Human Impact Project

Local activist Grace Graybill attempted to film a police traffic stop of a contractor's pickup truck while sitting in her own vehicle, far back along a public stretch of Route 15 in Carroll Township, Pennsylvania, where police have been making arrests under a 287(g) cooperation agreement with ICE. Police Sgt. Terry Williams rushed over and ordered her to stop recording, telling her "You're interfering with our traffic stop! Go! ... Stop following the police department around" and that she had "no business being here," before warning her to "move, or you're going to get yourself in trouble." Courts have repeatedly ruled that Pennsylvania citizens have a right to film public traffic stops. A township resident later cited the video of Williams as an example of how the ICE partnership was changing the character of the police department.

A Haitian man with Temporary Protected Status, married with an 18-month-old child, left home one Sunday evening in late summer to withdraw cash at an ATM in West York Borough, Pennsylvania, and never returned. His wife issued a public plea for help, prompting local community activists to track him down at the overcrowded Moshannon Valley Detention Center. He is among roughly 12,000 Haitians in York County who lost protected status after the Trump administration ended TPS in late July.

Miguel Parra-Hernandez, a 48-year-old Mexican man who has lived in the U.S. for 34 years with no criminal record, was struck by an unmarked, tinted ICE SUV on October 10, 2026, while fleeing on foot through a Houston parking lot during an operation targeting Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who had a final removal order and prior arrests. Parra-Hernandez suffered a shattered ankle, a leg broken in three places, and hip injuries requiring hospitalization and surgery, with more procedures needed, and remains in ICE custody. His attorney, Kim Bruno, and FIEL Houston director Cesar Espinosa said ICE agents cut short their hospital visit after 10-15 minutes and recorded the conversation before forcing them out. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said surveillance video contradicts ICE's claim that Parra-Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle and is considering aggravated assault charges against the agent, while ICE has refused to cooperate with the investigation or release the vehicle's data recorder. Two witnesses to the crash, including Luis Delfín Enríquez, a Houston small business owner with no criminal record and an approved immigration case, were detained separately and moved to a detention facility before investigators could interview them; Teare's office said it will sponsor U-visa petitions for the witnesses. Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones said she was 'horrified' and, along with family and FIEL Houston, demanded Parra-Hernandez's release, video release, and an investigation.

Idris Makhmudov, a Russian citizen of Chechen origin born in Kazakhstan, was detained by immigration authorities at the Nogales, Arizona border crossing on July 13, 2024, after requesting entry, and spent nearly 27 months at the GEO Group-run Folkston D. Ray James ICE Processing Center in Georgia without being charged with a crime. He helped organize a mass hunger strike involving at least 73 detainees from countries including Russia, China, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Yemen, protesting prolonged detention and conditions such as inadequate medical care, moldy food and dirty water, and helped prepare a June collective appeal signed by 45 detainees. His attorney, Samantha Hamilton, said he and others who spoke out in a video about conditions were placed in segregation as retaliation. A federal judge denied his motion challenging the legality of his detention on September 28, overruling a magistrate's recommendation for a bail hearing, and he was deported on a commercial flight through Morocco after refusing food and water for four days, reportedly losing consciousness during the journey. His representative said ICE indicated his appeal would continue to be reviewed and he could be returned if it succeeded, though this has not been independently verified.

Alexander José Concho Medina was detained by ICE agents in Fayetteville, Arkansas on October 11, 2026. His girlfriend raised and paid an $800 bond in hopes of securing his release, but authorities did not release him and his situation has since become more complicated. The family is now trying to raise $3,000 to retain an attorney to fight for his release, describing him as hardworking and honest.

Luis Delfín Enríquez, 48, a Houston small business owner who employs people from his community, was apprehended by ICE while on his way to breakfast with employees on Saturday and handcuffed in the backseat of an ICE vehicle. His sister, Nidia Delfín, said he has no criminal record or arrest warrants and was in the process of applying for a green card when he was detained. Delfín witnessed the same ICE vehicle strike and injure Miguel Parra Hernandez as Parra fled on foot, and his family says they are speaking out despite fear of retaliation so that Parra "can get justice." Advocates are pushing to ensure Delfín and another man who witnessed the incident are not deported before they can be interviewed by investigators.

Doorbell camera footage captured three ICE agents tackling Juan Saldana, a Colombian asylum seeker, outside his Mill Creek apartment as he tried to scan his key fob to get inside. A friend said Saldana was heading to work when agents arrested him. Saldana has no criminal history and has never been issued a deportation order.

