Human Impact Project

Luis Baltazar-Martinez, a truck driver and father of six who was brought to the U.S. from Mexico at age 2, has been held for more than a month at the Butler County Jail on an ICE hold after being pulled over while driving in Ohio. His wife, Ali Baltazar-Martinez, says he holds a work permit valid until 2029 and that the couple has been pursuing his green card through an I-130 petition since marrying in 2018. The family, who live in Monroeville, Indiana, make a weekly two-and-a-half-hour drive to visit him for 30 minutes, and Ali says their four young children struggle with his absence and fear he could be deported to a country where he has no remaining ties.

A mother identified as Patricia was detained by ICE agents during a vehicle stop in North Austin, Texas, after dropping off her child near a school bus stop. A witness livestreaming the arrest said the woman was crying and worried no one would be able to pick up her children, and was able to reach her husband, who watched the arrest unfold on the broadcast. Video shared by the child's father, Leonardo Pelaez, showed the boy crying nearby as vehicles with flashing lights idled, though he said the mother stayed with the child until the bus arrived. Austin Mayor Pro Tem Jose "Chito" Vela publicized the footage, calling the arrest "evil" and saying a school bus stop was an inappropriate location for enforcement. ICE said it released the woman about 10 minutes after learning she was the sole caregiver of minor children, though it disputed that any children were present during the stop or linked to the crying child; Vela's office later confirmed the child was safe with family. The family reportedly had a missed immigration appointment months earlier, though no official confirmation was given that this caused the arrest, and no details on the woman's immigration status were provided.

ICE agents conducted raids at housing construction sites in Santa Fe, arresting several workers. Video posted to a Spanish-language community Facebook page showed agents taking at least two men into custody. A local builder said ICE visited multiple construction sites across the city as part of a broader surge in immigration enforcement targeting the construction industry in the region. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez said ICE has also been seen at schools and places of worship, and criticized the agency for targeting construction workers. ICE separately announced it had arrested 237 people in New Mexico but did not specify locations or confirm whether the Santa Fe arrests were part of that total.

Harrison, New Jersey officials are demanding answers after ICE arrested Jhon Maykel Correa Sangucho, a migrant from Honduras, in front of his children. A video of the arrest has sparked outrage on social media.

Pilar, a Peruvian woman, told immigration attorney Migladys Bermudez that she had tried to escape an abusive boyfriend and had used makeup to cover marks he left on her face, but he accused her of being the abuser, leading to her arrest. She was detained at the North Lake Processing Center in west Michigan, where charges against her were dropped or never filed. While detained, she connected with other immigrant domestic violence victims, passing around a tablet so others could seek legal help.

Leya, a recent immigrant from Cuba with a pending immigration case, said her boyfriend repeatedly abused her, including punching her in the face and isolating her from friends and family. In April, after police responded to an argument at their apartment complex in Wyoming, Michigan, officers arrested Leya rather than her boyfriend on suspicion of domestic assault and interfering with a 911 call. She was later detained at North Lake Processing Center and separated from her nursing daughter, who she said stopped calling her 'Mamá' during video visits.

Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations executed a predawn search warrant at Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C.-area home, with a neighbor reporting being awakened around 4:30 a.m. by loud banging and a large truck outside. Agents seized Omar's cellphone as part of a criminal investigation into whether her family misstated her age when she immigrated to the U.S. in 1995 as a 12-year-old refugee from Somalia and later became a naturalized citizen at 17 through paperwork filed by her late father. The probe, led by HSI, the U.S. attorney in Minneapolis, and the Justice Department, examines potential immigration crimes including conspiracy and false statements, and investigators have also looked into unsubstantiated claims she married a man accused of being her brother for citizenship purposes. Roughly a dozen grand jury subpoenas have been issued to Omar's family members, including her sister. Omar said 'I'm ok' and accused the Trump administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement to target political enemies, while Democratic leaders including Hakeem Jeffries and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz condemned the search as politically motivated ahead of her reelection bid. No charges have been filed.

Prudencio Rivera Rios, 31, a farmworker who entered the U.S. in 2023 through the CBP One asylum process, was followed by an unmarked truck with Texas plates while driving home from a night shift at a poultry farm near Kerman. After he pulled over, agents told him he had a deportation order and that his work permit did not authorize him to live in the U.S.; when he refused to unlock his doors, they smashed his rear window, pulled him out, forced him to the ground, and handcuffed him. Rivera livestreamed part of the encounter on Facebook, showing agents his work authorization card and telling them in Spanish that his papers were in order. He was taken to the ICE office in Fresno, where agents later confirmed his documents were valid and he had no criminal record, and released without apology. His wife, Marisol Montiel, said she learned of the stop through his livestream and feared raising their two children alone if he were deported. Rivera, who checks in with ICE monthly and has an asylum appointment scheduled for next year, said the experience left him afraid to return to work.

Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old Dominican construction worker and father, was shot in the neck by a plainclothes ICE agent in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx on October 8, 2026, while attempting to flee an arrest with his 5-year-old son in the backseat after picking the boy up from school. Surveillance footage showed masked agents in construction vests approaching with guns drawn; ICE claims Belgal's vehicle struck agents and government vehicles, which he disputes. A bystander, Iris Rosa, ran to help him and said he told her he thought he was dying; his son was unharmed. Belgal was hospitalized and later transferred to a private ICE facility in New Jersey before being booked into solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where a bullet remains lodged in his neck and his attorneys say he has received inadequate medical care. His lawyers filed a federal habeas corpus petition, later amended to allege ICE lacked a valid arrest warrant, after which a judge barred his deportation or transfer. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the shooting an 'outrage' and said he negotiated with President Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin for Belgal's release, while Gov. Kathy Hochul demanded an accounting and Rep. Adriano Espaillat said he was blocked from visiting Belgal in the hospital. Protests occurred outside the hospital and in the neighborhood, with some clashes between police and demonstrators.

Federal immigration agents, at least one wearing a vest reading 'POLICE ICE', pursued a man's car into a parking lot near Woodland Park and KapKa Cooperative Elementary School during morning drop-off. Masked agents in unmarked, unplated vehicles pounded on the man's windows demanding identification, then smashed the driver-side window and forcibly removed and handcuffed him before driving him away. School staff diverted families to an alternate entrance and blocked agents from the school gates; officials said the man had no connection to the school or church whose parking lot was used, and the reason for his detention was unclear.

German Machado, a SUNY Brockport IT technician, was taken into custody by ICE agents outside his home in Batavia, New York as he prepared to leave for work. His wife, Maria Velázquez, a journalist, said the couple fled the Maduro regime in Venezuela in 2016 and have been seeking asylum since then, with their case still pending. Velázquez said Machado holds a valid Employment Authorization Document allowing him to legally work in the U.S. until 2029, and that the couple own a home, work, and pay taxes. He is being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility, and his union, United University Professions, has demanded his release and planned a campus visibility event in his support.

Sukhdev Singh, a commercial truck driver, critically injured a pedestrian in a March crash in Indianapolis. ICE publicized his arrest as part of its broader crackdown on immigrant truckers and sent him to the Hopkins County jail in Kentucky. His case was among several crashes cited by Indiana's Republican-led legislature as justification for tightening licensing restrictions on immigrant commercial truck drivers.

A Haitian truck driver said he was pulled over by police in Indiana in June while heading to Ohio for a delivery, after an officer cited a missing trailer reflector that he said he actually had. He said he produced all the documents the officer requested but was still arrested and taken to an immigration detention facility without explanation. His case was among dozens reviewed by reporters in which commercial truckers were stopped by police and then handed over to ICE.

In June, video footage showed an ICE agent dragging a U.S. citizen by her arms along the floor of the San Luis Obispo County Jail lobby to move her out of his way, according to rapid responder Jennifer Guernsey, who described agents at the jail as frequently 'get[ting] real aggressive.'

Prisciliano Trejo, 29, died from acute leukemia days after Jesus Manuel Arenas Silva's death in ICE custody. His family said detention officials delayed urgent medical treatment despite his repeated complaints of severe symptoms.

Jose Chajon-Raxon, a man detained at Delaney Hall, experienced a seizure and was transported to the hospital around the time of a July congressional hearing on conditions at the facility. ICE granted him a temporary medical release before he died, and because he was technically no longer in detention, his death was not counted as a death in ICE custody.

Seven plaintiffs who were detained in ICE custody for civil immigration purposes filed suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after the agency failed to return their seized property, including Employment Authorization Documents, cell phones, and car keys, more than four months after their release. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the named plaintiffs and a class of similarly situated individuals, alleges the losses cost them work opportunities and left them afraid to go out in public without identification for fear of being detained again. The case argues ICE has adopted a de facto policy of failing to return property once its legitimate governmental interest in the items has expired, violating the Fourth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.

A San Diego-based transgender organizer who advocates for immigrant and transgender rights was pulled from their home at gunpoint in their underwear by Homeland Security Investigations agents during a predawn raid in mid-August. Agents handcuffed the activist and their partner, held them outside for about an hour and a half, and ransacked their home and car, confiscating a phone, journal, shoes, a dashcam and other belongings. The warrant the activist was eventually given had no case number, cited the activist's dead name and an alias they had never used, and gave no explanation for the search; the activist, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, has been unable to find legal representation because they were never charged with a crime.

Gurpreet Singh, a commercial truck driver, was driving north on Interstate 69 near Muncie, Indiana when a tire blew out and he was taken to a hospital for stitches. After treatment, Indiana State Police arrested him at the hospital for immigration violations and turned him over to ICE, which transferred him to the Daviess County jail in western Kentucky. Through an interpreter, Singh said he felt afraid and disoriented after the crash and didn't know what would happen to him. A federal judge ordered his release in July, but he said he could not immediately return to work because authorities had kept his backpack containing his immigration papers.

Federal immigration agents conducted a weeklong operation from Oct. 5 to Oct. 11 across San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, taking 114 people into custody according to data from 805 UndocuFund, a nonprofit that supports undocumented immigrants. Agents targeted workplaces, neighborhoods, busy streets and even people visiting ICE field offices to update their paperwork, arresting five people in San Luis Obispo, 75 in Santa Barbara County (mostly Santa Maria and Lompoc) and 34 in Ventura County. DHS described the activity as part of a 'nationwide public safety surge in sanctuary cities,' while Gov. Gavin Newsom and local officials condemned the tactics as instilling fear in communities.