Human Impact Project

ICE conducted raids at the Ambiance Apparel warehouse in Los Angeles's Fashion District, detaining approximately two dozen workers on alleged administrative immigration violations. Families of the detained individuals report difficulty making contact with their loved ones and locating where they are being held, with some detainees reportedly already deported. About a dozen of those taken were from Veracruz, Mexico, and attorneys working with the families say access to detainees has been extremely limited.

CNN reporter Jason Carroll and his crew were escorted away from a protest zone in downtown Los Angeles and briefly detained by LAPD while covering the anti-ICE demonstrations. An officer instructed Carroll to place his hands behind his back and told him "You are being detained while you are leaving this area," though Carroll was not placed in restraints. The officer clarified Carroll was "not under arrest because you're press" and took down details from all crew members before releasing them.

Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was shot by a rubber bullet while reporting on the LA protests in Downtown Los Angeles. She was clearly identified as press and was speaking on camera when she was hit, yelling in pain from the impact. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later confirmed she was sore but otherwise unharmed.

A protest near the Santa Ana Federal Building in response to ICE raids began with roughly 100 people in the afternoon and swelled to at least 1,000 by evening. After police declared the rally an unlawful assembly, officers confronted crowds. Several protesters were arrested; some were accused of throwing objects at officers and setting off fireworks.

Jesús Cruz, detained during an immigration raid at a car wash and deported to Mexico, was reunited in August with his wife, Noemi Ciau, and their four children during a visit to his hometown of Kini in the Yucatán Peninsula. The family is now weighing whether to relocate to Mexico or remain in Inglewood, California, where Ciau works at Los Angeles International Airport and the children attend school. Cruz said his eldest daughter stopped sleeping well and quit piano, and his youngest son began acting out, since his deportation. The family continues to face a lengthy reunification process after Cruz was deported following his detention.

Jose Padilla, a father of four, was detained by ICE during a raid at a car wash in Los Angeles where he worked, separating him from his partner Alma Ramirez and their children. He was held at a detention center in California City before being released on August 4, 2026, after six months in custody. The family continues to face a pending legal case and financial strain as they rebuild following his detention.

Federal immigration agents conducted coordinated raids beginning in June 2025 at car washes and Home Depots across Los Angeles County, with armed, masked agents surrounding businesses and detaining workers, leading to family separations and lost income. According to the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, at least 373 car wash workers were detained across 106 car washes in Southern California between June 2025 and January 2026, with some businesses later closing. One worker, detained last August after 33 years in the U.S., described being held for two months in a detention facility where he slept on a cold floor without a blanket, toothbrush or medical care. Advocates say fear and lingering trauma persist among workers and families even as media attention on the raids has faded.

Sergei Izbitski, 46, has lived in the U.S. for 34 years after leaving Kazakhstan as a boy. He built a successful painting and remodeling business in New Jersey and maintained a home there with no criminal history. On June 9, 2025, ICE arrested Izbitski and transported him to Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, New Mexico. He cannot be deported because Kazakhstan will not recognize him as a citizen, and no other country will accept him, yet he remains detained without bond hearings under the Trump administration's interpretation of immigration law subjecting long-term non-citizen residents to mandatory detention. His case is one of more than 100 similar cases in New Mexico where individuals face indefinite detention while challenging the government's detention policy.

Four undocumented employees from Guatemala were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a worksite enforcement operation at D-Hand Car Wash in Southington, Connecticut on June 9, 2025. The agents, who did not initially identify themselves, asked employees for documentation and papers around 9:30 a.m. The operation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations Hartford division along with Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations. Community members and advocates gathered at the Hartford courthouse Monday evening in response to the incident.

Federal immigration officials conducted a raid targeting day laborers in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Santa Ana on Monday. A 50-year-old man from Peru was detained after agents arrived and began taking workers into custody, but was released after producing asylum seeker documents. The man said agents pointed guns at the group and took several people into custody in front of the store on MacArthur Boulevard.

