Human Impact Project

Texas Monthly taco editor José R. Ralat was pulled over three times while on assignment in West Texas, including once by ICE agents near Presidio. Ralat noted that he and his driver are both Hispanic and that all the officers who stopped them were also Hispanic.

David Courvelle, a former contract detention officer at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a Nicaraguan woman detainee while she was in federal custody. Between May and July 2025, Courvelle engaged in multiple sexual encounters with the detainee inside the facility, including in a janitorial closet, and enlisted other detainees to act as lookouts. He also smuggled gifts into the facility to maintain the relationship. The case was uncovered after investigators obtained recordings of phone calls between Courvelle and the detainee, prompting his resignation. Courvelle pleaded guilty in federal court and faces up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Anthony Paredes, an 18-year-old deaf high school senior at Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts in Los Angeles, was chased and tackled to the ground by Department of Homeland Security immigration officers on January 24, 2026, during a peaceful protest outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles. Multiple bystanders shouted that Paredes was deaf and could not hear the officers' verbal commands, but he was taken into custody without a sign language interpreter provided. While in custody, Paredes' requests to use a restroom were denied. His mother, Guadalupe Diaz, expressed concern about the lack of interpreter access during the encounter. Educators and organizers plan to file a claim and lawsuit against the government and seek to have charges dropped, with a court date scheduled for April 1.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an Ecuadorian citizen, and his 2-year-old daughter were taken into ICE custody on January 23, 2026, during a vehicle encounter at their home in Minneapolis. Despite a federal court order issued that evening requiring the child's immediate release, both were flown to Texas the same night. The toddler, who has lived in Minneapolis since arriving as a newborn and has a pending asylum application, was returned to her mother on January 24. Her father remains in ICE custody. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation in Minnesota that resulted in at least nine children being detained in January 2026, including a 5-year-old detained on his way home from preschool and several other minors ranging from elementary school age to teenagers. Federal judges ordered the return of several other children and parents to Minnesota after they were transferred to a detention center in Texas.

Georgia Savageford, a Minneapolis woman, was arrested by federal immigration officers on January 24, 2026, after being pushed to the ground by an agent. She was then tackled and dragged face-down by three agents, who knelt on her back, twisted her arms and legs, and handcuffed her so tightly she suffered temporary nerve damage and lost feeling in her hands. Savageford was a legal observer monitoring ICE enforcement activities when the incident occurred. She was placed in an ICE holding facility where she was held for 12 hours in a cold cell without adequate access to food, water, or bathroom facilities, then released without being charged. Civil rights attorneys have filed complaints on her behalf as part of an effort to pursue class-action lawsuits over alleged excessive force.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened an internal investigation into whether Gregory Bovino, a U.S. Border Patrol commander and architect of Trump's immigration enforcement policies, made disparaging comments about the Jewish faith of U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel N. Rosen. The alleged remarks were made during a January 12 phone call coordinating immigration enforcement operations, where Bovino allegedly complained about Rosen's unavailability due to the Sabbath and made sarcastic comments about Orthodox Jewish people. A Minneapolis pastor was detained by ICE after joining a protest. During his release, officers made remarks about his race, telling him 'You're White' and 'Wouldn't Be Any Fun Anyway.' Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol commander who became the public face of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement operations, announced his retirement. Bovino led high-profile crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minnesota that resulted in thousands of arrests and drew criticism for aggressive tactics including vehicle searches, chemical agents, and raids. His operations are linked to deaths of U.S. citizens and widespread demonstrations.

A protest occurred Saturday at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley when detainees, including many children, demonstrated in solidarity with 5-year-old Liam Ramos who was taken into custody in Minnesota. Attorneys were ordered to leave the facility as approximately 80 percent of detainees poured into open areas chanting "Libertad" (Freedom). Detainees expressed concerns over the child's treatment and the circumstances of his apprehension from a car in his family's driveway.

ICE agents have been leaving cards on the vehicles of undocumented immigrants, often containing messages implying threats of imminent deportation. In Colorado, immigrant rights group Voces Unidas reported that family members discovered customized ace of spades "death cards" bearing the address of the ICE Denver field office after agents detained 10 Latino community members. According to the report, agents used fake police lights to pull over the vehicles, then left them abandoned with doors open, engines running and hazard lights flashing.

Hassan Hamka, a lawful permanent resident, has been held in ICE detention for over six months while his legal case proceeds. His daughter created a petition seeking community support and character testimonials to present to the judge at his trial.

A Department of Transportation and Mobility employee was approached and questioned by ICE agents around 6:40 a.m. on Friday at a convenience store on Irvington Road near Benson Highway. The agents asked for identification but turned and walked away when they noticed the City of Tucson logo on his work vehicle. City Manager Timothy Thomure expressed concern that the employee appeared to have been randomly selected for questioning based on an unstated profile.

Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz, a Colombian civil engineer with a master's degree from the University of Maine and a valid H-1B work visa, was detained by ICE agents while driving to work in Portland, Maine on January 22, 2026. Masked agents in unmarked vehicles cut off his car, smashed his driver's side window with a crowbar, pointed a Taser at him, and forcibly removed him while he attempted to show proof of his lawful status. His car was left running in the street with his belongings inside and his phone discarded on the road. He was placed in full-body shackles and transported across state lines to an ICE facility in Massachusetts, held for hours in a windowless cell, then released without charges roughly 105 miles from his home. Carvajal-Muñoz has no criminal record, despite the operation reportedly targeting immigrants with criminal histories, and said he continues to fear being detained again. With assistance from the ACLU of Maine, he filed a federal lawsuit against ICE agent Jack Cory Ravencamp and two unidentified agents, alleging excessive force, warrantless arrest, unlawful detention, racial discrimination, and violations of his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

A Chinese citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in July 2023 was re-detained by ICE on January 23, 2026, when he appeared for a routine check-in. He had been living freely in Los Angeles under an Order of Release on Recognizance since 2023 and filed an asylum application based on fear of political persecution in China. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated his due process rights.

A 2-year-old girl and her father, both Ecuadorian nationals, were arrested by ICE in south Minneapolis and flown to Texas within hours, despite a federal judge's order to release the child. The judge issued an order at 8:11 p.m. Thursday to release the child by 9:30 p.m., but ICE placed them on a commercial flight to Texas at 8:30 p.m. The child was later returned to Minnesota and reunited with her mother on Friday.

Three Venezuelan nationals with pending asylum cases were arrested by ICE agents on Friday morning in front of the Drachman Montessori Magnet School on 22nd Street and South 10th Avenue, with dozens of children on the playground nearby. According to a family member, the three—a husband, brother, and sister-in-law—had been regularly checking in with ICE every three months and had proper documentation showing they were legally present while their cases were being processed. One agent was carrying pepper spray during the arrest, and the sister-in-law was arrested after questioning an officer.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, was shot and killed by a U.S. border patrol officer during an immigration enforcement operation on January 23, 2026. A U.S. citizen with no criminal history, Pretti had legally owned a handgun and concealed carry permit; bystander videos show him holding a phone with no visible firearm. DHS stated Pretti approached officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, though officials did not specify if it was brandished. His family said he was distressed by immigration enforcement actions and had participated in protests.

Alberto Castañeda Mondragón, a 31-year-old roofer from Veracruz, Mexico, who founded a construction company in St. Paul and supports a 10-year-old daughter in Mexico, suffered at least eight skull fractures and brain hemorrhages after his Jan. 8 arrest near a St. Paul shopping center. ICE initially claimed he ran headfirst into a brick wall while handcuffed, but nurses and an outside physician said his injuries were inconsistent with that account, and one ICE officer reportedly told hospital staff he "got his (expletive) rocked." His lawyers said he was racially profiled as "a brown-skinned, Latino Spanish speaker" and that his arrest warrant was signed by an ICE officer rather than a judge; a federal judge later ordered his release from custody. His brother said he has significant memory loss, cannot work for the foreseeable future, and has been taken in by coworkers since he has no family in Minnesota.

Arnoldo Tiul Caal, a Guatemalan asylum-seeker who had lived in Spokane since 2019, and his 10-year-old daughter Karla, a fourth-grader at Logan Elementary School, were detained by federal agents after a school drop-off on January 9-10, 2026. Border Patrol alleged the father had missed multiple required immigration check-ins while his asylum case was pending, though he held a valid work permit and had no criminal history. The pair were transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, prompting condemnation from Washington state leaders who cited the family's community ties and a scheduled 2027 asylum court hearing. A federal judge ordered their release on January 23, 2026.

William Vermie, a 39-year-old Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, was tackled and detained by ICE agents while standing on a public sidewalk in Minneapolis observing agents detain two young men during an operation the government called Operation Metro Surge. He was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and held for eight hours without being allowed to contact an attorney or his family, despite repeatedly requesting legal representation and his wife having already secured a lawyer on his behalf. DHS said Vermie was arrested for allegedly assaulting a law enforcement officer. Four attorneys told ABC News they were denied access to clients held at the same facility, with multiple attorneys reporting similar complaints from others arrested in recent Minneapolis ICE operations and alleging violations of Fifth and Sixth Amendment due process and right-to-counsel protections.

ICE enforcement operations in Minnesota during January 2026 resulted in the detention of at least seven students from Columbia Heights Public Schools, including a five-year-old boy. The operations included stops of individuals without confirmed identity verification and stops of off-duty police officers, with agents staging on school grounds and in neighborhoods. St. Paul and Brooklyn Park police chiefs acknowledged concerns about racial profiling and potential civil rights violations. School officials reported the year was "tumultuous," with students and families experiencing ongoing negative impacts and fears about student retention.

Johny Merida Aguilara, an undocumented immigrant detained by ICE in September 2024, accepted deportation to Bolivia after nearly five months in custody. His wife, Gimena Morales Antezana, and their three U.S. citizen children plan to depart with him this month. The family's decision comes after financial hardship and the need to care for their 5-year-old son who has brain cancer, autism, and severe feeding difficulties. Aguilara's family lawyer won a temporary deportation stay in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, but the family chose voluntary departure amid mounting economic pressures and uncertainty over pending asylum and T visa applications.