In early October 2026, immigration enforcement agents conducted a series of arrests across California's San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas, including Chico, Madera, and Chowchilla. In Chico, agents arrested a Mexican immigrant at his home on Oct. 9, later transporting him to Sacramento and then the California City Immigration Processing Center; agents also went to his daughter's elementary school. A neighbor described him as 'a hard-working person' who 'didn't bother anybody.' In Madera, community member Maira Gonzalez witnessed and livestreamed agents detaining a man outside a Home Depot, later seeing detainees transferred into vans at a nearby fairgrounds parking lot until a representative asked agents to leave. In Chowchilla, a resident named Angel said he saw federal officers pull a man from his vehicle near a Dollar General, calling it 'a sad, sad situation' and noting the town grew unusually quiet afterward. Footage of the Chowchilla incident circulated online and helped prompt local youth to organize a protest.

Blanca Ortiz is working to secure the release of her husband, Carlos Ortiz Jara, 49, a Mexican national who was detained by ICE agents on May 12, 2026, in the parking lot of a USCIS office in Pomona, California, where he had gone for a fingerprinting appointment tied to his pending immigrant visa application. The couple, married since 1999, have four U.S.-born children, including a son who serves as a Marine Corps sergeant and has moved his own family into his parents' home to help cover the mortgage. Carlos co-owned an auto mechanic shop in Jurupa Valley, where he had worked for 20 years, and had previously been deported decades earlier following a 1998 border crossing attempt after fleeing cartel violence; he was pursuing a visa petition under the Violence Against Women Act when detained. He remains held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where Blanca has visited him behind glass and described him as broken down. A habeas corpus petition challenging his detention was filed June 19, 2026, and remains pending, while the family has spent roughly $40,000 on legal fees. A DHS spokesperson said he was detained during an enforcement operation and noted that pending applications do not confer legal status.

Immigrant advocacy group Faith in the Valley reported that ICE agents detained an unidentified man near McNamara Park and a nearby church in Merced between 11 a.m. and noon on Sunday. The organization said it was still trying to confirm whether the man had been leaving church services or was simply in the area, and said he may have been taken to an ICE office in Fresno before being transferred to a detention facility, though his whereabouts had not been confirmed. Rev. Miguel Mancia of nearby Sacred Heart Church said he was unaware of anyone being detained after Sunday's service but had heard reports of enforcement activity in the neighborhood. Soccer league organizer Isaac Ramirez said families stayed away from the park afterward, with two teams forfeiting games out of fear.

ICE agents appeared in the parking lot of a food processing facility in Oregon, causing panic among workers. The incident occurred amid a sharp increase in immigration arrests across Oregon in the same week.

Carlos Maldonado Valle, a 21-year-old Honduras native studying criminal justice at Cape Cod Community College and volunteering as a community service officer with the Provincetown Police Department, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Logan Airport's Terminal E. His domestic flight from Puerto Rico was diverted through Bermuda due to a passenger medical emergency, and upon return to Boston it was treated as an international flight, forcing passengers through customs despite most lacking passports; as a holder of a Special Immigrant Juvenile visa, which he received October 1 and which otherwise placed him on a path to a green card, he lacked the travel permission document required to leave the country even though he never intended to. He was held alone in a cell for about 44 hours without access to his phone, ID, family, or an attorney, and said he suffered repeated panic attacks after being told he would be sent back to Honduras, the country he left as a child with his mother seeking asylum. A federal judge issued an emergency order blocking his removal or transfer out of Massachusetts while his habeas corpus petition was pending, and he was released October 8 after paying $1,020 in parole fees, with his attorney Rachel Self saying he hugged her crying with relief and had no criminal background. Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse and Police Chief Gregory Hennick submitted letters supporting his release, praising his work helping elderly and medically vulnerable residents at the town's emergency shelter during a four-day power outage in a February winter storm; Morse said 'Carlos never should have been detained and put through this ordeal.' A GoFundMe campaign launched by Provincetown residents raised more than $25,000 for his legal fees and expenses within hours.

Nancy Martinez, a 37-year-old factory worker who had lived in New Haven, Connecticut for 15 years, was arrested by ICE agents on June 9, 2025, while driving or dropping off her two U.S. citizen children at school. Masked, armed agents in unmarked vehicles boxed in her car and handcuffed her, claiming a warrant existed without ever presenting one to her or her children. Her 9-year-old son, who has autism spectrum disorder, and 14-year-old daughter witnessed the arrest and were left without a guardian until Martinez's grandmother arrived to care for them. Martinez was held about a month in detention facilities across Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Texas, including the Wyatt Detention Facility, before being deported to Mexico. She now lives with family in Naucalpan de Juárez, sells clothing on the street, and calls her children daily before school, after school, and at bedtime. With support from the Yale Law School Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, Martinez filed a federal lawsuit against ICE and the government alleging assault, recklessness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unlawful detention. She was among roughly 100 people arrested by ICE in Connecticut that month.

ICE agents conducted a wide enforcement presence across cities in southwest Kansas, appearing at construction sites, meatpacking plants and on city streets. During the operation, agents 'randomly' pulled over a U.S. citizen. Local city leaders and authorities said they were frustrated by a lack of communication from ICE despite attempts to reach the agency.

A crowd of about 30 community members confronted federal immigration agents in northeast Salem, Oregon, surrounding and blocking their vehicles near Lancaster Drive Northeast and Sunnyview Road Northeast. Agents deployed tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd before driving away, and 911 received multiple calls reporting people with tear-gas related breathing difficulties. Residents Jose Garivey and his wife Martha Vitela, who witnessed the incident, said an agent drove an SUV into another vehicle and that agents appeared to taunt the crowd rather than leave. Congresswoman Andrea Salinas said ICE deployed pepper spray and smoke canisters against elderly people and children and that agents followed and harassed U.S. citizens.

Artemio Castillo-Romero, who entered the U.S. from Honduras seeking political asylum, was detained by ICE agents in Collier County just minutes after state troopers pulled him over for a traffic violation and let him go with only a warning. He held a valid work permit and driver's license and had no criminal record, according to his wife, Dedee Castillo. His sister-in-law, Larissa Diliberato, pleaded with officers at the scene to release him, and his wife is now calling for his release on bond, citing his severe sleep apnea and worsening mental health while in detention.

Sorayda Noyola, 31, her sister Claudia, 19, and a younger sibling, around 14, were detained by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents near their mother's home in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas after stopping to film federal agents conducting an immigration arrest at a construction site. When Sorayda objected to an agent trying to seize her phone, agents tackled all three siblings to the ground and handcuffed them; the youngest sibling said an officer knelt behind his knee, causing sharp pain, and he was separated from his mother, a green card holder, who feared she would also be detained. Sorayda and Claudia were held for hours at the ICE Field Office in Harlingen, and agents confiscated phones from the siblings without returning them. MALDEF filed a Federal Tort Claims Act administrative claim on the siblings' behalf seeking $2.5 million in damages for personal injury and $2,000 for each lost phone, alleging unlawful assault, arrest, and detention. DHS stated it respects the First Amendment right to observe and film but will intervene if filming interferes with operations. The case is among more than 500 reports nationally of U.S. citizens detained during immigration enforcement actions.

Hipólito, described by his wife Ofelia as a hardworking family man, was taken by ICE on October 9, 2026, after leaving for work and never returning home. His wife says the family had permission to be in the U.S. He remains in immigration detention, leaving his wife to care for their children alone while covering rent, legal fees, and daily expenses.

ICE agents conducted enforcement activity at multiple Lennar construction sites across Fresno and Madera County over several days. At the Riverstone development, a construction worker's father, who has no criminal record according to his son, was detained while the two worked together. The son described watching three ICE agents detain his father, who is now held at the Golden State Annex detention facility in McFarland. At the nearby Tesoro Viejo development, a site supervisor confronted agents on video, stating the area was private property and that a signed warrant was required to enter; the agents left without detaining anyone. Construction worker Nick Rodriguez recorded the confrontation. A Madera County supervisor said he was concerned about the fear and anxiety the enforcement activity caused in the community.

Tommy Randolph Izaguirre-Chavez, a man from Peru, was arrested by ICE agents on October 9, 2026, during a targeted operation in New London, Connecticut, after reportedly attempting to flee from immigration agents. He was taken into custody without further incident, according to a DHS spokesperson. Connecticut court records show he was convicted of first-degree unlawful restraint and third-degree assault connected to an August 2025 incident, and on September 25, 2026, he was sentenced to five years in prison, suspended after 11 months, followed by three years of probation. DHS stated that Border Patrol agents had previously encountered him near Calexico, California, in September 2022 before he was released.