The ASU chapter of the National Lawyers Guild posted a press release on Instagram with details of the arrest, which happened around noon on Tuesday.
“ASU Police Officer James Quigley reportedly arranged the meeting under the pretense of discussing a ‘concern’ about a social media post,” the press release reads. “After the brief meeting, the employee was surrounded by approximately 15 plainclothes ICE agents who used vulgar and aggressive language and behavior.”
The employee's identity and the nature of his employment are unclear. The ASU chapter of the NLG did not respond to inquiries via Instagram and emails to its officers. Though the post claimed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement made the arrest, ICE’s involvement has not been confirmed.
ASU spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez told Phoenix New Times that it was the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security that detained the ASU employee, who was later released from custody. ICE is a division of Homeland Security.
A video of the incident surfaced on X. It shows at least three men in jeans and t-shirts aggressively grabbing and handcuffing the man, whose face is blurred. He's wearing a shirt with Portuguese words on it.
today, ~12pm, ASUPD lured an employee of ASU to a meeting under the pretense of discussing a social media post. when he arrived, he was violently kidnapped by ICE. https://t.co/ygXg94IYSC pic.twitter.com/H82zbZW8Me
— 𝙜𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚🏴 (@g_abe0) September 17, 2025
“Don’t touch me,” he tells the men at the video’s start.
“I’m not fuckin’ around,” one of them in a Diamondbacks ballcap and large sunglasses responds. “Put your hands behind your back. You’re not going to be told again.”
The agent tells the man twice more to put his hands behind his back before kneeing him from behind, causing the man to yelp.
“What did I do?” the man asks in shock, the agents moving his arms behind his back and handcuffing him. “I don’t know you guys.”
“We identified ourselves as Homeland Security. We have our badges,” the man in the cap responds.
The agents walk the man to a Ford truck and tell him to get inside before the video ends. It’s unclear how long he was detained, nor is it clear what social media post might have merited federal scrutiny.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Secret Service responded to a request for details about why they detained the man. Gonzalez, the ASU spokesperson, did not comment on ASU’s alleged cooperation with federal law enforcement officers.
The lawyers’ guild called on the university to stop cooperating with the Trump administration’s law enforcement units.
“He is a member of our community who was dehumanized by this system — and ASU's cooperation made this possible. This is unacceptable,” the guild chapter post read. “ASU must protect the safety and dignity of its staff and students — not partner with agencies that terrorize them.”