Protesters gathered in Los Angeles to demonstrate against ICE raids, with police in riot gear firing flash bangs and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. Multiple demonstrators were arrested and loaded onto police buses with zip-tied hands after being warned to disperse near the Arts District and Little Tokyo. President Trump doubled the National Guard deployment to the area, activating an additional 2,000 service members alongside approximately 700 Marines, prompting California to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the deployment.

Jesus, a Venezuelan seeking asylum, was detained by ICE while on his way to work in Southeast Portland. He has no criminal record and has complied with asylum process requirements. His detention has left his Guatemalan partner, who is pregnant and caring for a 9-year-old son, without her partner and primary breadwinner.

Cary López Alvarado, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen nine months pregnant, was detained by immigration agents in Hawthorne, California on Sunday. López Alvarado said agents shoved her during the arrest, causing her to lose her balance as she tried to protect her stomach. After her release, she experienced sharp stomach pains and was hospitalized for one day for monitoring. López Alvarado and her cousin Alberto Sandoval, also a U.S. citizen, were doing maintenance work when agents in Border Patrol uniforms arrived in marked CBP vehicles following a white pickup truck carrying two undocumented workers, including her partner Brian Nájera.

Freelance photojournalist Ted Soqui was shot in the back with three rubber bullets in rapid succession by federal officers while covering anti-deportation protests at LA's Federal Building on June 9, 2025. Soqui, who had covered protests throughout his decades-long career, took precautions after being struck with crowd-control munitions the previous day, wearing personal protective equipment and positioning himself 50 to 100 feet from officers and protesters while using a long lens to photograph from afar. The federal officers who shot him were identified as ICE or DHS agents based on department patches visible on their uniforms. The Los Angeles Press Club filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterizing the shooting as a "misuse of militarized weapons" that could cause significant and serious harm.

A man who has lived in the U.S. since leaving Kazakhstan in 1991 and is not a citizen of any country has no criminal record and owns a home and business. He was detained by ICE in June 2025 and held at the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico while challenging his indefinite detention through a federal habeas corpus petition. On December 29, 2025, a U.S. Magistrate Judge recommended that the court grant his petition, finding he is being indefinitely detained without a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, as required under Supreme Court precedent. The case remains before the district court for final disposition.

Sergei Izbitski, a 46-year-old who has lived in the U.S. since 1991 after leaving Kazakhstan as a boy, was arrested by ICE on June 9 and held at the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico. He is stateless, not a citizen of Kazakhstan, owns a home and runs his own business, and has no criminal record. On December 29, 2025, a federal magistrate judge recommended that a district court grant his habeas corpus petition, finding his continued detention unconstitutional under Zadvydas v. Davis because there is no significant likelihood of his removal in the reasonably foreseeable future. The recommendation follows a habeas petition Izbitski filed in August 2025 after being held for months without a bond hearing.

An unnamed man was detained by ICE on June 9, 2025, at a Home Depot in Huntington Park, California, where he regularly sought work. His family launched a fundraiser to pay for legal representation to challenge the deportation process. The man is described as the sole provider for his family.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted sweeps across Orange County on June 10, 2025, detaining at least a dozen people at a Home Depot on Harbor Boulevard and others at multiple locations including businesses near Warner Avenue and Broadway. Hundreds of protesters gathered at Santa Ana's federal building and civic center in response, and law enforcement deployed pepper spray and tear gas as the demonstration grew and blocked streets. Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said ICE appeared to target day laborers waiting for work.

Angel Piña, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by ICE and Border Patrol agents in June or July and filed a federal tort claim on August 20 alleging racial profiling and wrongful arrest. Charges against him have been dismissed. He is one of six claimants represented by the Carrillo Law Firm alleging racial profiling by ICE and Border Patrol in Southern California.

Dzhakhar Aslambekov, a 27-year-old Russian citizen, entered the US in February 2024 and was initially released on parole in March 2024. In June 2025, ICE re-arrested him through a targeted enforcement operation after he had been working as a delivery driver and complying with immigration proceedings. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a hearing violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights.