Human Impact Project

On February 7, 2025, ICE officers arrested 12 employees at El Potro Mexican Restaurant in Liberty, Missouri while searching for a registered sex offender. A federal judge ruled that 11 of the arrests were unlawful, finding that ICE lacked probable cause to justify warrantless arrests and violated a legal settlement agreement requiring probable cause that a person is likely to escape before making such arrests in the Midwest region. The judge found that the restaurant owner was not informed that employees had the option to refuse speaking with agents. The National Immigrant Justice Center brought the case challenging the raids. The federal judge extended the terms of the settlement agreement through February 2026.

An 18-year-old U.S. citizen was detained by ICE agents on October 10, 2025, in Hoffman Estates along with two others. Video footage shows agents pulling the teenager from a car and restraining her on the ground. The detainees were released without charges after a few hours.

A veteran and U.S. citizen was detained by ICE. During detention, the individual was placed on suicide watch in a cell wearing a hospital dress on a concrete bed with a thin mattress. The cell had a light on continuously and officers were stationed outside with a glass door. A psychiatric nurse conducted one check per day. The individual was held in these conditions from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon when released.

Federal officers took three people into custody outside the South Portland ICE facility on Thursday night during a protest against Trump administration immigration policies. The reasons for the federal arrests were not immediately clear. Portland police also arrested two people at the facility on separate charges.

ICE detained numerous asylum-seekers and migrants at the San Diego federal courthouse basement between October 9-21, 2025, after summoning them for routine check-ins. Detainees reported being held in crowded cells for up to four days in conditions they described as inadequate, including limited bedding (yoga mat-like mattresses), no privacy for bathroom use, cold temperatures, fluorescent lights kept on all night, inedible food, and lack of medical attention. Families were denied proper goodbyes, and detainees were not searchable in ICE's locator system. Some were subsequently deported or transferred to other detention facilities without proper legal proceedings.

Sunny Naqvi, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Skokie, was detained at O'Hare Airport after returning from a work trip to Turkey and held for nearly 30 hours at ICE facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin before being released. Federal agencies provided conflicting accounts of her detention, with CBP claiming she was released within 90 minutes while her family and elected officials reported she was transferred to multiple detention centers. Her case is part of a broader pattern, with ProPublica documenting over 170 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents in recent years and advocacy groups reporting increased airport encounters in 2026.

Rueben Antonio Cruz, a 60-year-old lawful permanent resident from El Salvador, was stopped by ICE agents in Rogers Park and detained in an ICE vehicle while agents questioned him. After verifying through their databases that he was legally in the country, agents released him but issued him a $130 ticket for not carrying proof of permanent resident registration on his person. Cruz, a former dishwasher living in a government-funded apartment due to health issues, was given 60 days to pay the fine or face court.

Noor Nafea Salman, a 28-year-old lawful permanent resident and medical student at the University of Virginia, was detained by ICE on October 9, 2025, during what she believed would be a routine immigration check-in appointment. Salman, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from Iraq at age 17 and graduated from James Madison University, has been complying with ICE check-ins for six years prior to her detention. She is married to Khaled, a Palestinian-American U.S. citizen, and her mother and five siblings are all U.S. citizens. Since her detention at Diamondback Detention Center in Oklahoma and other facilities in Texas, Salman's health has deteriorated significantly over approximately ten months. She has been hospitalized multiple times for asthma complications, suffered a fall she believes caused a concussion, and has become extremely weak. Her husband visits weekly from 250 miles away, and her family continues to advocate for her release and access to proper medical care.

Despite having Convention Against Torture protection barring removal to El Salvador, C.O. was detained by ICE in May 2025 and pressured to accept removal to Mexico. After refusing, ICE transported him to the border and handed him to Mexican authorities, who drove him to Guatemala, which transferred him to El Salvador — all while shackled. Salvadoran authorities threatened to send him to CECOT. His family has had no contact since October 9, 2025.

Panchos Tacos in Mount Vernon, Ohio closed after a Homeland Security Investigations operation at the restaurant on Oct. 9, 2025. City officials said they were not told about the operation in advance and later learned it was conducted by HSI rather than ICE. The restaurant announced in November it planned to reopen and was hiring new staff, and it officially reopened on March 3, 2026, thanking the community for its support.

