When They're Not Applying Banned Chokeholds, ICE Agents Are Apparently Stealing and Selling Citizens' Phones [View all]

"The immigration agents in this account are effectively operating as something like federally sanctioned highwaymen–they might as well be privateers in tactical vests and masks"

By Jim Vorel | January 14, 2026 | 11:38am

In late October, a Houston-area 10th grader, 16-year-old U.S. citizen Arnoldo Bazan, watched his father tackled, choked and arrested in public by immigration officials who the teenager said refused to identify themselves and wore no official uniforms or insignia. Arnoldo Bazan was treated much the same: Put into a banned chokehold by whoever these purported law enforcement figures were supposed to be, he was beaten and choked, and had his phone confiscated, despite his pleas that he was underage and a citizen. His treatment at the hands of agents was later justified by professional murder-rationalizer and DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who claimed that he had “assaulted” officers during the arrest by hitting one with an elbow, capping her statement with the following, incredibly smug flourish: “The federal law enforcement officer graciously chose not to press charges.”

This story is of course heinous in and of itself, but also typical to the experience of countless Americans who have had their families torn apart by the “immigration enforcement” campaign of DHS and ICE. If you asked Arnoldo Bazan, then surely he would cite the loss of his father Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo that day in October (he was eventually deported to Mexico) as the most important and gutting detail of the encounter. But when the 16-year-old’s case resurfaced this week in the context of a ProPublica deep dive into the widespread use of banned chokeholds by immigration agents, there was another detail that stood out as particularly galling in its sheer disregard for the idea that agents might face any kinds of consequences: The fact that the ICE agents in question allegedly sold Arnoldo Bazan’s confiscated phone for cash, potentially on the very same day that they took it from him.

In the midst of ProPublica’s investigation and interviews with Arnoldo, the teen explained that he had filmed much of the incident between the ICE agents and his father, who had been driving him to high school when they stopped at a McDonald’s for breakfast. There, federal agents swarmed the Bazans’ vehicle, causing them to flee. The two fled on foot into a restaurant supply store, where agents tackled them and began to choke both. This portion of the incident was partially captured on video by bystanders, and Arnoldo Bazan can be heard pleading and crying as officers constrict his throat, hoarsely saying “I’m underage” and “I was going to school!” He later described the scenario as feeling “like I was going to pass out and die.” It’s little wonder he gave not much thought to his phone at the time, but after being returned to his home hours later, he used the Find My tool to locate where it had ended up–at “a vending machine for used electronics miles away, close to an ICE detention center,” according to ProPublica. Seemingly, he was able to somehow visit this location and retrieve the phone–the publication said it had later seen the footage, which “backed the family’s account of the chase.”

Just consider, for a moment, the thought process of the immigration agents making this kind of decision. You detain a man under the suspicion of being an illegal immigrant, and brutalize both him and his teenage son who is on his way to high school. You take the phone that the kid is using to record the experience–prior to when you start choking him, that is. One would expect there to be some kind of lip service here about how the phone was being taken for “evidence” or “investigation,” or in greater likelihood the thought that perhaps it can be wiped of any incriminating evidence. Nevertheless, if a federal agent takes your phone from you, do you not expect for them to hang onto it in some kind of official capacity? Maybe to even return your property to you afterward, if you’re really lucky? One thing I’m pretty certain isn’t in the operations manual: Bringing your phone to a kiosk, to sell for cash, and then pocketing the modest payday.

https://www.jezebel.com/ice-immigration-phone-theft-sold-arnoldo-bazan-houston-chokeholds-private-property