A 16-year-old U.S. citizen’s phone was confiscated by ICE agents — then ended up in a used electronics vending machine, according to shocking new reporting by ProPublica.
The incident happened after masked ICE agents violently tackled the teen’s undocumented father and choked the boy unconscious, despite his screams that he was a minor and a citizen.
THE DETAILS: Arnoldo Bazan, a 10th grader, was getting McDonald’s with his dad, Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo, when several unmarked SUVs swarmed them. Masked ICE agents jumped out, forced his dad to the ground, and dug a knee into his neck — while one agent put Arnoldo in a chokehold.
“I started screaming with everything I had, because I couldn’t even breathe,” Arnoldo told ProPublica. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die.”
When he was finally released from custody, Arnoldo tried to retrieve his phone — which had captured footage of the assault. Using Apple’s “Find My” feature, he tracked it to a vending machine selling used phones, just miles from an ICE detention center.
That phone, his property and potential evidence of misconduct, had apparently been sold off — not lost, not logged, not returned. Sold.
A SYSTEM OF ABUSE: Arnoldo’s story is one of at least 40 cases documented by ProPublica where ICE agents used chokeholds and similar deadly force on civilians — including minors and legal residents.
After the incident, Arnoldo’s family rushed him to Texas Children’s Hospital, where doctors moved him to a trauma unit. Medical records show signs of asphyxiation and trauma to his head, neck, and spine.
To make matters worse: ICE agents reportedly threatened to charge the teen with assaulting an officer unless his father agreed to deportation. Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo is now in Mexico.
ICE has not publicly responded.
WHY IT MATTERS: This isn’t an isolated event — it’s part of a pattern. Just days earlier, an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis while she sat in her car. After gunning her down, the agent screamed “fucking bitch.”
Trump not only defended the killing — he lied about it. Despite clear video showing Good turning away, Trump claimed she ran the officer over and “deserved it.”
THE BOTTOM LINE: A child was choked unconscious by federal agents. His phone — containing evidence — was allegedly stolen and sold. And his father was forced into exile. That’s what ICE looks like under Trump.