A naturalized Virginia resident said he’s questioning his vote for President Donald Trump after agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him this week when they were looking for another person on a deportation order.
Jensy Machado said he’s a U.S. citizen and provided NBC 4 Washington documentation of his legal status.
Machado was driving to work Wednesday with two other men when he was stopped by ICE agents near his home, he said.
Confused by the scene, Machado said he didn’t know what was happening and why agents surrounded his pickup truck.
“They just got out of the car with the guns in their hands and say, ‘turn off the car, give me the keys, open the window,’” Machado told Telemundo 44’s Rosbelis Quinoñez, who first reported his story. “Everything was really fast.”
According to Machado, the agents said the name of a man who had a deportation order, someone who had given Machado’s home address.
Machado told them that wasn’t his name — he didn’t know anyone by that name — and offered to show them his real ID-compliant Virginia driver’s license.
“They didn’t ask me for any ID,” Machado said. “I was telling the officer if I can give him ID, but he said just keep my hands up, not moving. After that, he told me to get out of the car and put the handcuffs on me.”
An agent then asked Machado how did he get into the U.S. and if he was awaiting a court date or if he had a pending immigration case.
“And I told him I was an American citizen,” Machado said. “He looked at his other partner like, you know, smiling, like saying, can you believe this guy? Because he asked the other guy, ‘Do you believe him?’”
Machado said he was uncuffed and immediately released after showing his driver’s license.
The two men with him were taken into custody. He does not know why.
News4 and Telemundo 44 have both contacted ICE for comment and are awaiting a response.
Machado said the experience shook his faith in Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts.
“I was a Trump supporter,” he said. “I voted for Trump last election.”
Machado said he thought the Trump administration would “just go against criminals, not every Hispanic looking, like, that they will assume that we are all illegals.”
“That’s what they’re doing, now,” Machado said. “They’re just following Hispanic people.”
Immigration lawyers advise residents and citizens to always keep ID with them.
This story was first published on NBC 4 Washington.
