Human Impact Project

On January 12, 2026, federal immigration agents stopped Christian Molina, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis. As agents questioned Molina, residents emerged onto snow-lined streets to protest, filming the encounter. When someone threw a snowball toward the agents, federal officers responded by deploying tear gas into the crowd, pepper-spraying protesters and news photographers at close range, and firing pepper balls that struck journalist A.C. Thompson three times, including above the right eye. Additional team members from FRONTLINE and ProPublica, including director Gabrielle Schonder and director of photography Tim Grucza, were pepper-sprayed as agents departed. A former Department of Justice official later characterized the response as "use of excessive force after use of excess force."

David Vargas-Rivera, a Mexican national, was arrested by ICE Dallas officers on January 12, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. According to federal authorities, Vargas-Rivera is wanted in Mexico on homicide charges and is suspected of laundering more than $4.6 million through real estate transactions in 2025. Authorities also noted he had previously been arrested in Canada and Colombia. He was deported on July 14, 2026, and turned over to Mexican law enforcement authorities.

ICE agents rammed the car of Christian Molina, 40, as he drove to meet his wife at a mechanic's shop in south Minneapolis on Jan. 12. Agents questioned his immigration status and asked for ID, but released him after he said he was a U.S. citizen. The incident occurred two blocks from where an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good on Jan. 7, and a crowd that gathered at the scene was met with chemical irritants deployed by agents. Molina and his wife live in Coon Rapids but had lived in south Minneapolis for years.

Brenda Beatriz Organiz-Perez De Lorenzo, a Guatemalan woman and her two minor children, petitioned for review after being denied asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. She fled Guatemala in February 2019 after receiving threatening phone calls demanding money. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals denied her petition, finding she failed to establish eligibility for relief on multiple grounds including lack of nexus between the threats and her claimed protected social group.

ICE agents conducted a raid at and near a laundromat on Speedwell Avenue in Morristown, New Jersey, detaining 11 people. At least one father was taken into custody, leaving his 6-year-old daughter alone on the street. Those detained include a Morristown High School senior, identified through an online fundraiser set up to support him. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said all those arrested are either in removal proceedings or in the process of being removed from the United States. Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty posted a video appealing for volunteer legal aid to assist those detained.

Danny Briceno-Solano, a Venezuelan national with work authorization and legal status to remain in the U.S., was detained by ICE on January 11, 2026, after being stopped on I-77 for unclear paper license plates. U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston ordered his release from South Central Regional Jail on February 5, 2026, ruling that the government violated due process by detaining him without explanation, hearing, notice, or means of challenging the detention. Briceno-Solano crossed the border illegally in 2022 but was lawfully released and granted permission to stay based on unsafe conditions in Venezuela; he was employed as a contractor, paid taxes, and had a North Carolina driver's license. His removal hearings had been dismissed nine days before his detention.

Randall Gamboa Esquivel, a Costa Rican man, was detained by ICE after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2024. During nearly 10 months in detention at facilities in south Texas, his health deteriorated significantly, and he was deported to Costa Rica in September 2025 in a vegetative state. He died five weeks later without regaining consciousness, while his family and authorities remain unclear about what caused his severe health decline while in ICE custody.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Online Detainee Locator System, an individual named Yee has been detained as a public safety or flight risk. However, no court hearing dates are available for Yee on the portal, and no deportation information is listed on the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Brandon Sigüenza, a volunteer legal observer, was arrested and detained for eight hours by ICE agents while documenting enforcement activity near the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis. He and fellow observer Patty O'Keefe had followed agents' vehicles after learning ICE had pepper-sprayed another observer nearby; agents then surrounded their car, sprayed pepper spray into its air intake, shattered the windows, and handcuffed Sigüenza without identifying themselves or giving instructions. He was released without charges. Sigüenza said immigration enforcement in the area had already affected his students, his father, and his neighbors, and his detention occurred amid broader coordinated community efforts to document and warn residents about ICE activity in Minnesota.

A Mexican and Ojibwe U.S. citizen from Crystal, Minnesota, with family from the Red Lake Nation, was detained by ICE agents outside a Hy-Vee in Robbinsdale on Jan. 8 after agents said he matched the description of an Ecuadoran national with a criminal history. The incident was filmed by his aunt, Shawntia Sosa-Clara, who called police and repeatedly stated they were citizens; bystanders can be heard reacting on the video. He was released after several hours in custody but now faces a federal charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer, which he denies; photos show bruising on his wrists and neck that his family attributes to the encounter. The Robbinsdale Police Department said it does not work with ICE or ask about immigration status but does not interfere with federal operations except in life-or-death situations.

Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos, a 5-year-old U.S. citizen from Austin, Texas, who misses her cousins, classmates and kindergarten teachers, was deported to Honduras alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos. The removal stemmed from an administrative deportation order issued against the mother in 2019, before Génesis was born. According to advocacy group Grassroots Leadership, Austin police responding to an early-morning disturbance call found no incident but identified the ICE warrant, leading to the arrest of both mother and daughter. They were held incommunicado for nearly a week at a San Antonio hotel without access to legal representation or a judge, with authorities allegedly pressuring them not to disclose their location, preventing attorneys from intervening before deportation. The mother briefly reached her brother by phone to say they were about to be removed, and later called from Honduras to confirm the deportation. She has said she plans to send her daughter back to the U.S. with another relative, since Génesis is a U.S. citizen.

