Durbin Speaks At Spotlight Forum Examining The Trump Administration’s Aggressive Tactics In Pursuing Its Mass Deportation Scheme

Durbin Speaks At Spotlight Forum Examining The Trump Administration's Aggressive Tactics In Pursuing Its Mass Deportation Scheme

Durbin introduced Chicagoan Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen who was brutally arrested and detained without due process, during the Trump Administration's so-called "Operation Midway Blitz"

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today participated in a bicameral spotlight forum entitled "Our Values at Stake: DHS Overreach and Violations of U.S. Citizen Rights." The forum, convened by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), provided a public platform for five U.S. citizens, including Dayanne Figueroa of Chicago, to share their story of being arbitrarily arrested and detained by federal immigration agents as part of the Trump Administration's mass deportation scheme. Today's forum was a powerful response to the Trump Administration's false narrative that federal agents are only going after the "worst of the worst" during these aggressive immigration raids. Detailed reporting across the country has shown that federal agents have arrested or detained more than 170 U.S. citizens, and during the first half of the so-called "Operation Midway Blitz," 70 percent of the nearly 1,900 people detained by immigration agents did not have serious criminal convictions or pending charges.

At the beginning of the forum, Durbin introduced Ms. Figueroa, detailing her brutal arrest and detention after agents sideswiped her car and then violently pulled her from her vehicle. She was aggressively forced to the ground by federal agents and detained for several hours without medical care or the ability to contact her family or legal representation. Ms. Figueroa, who had recently had kidney surgery, was injured and bleeding from the aggressive arrest, and after being released from immigration detention, her mother rushed her to a nearby hospital. Last month, Durbin shared Ms. Figueroa's story on the Senate floor.

"Ms. Figueroa experienced one of the most egregious examples of federal immigration agents' unacceptable aggression and use of excessive force during 'Operation Midway Blitz' in Chicago. We all saw it on video, every single second of it. There is no question about what happened to you. You're [Ms. Figueroa] an American citizen, the mother of a five-year-old boy. You took him to school in the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee on the way to work. It sounds like the American dream, but it turned into a nightmare. You work in a law firm in Chicago, and you hope someday to go to law school yourself… You didn't make it to work that morning. In a video that made national news, and I reported on it on the floor of the Senate, Dayanne faced masked immigration enforcement agents. You can see them driving their car into her car, and then pointing their firearms at her, pulling her out of the car, and violently arresting her," Durbin said during his introduction of Ms. Figueroa.

"Thank you for being here today and for helping us shine a spotlight on this terrible day in your life. What should have been lawful and targeted enforcement actions has become an enforcement agency sweeping up any person who happens to look Hispanic. I watched the videotape of your violent arrest, and I can't imagine what you experienced. Though you begged for information, the agents who arrested you refused to identify themselves and barred you from contacting your family or a lawyer. I understand that your family was frantically searching, trying to find you after they heard about what happened. The only way they found you is because they tracked your cellphone to a Broadview ICE facility-not because any law enforcement agency contacted your family or gave any help to locate you," Durbin said.

"No family should ever have to experience that kind of terror… Thanks for coming forward to tell your story. I'm honored to be representing you in the Senate," Durbin concluded his introduction of Ms. Figueroa.

Video of Durbin introducing Ms. Figueroa is available here.

Audio of Durbin introducing Ms. Figueroa is available here.

Ms. Figueroa and other panelists then delivered opening remarks, sharing their experiences of federal agents disregarding evidence and statements that they were U.S. citizens. The panelists emphasized the cruel and arguably unlawful treatment they faced during their arrest and detainment.

"My name is Dayanne Figueroa. I am a proud first-generation Mexican American, a Criminal Justice major, a single mother, and a future law student. What happened to me almost exactly two months ago, on October 10, 2025, was not law enforcement. It was violence, blatant racial profiling, and a shocking abuse of federal authority," Ms. Figueroa said.

"I was never arrested. I was never charged. I was never given an explanation or an apology. But the damage is done, and it continues. I suffered severe bruising, nerve damage, a broken tooth, and aggravated injuries to my leg and wrists. My surgically repaired kidney became swollen and inflamed. And emotionally, I developed PTSD, panic attacks, and severe anxiety. I swear I've been kidnapped in my nightmares every single night since," she said. "This was not just an 'incident.' It was a violation of my physical being, my rights, my dignity, and my humanity."

Video of Ms. Figueroa's testimony is available here.

Audio of Ms. Figueroa's testimony is available here.

Ms. Figueroa's testimony, as prepared for delivery, is available here.

In response to the Trump Administration's surge in federal law enforcement in Chicago and continuous threats to deploy the military in the area, Durbin has taken a number of steps to push back on these unlawful actions carried out by DHS and Secretary Noem under the direction of President Trump. Durbin's actions to push back on the Trump Administration's so-called "Operation Midway Blitz" can be found here.

Earlier this month, Durbin also sent an oversight letter to DHS to push back on the Trump Administration's false narrative that it does not arrest U.S. citizens. The letter, which requested a response by December 16, demanded answers about the total number of U.S. citizens arrested during immigration enforcement activity during the Trump Administration; the agencies responsible for the arrests; the length of detention following the arrests; audio or video footage of the arrests; agency directives governing encounters and arrests involving U.S. citizens; and policies regarding the maintenance of citizen arrest data.

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