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Immigration agents are using banned chokeholds to make arrests, according to a ProPublica report

Federal immigration officers detain a demonstrator outside Bishop Whipple Federal Building after tear gas was deployed Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Jen Golbeck/AP)
Jen Golbeck/AP
Federal immigration officers detain a demonstrator outside Bishop Whipple Federal Building after tear gas was deployed Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Jen Golbeck/AP)

After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis last week, there’s widespread outrage over the use of force by federal immigration officers.

Agents have shot, tased and tear-gassed people, including U.S. citizens, in the course of carrying out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. ProPublica reports that officers have also put people in chokeholds, even though federal agents were largely banned from using the tactic after the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with ProPublica’s Nicole Foy, who documented more than 40 cases of immigration agents using banned chokeholds and other moves that can cut off breathing.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

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