiple times. I even felt our car lift,” Bazan said.
Bazan said he ran to help his father when these armed men grabbed him. He continued, “One officer put me in a chokehold and told me, ‘You’re done.’”
“His grip was so tight, I wondered if I would even make it out alive. With all of my strength, I screamed that I was underage and from the United States.” When the officers finally stopped, he tried to gather a crowd and scare off the agents by telling them that he had proof on his phone. However, the ICE agents confiscated his cellphone.
Bazan’s medical reports show that he suffered injuries to his neck after being beaten and choked.
He mentioned that the federal agents constantly mocked him for crying and called him derogatory names, including “an illegal, an illegal idiot, and a border hopper.” Recalling the horrific incident, Bazan said, “Whenever I hear sirens, or I see an officer, my heart starts racing. I don’t even know when I’ll see my father again. This is not the America I know.”
Arnoldo Bazan was getting breakfast with his dad at McDonald’s when masked agents brutally attacked them. Arnoldo—who’s only in tenth grade—was choked, demeaned, and even had to go to the hospital.
What happened to him and so many others is horrific, and it has to end. pic.twitter.com/Shdper9G7V
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) March 24, 2026
Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, spoke to Bazan, reviewing the encounter step by step.
Garcia stated that ICE agents claimed the altercation unfolded after Bazan’s father rammed his van into an ICE vehicle. However, Bazan’s video shows the opposite. Bazan further clarified that the agents never identified themselves as law enforcement.
Bazan answered affirmatively when Garcia asked if he had recorded the ICE encounter on his phone. The teen again responded yes when Garcia asked, “These agents didn’t just take your phone. They sold it. They pawned it at a kiosk for $250. Is that correct?”
Garcia closed the discussion by saying, “This is Donald Trump’s America. He wants violence, terror, and chaos. And ICE shouldn’t get one more penny from this Congress or from this budget.”