Federal immigration enforcement agents have been documented driving unmarked vehicles without required license plates in Chicago and surrounding areas since September 2025. The Sun-Times identified four such vehicles operating from an ICE facility in Broadview, with agents wearing masks and no identifying badges. Civil rights advocates have expressed concerns about accountability and public safety. DHS states the vehicles comply with federal regulations.

ICE agents conducted an enforcement action at West Loop Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois during afternoon school pickup. Thirteen masked agents surrounded a car and removed two sisters who were DACA recipients and were eventually released after proving their legal status. One sister, Jocelyn, stated the agents did not have a warrant. The driver of the vehicle was also the other sister. A teacher exiting an Uber at the time recorded video of the incident after hearing children screaming.

Alandria London, a Black ride-share driver, was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper on October 8, 2025, while taking a passenger to the airport. The officer claimed he did not see her seat belt, though she was wearing one. After the officer said he needed to "call it in," an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van pulled up behind the motorcycle. London believes she was profiled as Hispanic and stopped as a pretext for an immigration check. She was not cited or arrested but posted about the incident on Facebook with a photo showing herself wearing the seat belt.

Daniel Greer and David Eichler, U.S. citizen cemetery workers at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, say they were pepper-sprayed and arrested by ICE agents on Tuesday afternoon while attempting to help an unidentified man struggling in the Des Plaines River. According to the workers, ICE agents breached the cemetery gate onto private property, immediately pepper-sprayed them with guns drawn, and tackled them to the ground after they questioned the agents' authority and noted the man was on the riverbank outside the cemetery property.

Maria Francisca Villanueva Caballero, 49, a longtime Firebaugh resident with no criminal record, was detained by ICE on October 8, 2025, while attending a scheduled USCIS appointment for her final interview to obtain permanent residency. She came to the U.S. in 2000 and settled in Firebaugh in 2001, where she worked at a packing plant, volunteered with the Catholic Church, and supported youth sports. She raised four children who became UCLA and UC Berkeley graduates pursuing careers in medicine, veterinary science, and law. On October 17, Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria and other state and local leaders held a press conference in Fresno in support of her release, where her son Omar read a letter from the siblings calling their mother "the pillar" of their family and asking ICE to use discretion to release her; a petition gathered 7,619 signatures. Caballero remains held at the California City detention facility, which opened in August 2025.

A non-citizen was initially detained by ICE on February 27, 2018, and released on bond in June 2018. On October 8, 2025, ICE re-detained him without providing notice or a pre-detention hearing. A court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that his prior release created a constitutionally protected liberty interest that required ICE to provide a pre-detention hearing before re-detaining him. The court ordered his immediate release on the conditions he was subject to prior to October 8, 2025, and enjoined immigration authorities from re-detaining him in the future without notice and a pre-detention hearing before an immigration judge.

José Medina, a 35-year-old tamal vendor, was arrested by immigration authorities on October 8, 2025, while selling tamales at a 7-Eleven in San Pedro. After his detention, his family feared additional raids and stayed home with 720 unsold tamales. Community members, including artist Rubén Ochoa and his girlfriend, mobilized to sell the tamales through personal deliveries. Medina signed a deportation order and was in Tijuana by October 10, leaving his family behind.

Federal immigration officers entered the Brooklyn home of Hayk Safaryan, a 44-year-old Armenian immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for over two decades, without a judicial warrant or consent and detained him while seizing his personal documents. According to court testimony from his wife, officers conducted a warrantless search after Safaryan answered the door. A federal habeas lawsuit challenges the arrest's legality under Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, part of broader litigation challenging ICE enforcement practices across the country.

Marie, a graduate student and lawful visitor to the United States, was detained for more than 20 weeks at Basile detention center during a high-risk pregnancy. Despite informing ICE officers of her pregnancy, she was placed in solitary confinement after being transferred thousands of miles from the U.S.-Canada border. Medical care was delayed until other detained women advocated for her. She was denied prenatal vitamins and provided inedible food. Marie was released only after legal advocates intervened. After her detention, she developed eclampsia, endured a difficult delivery, and continues to struggle with postpartum depression linked to her detention trauma.

Monica, 38, who has lived in the United States for two decades without legal immigration status, is expecting her fourth child in November. Her three older children are U.S. citizens but are experiencing stress related to their parents' immigration situation. Monica's husband also lacks authorization to live in the country. Although Monica has continued with prenatal care appointments, her anxiety about immigration enforcement and reports of ICE presence in hospital maternity wards have colored her pregnancy experience. She and her family have reduced their time outside the home and are taking precautions when they do leave.