Human Impact Project

An ICE agent pointed a gun at a female driver in Santa Ana who was allegedly recording him. A Fullerton police officer intervened at the scene and the ICE agent identified himself and provided credentials. The officer declined to assist, noting no crime had occurred, and the woman left the area.

An ICE agent brandished a firearm at Sol, an unarmed community watch member, at the intersection of Santa Ana Boulevard and Shelton Street in Santa Ana on November 9, 2025. The agent pointed his gun directly at Sol after she had been legally observing and documenting what appeared to be an ICE vehicle. A Fullerton Police officer witnessed the incident but did not intervene after the agent identified himself as ICE and claimed Sol was following him.

Jaykie Funez-Andrade, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop on Route 11 North in Harrisonburg, Virginia while driving her 16-year-old daughter to school. When she struggled to recite her Social Security number from memory, an agent tackled her to the ground; she then produced her work permit, Social Security card, driver's license, and vehicle registration, but was arrested anyway. Her daughter filmed the encounter and said officers left her alone on the roadside as they drove off with her mother, saying, "I want this video out there because I want my mother home." Funez-Andrade is being held at Rockingham/Harrisonburg Regional Jail with no criminal charges filed, reportedly as a 'courtesy' to ICE, and her family has started a GoFundMe to cover legal fees.

Federal agents sprayed pepper spray from a moving vehicle at a line of cars exiting a Sam's Club parking lot in Cicero on Saturday morning, striking a 1-year-old child among other occupants. Video footage shows a masked federal agent firing chemical irritants through open car windows.

An Indian American employee of the Illinois Department of Transportation who is a U.S. citizen was questioned by three masked federal agents on November 7 while working at a Busse Highway resurfacing project in Park Ridge. The agents asked whether the employee had traveled to New York and if he was aware of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who is also Indian. Governor JB Pritzker's office condemned the stop as a targeted questioning of a state employee with no legitimate reason.

A long-time U.S. resident who arrived in the country at age 3 in 1991 was detained by ICE on November 7, 2025 during a scheduled check-in at the San Francisco ICE Field Office. ICE alleged he violated his GPS monitoring terms by visiting Stinson Beach on Labor Day, though he claims he had permission from his ISAP officer. The court ordered his immediate release and prohibited re-detention without a hearing before an immigration judge.

Kara Dominguez, a U.S. citizen and activist who runs La Voz del Pueblo, a grassroots group tracking ICE activity on Facebook, alleges that ICE arrested her husband Olvin Dominguez on November 5, 2025, in retaliation for her activism. According to Kara, her husband reported that ICE officers said they had been monitoring her Facebook page. Olvin Dominguez, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras with no criminal record who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years, was transferred to Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana.

Victor Cruz, a Hillsboro resident with legal work authorization and temporary protected status, was arrested by ICE on October 14 after agents pulled him over, claiming he was wanted on DUI and hit-and-run charges. ICE agents allegedly confused him with another man bearing the same name despite recognizing the photo mismatch. After ICE confirmed at the Portland facility that Cruz had no criminal record, he was transferred to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, where he remained for over three weeks. An immigration judge initially denied bail, but a federal district court judge released Cruz on bond on November 7. Democratic political leaders, including Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, and his family and attorney protested the detention as unlawful.

Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, was sentenced to time served for illegally reentering the United States after spending nearly seven months in jail since his arrest outside the Milwaukee County Courthouse. He pleaded guilty and agreed not to fight deportation in exchange for prosecutors recommending a time-served sentence. He is now awaiting deportation from a county jail.

ICE agents surrounded a family's car in Fitchburg on Thursday morning to arrest Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya, who was wanted for allegedly stabbing a coworker with scissors. Video shows her husband Carlos Zapata, 24, appearing to have a seizure while holding their toddler daughter during the arrest. Zapata said agents pushed, hit him, and pressed on his neck, causing him to lose consciousness. DHS officials disputed his account, claiming he faked the medical emergency and stating medical personnel found no legitimate emergency.