Border Patrol agents smashed a car window and dragged a Honduran man from a vehicle during an immigration enforcement operation at a gas station in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 11, 2026. Video posted by Ford Fischer of News2Share shows agents surrounding the parked vehicle, breaking the window, pulling the man out, forcing him to the ground, and taking him into custody as a crowd gathered. DHS said the man had a final order of removal issued in 2020 and refused to obey orders. After multiple warnings, agents broke the window and arrested him. During the arrest, bystanders surrounded the agents, who fired pepper balls toward the crowd. A U.S. citizen who hit an officer was also arrested. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino was present at the scene and was heard ordering bystanders to move back. A second individual was also detained during the incident.

A migrant man died while attempting to cross the Rio Bravo into the United States and was found floating in the river in Piedras Negras, Coahuila. Rescue teams and Mexican and U.S. authorities coordinated to recover the body. Authorities are investigating whether the victim is José Antonio Sánchez Ríos, 35, from Guanajuato, who disappeared while crossing the river earlier in the week.

Adonay Mancia Rodríguez was detained by ICE agents near his home in Morristown, New Jersey on January 11, 2026, during an enforcement sweep while picking up a dinner delivery. His six-year-old daughter Annabella was found wandering the streets alone following his detention. According to DHS, ICE took 11 individuals into custody during the operation who were undocumented and facing deportation.

ICE officers in Minneapolis conducted multiple "show me your papers" encounters with residents in public spaces. In one incident last weekend, officers approached a man pumping gas and demanded to see documentation of U.S. citizenship. The man refused initially but eventually provided a driver's license; officers continued questioning whether he was naturalized and when. In another incident, officers questioned a man at a vehicle charging station about his citizenship. These encounters were recorded on video and shared on social media, prompting criticism from public figures. The Department of Homeland Security did not provide information on the citizenship status of the people approached or details about these specific incidents.

A 21-year-old protester named Kaden Rummler was struck in the face by a nonlethal round fired by a Department of Homeland Security agent during a protest outside a federal building in Santa Ana. The impact left shrapnel embedded in his eyes and face, resulting in permanent blindness in his left eye and a fractured skull. The incident occurred during demonstrations against the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal immigration agent in Minnesota.

Khadra Muse Mohamed, a 25-year-old Somali refugee and single mother, was pulled over by undercover ICE agents on January 10, 2026, one day after Operation PARRIS began. She had legally arrived in the U.S. in April 2024, passed security screenings, and was living in St. Cloud with her 7-year-old son and extended family including her disabled stepfather. After her arrest, she was transferred to a detention facility in Texas before her family could secure legal representation, separating her from her young son and elderly relatives who depend on her care. She was released on January 19 after nine days in detention.

Parady La, a 46-year-old Cambodian refugee and longtime Philadelphia-area resident, died in January 2026 after being detained by ICE. La was arrested by ICE on January 6 outside his home and held at the Federal Detention Center (FDC Philadelphia), where he was treated for severe drug withdrawal. On January 7, officers found him unresponsive in his cell, administered CPR and Narcan, and transported him to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was diagnosed with anoxic brain injury, shock, and multiple organ failures. He died on January 9. His family and organizations including the ACLU of Pennsylvania and CAIR-Philadelphia demanded accountability and transparency, with the ACLU filing a Freedom of Information Act request for records related to his detention, medical treatment, and death.

Arlit Martinez-Carrada, a Mexican national living in the Salisbury, Maryland area, was detained by ICE on January 3 while heading to work. Her 15-year-old son, Kevin Mendoza Martinez, died of cancer just two days later on January 5, while she remained in ICE custody at the Baltimore federal building. An immigration judge initially denied her release, calling her a flight risk, but a federal judge later approved her release on $12,000 bond with an ankle monitor, allowing her to attend her son's funeral. Martinez-Carrada has since decided to self-deport, with her attorneys working on the voluntary departure process.

Everyone had their case dismissed that afternoon which meant ICE could now take them at anytime. With only one way out of the building and ICE sitting in cars throughout the parking lot I knew what was going to happen. The mother’s friend-who had been sitting in the car next to mine-stepped out and met them by the front entrance, just a few feet from where I stood with the Priests. For a second, I couldn’t tell if the mother realized what was about to happen. But it only took that second. Suddenly, the ICE agents-every one of them a masked man-began walking toward us. Toward her. And that’s when it started. The little girl saw them first. “Mommy! Mommy!” she screamed, and burst into tears. Then her brother realized what was happening and started crying too. ICE doesn’t like to take children when the Priests are present and watching. ICE -asked whoever is with the kids to follow them to a different location, so they can take the children too. Because the kids are also in removal proceedings. Please donate so The Sidewalk School can continue to document and record these “disappearances” To donate: SidewalkSchool.org ***Video recorded by The Sidewalk School