Waukegan Alderman Juan Martinez was briefly detained by U.S. immigration enforcement agents on Baldwin Avenue while stuck in traffic on November 7, 2025. Four federal agents drew guns on Martinez while he sat in his car with his hands raised, with one agent threatening to shoot him. The agents eventually left after community members identified Martinez as a city alderman, and he filed a police report with the Waukegan Police Department.

A detainee identified as K.U. in court filings alleged he was not receiving proper medical care for numerous life-threatening health conditions while detained at Batavia. An independent physician reviewed his case and expressed extreme concern that he was not receiving the standard of appropriate medical care. A judge ordered his release in August 2025. ICE officials have not yet addressed his medical claims in court.

A Honduran man detained at Batavia was not receiving a prescribed medical cream to treat a skin condition, according to advocates with Justice for Migrant Families who documented his case in July 2025. The man also suffers from chronic pain, and ibuprofen had stopped working. Advocates demanded ICE take him to a specialist and administer different pain medication, but according to the organization's executive director, this has not happened.

Petey Feng, a Taiwanese cook who worked at Dallas restaurants, was detained by ICE on November 6, 2025, after an immigration check-in for overstaying his visa since 2010 and a 2023 DWI misdemeanor. He spent 133 days in ICE detention facilities in southwest Texas. Feng was denied voluntary departure and inadvertently signed away his right to appeal. He was deported and arrived in Taiwan in March 2026, where he cared for his aging parents.

Dennis Quiñonez, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested during a DHS immigration enforcement operation at a Home Depot parking lot in Cypress Park on November 4, 2025. ICE agents took his 1-year-old daughter into custody during the arrest. The child was subsequently reunited with family members, including her grandmother. Quiñonez was released on bond on November 6, 2025, and reunited with his family. He has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of domestic violence.

Jonathan Caravello, a philosophy lecturer at California State University Channel Islands, entered a not guilty plea in federal court to a felony charge of assaulting an immigration agent with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Caravello was arrested on July 10 during a confrontation between federal agents and activists protesting immigration raids at licensed cannabis facilities in Ventura County. The alleged weapon is a tear gas canister that agents deployed against protesters.

Sean Charles Dunn, a 37-year-old former Justice Department paralegal, was acquitted of misdemeanor assault charges for throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent on August 10 during a protest outside a club hosting Latin Night in Washington, D.C. Dunn shouted "fascists" and "racists" at the agents and threw the sandwich as what he characterized as a "harmless gesture" of political protest. The Justice Department initially sought a felony assault indictment, but a grand jury declined to sign off on the felony charge, leading prosecutors to file a misdemeanor charge instead. The two-day trial centered on whether throwing a soft object could constitute forcible assault. Dunn was dismissed from his position after the incident.

On November 5, 2025, ICE agents detained Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, a teacher at Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in Chicago's North Center neighborhood, during morning drop-off hours. According to DHS, officers conducted a traffic stop that led to a vehicle pursuit ending at the daycare facility. Agents entered and forcibly removed Galeano in front of children and parents, searching the facility. Galeano claimed to have work authorization and a pending asylum case, while DHS identified her as undocumented from Colombia. A federal judge subsequently ruled her mandatory detention illegal and ordered a bond hearing before an immigration judge. The incident prompted a rally of hundreds of community members and local officials demanding ICE stay out of schools and daycares.

An immigrant named Javier experienced severe mobility issues while in ICE detention due to medical neglect. Advocates have called for an end to medical neglect of immigrant detainees.

Juanita Avila, a Guatemalan-born permanent resident and shop owner, was detained by ICE agents on November 5, 2025, while driving on Highway 99 in Cottage Grove despite having her valid green card in her pocket. Avila alleges she was racially profiled and that agents used excessive force, dragging her from her vehicle and pinning her to the pavement. Her case became part of a lawsuit that challenged ICE's "arrest first, justify later" tactics; in May 2026, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking ICE agents in Oregon from detaining people without warrants or probable cause, ruling their conduct "brutal and violent" and a systematic violation of constitutional rights.