New video footage from May 9, 2025 reveals details surrounding the federal arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at Delaney Hall, a migrant detention center. Rep. LaMonica McIver and House colleagues had arrived for an unannounced visit when the arrest occurred. McIver was subsequently indicted for allegedly impeding the arrest and assaulting federal officers; she has pleaded not guilty.
Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist, was arrested on June 14, 2025, while live-streaming a "No Kings" protest in the Atlanta area. He was transferred to ICE detention shortly after his arrest. During his detention, a Georgia immigration judge ordered his release on bond in July, and the ACLU filed legal challenges to his case. On September 19, the Bureau of Immigration Appeals closed his case and ordered his removal. Guevara was deported to El Salvador on October 3, 2025, after spending over three months in ICE custody.
Huabing Xie, an immigrant from China, died in custody at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico after suffering a seizure on Friday. Staff administered CPR and used a defibrillator, but Xie was pronounced dead at El Centro Regional Medical Center. This is the second ICE custody death in California in two weeks. Immigrants' rights groups have called for a full investigation.
Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara was arrested by police on June 14, 2025, while covering a protest in DeKalb County, Georgia, and charged with obstructing police, unlawful assembly, and improperly entering a roadway. After a judge granted him bond, ICE placed a 48-hour hold on him despite his work authorization and pending green card application. Guevara spent 110 days in ICE custody, including 22 hours daily in solitary confinement, before being deported to El Salvador. A federal judge questioned the legality of his detention. His attorneys argued it violated his constitutional rights to free speech and due process. The government claimed broad discretion to detain him as a deportable immigrant. Guevara stated he was targeted for his journalistic work documenting immigration raids rather than for any criminal activity.
On August 13, 2025, DHS agents deployed tear gas and fired less-lethal bullets from the roof of an ICE facility at 4310 S Macadam Ave in Portland, targeting civilians peacefully demonstrating on the public sidewalk. A U.S. military veteran was violently attacked from behind, assaulted, and pinned to the ground while being exposed to tear gas for approximately two minutes by three DHS agents.
On Friday, October 2, 2025, federal immigration agents handcuffed Alderman Jessie Fuentes of the 26th Ward at Humboldt Park Hospital while she was confronting them about an arrest. Fuentes asked agents if they had a signed warrant before being handcuffed and led outside the hospital. Agents were at the hospital pursuing a person who had been injured and brought for medical care. The incident occurred during broader immigration enforcement operations across Chicago that included tear gas deployment and multiple arrests, including at least one U.S. citizen. Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that elected officials have a First Amendment right to document ICE actions and inform constituents of their rights. Governor Pritzker called for an investigation into treatment of children during a separate federal raid in South Shore.
During an anti-ICE rally at the Little Village Discount Mall on Thursday (during Operation Midway Blitz), federal agents deployed tear gas on approximately 75-100 protesters. DHS claimed the group fired commercial fireworks and threw rocks at agents, and that Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino was hit in the head. Attorneys filed a federal complaint alleging agents violated a court order prohibiting riot control weapons without imminent threat and requiring prior warnings. An image purportedly shows Bovino throwing tear gas without justification. A federal judge ordered Bovino to testify for five hours and appear in person on Tuesday for a status hearing.
DHS reported that on Wednesday (during the broader Operation Midway Blitz enforcement period), a Latin Kings gang member allegedly attempted to ram federal agents with his vehicle at 26th and Ogden in Cicero. Six people were arrested that day for impeding operations, and three undocumented immigrants were placed into custody as a result of the incident.
On October 3, federal agents conducted widespread immigration enforcement operations dubbed 'Operation Midway Blitz' across multiple Chicago neighborhoods including West Town, Lakeview, Bucktown-Wicker Park, and Logan Square, detaining multiple people at various locations. Individuals detained included a man waiting outside a health center for his pregnant wife (reported to have work authorization and a pending court date), a construction worker arrested at a residence, a gardener taken into custody, and a comedy club night manager. Schools in the Bucktown-Wicker Park area were placed on soft lockdown. Confrontations between residents and federal agents at multiple locations resulted in tear gas and pepper ball deployment, with agents also reported driving dangerously through neighborhoods.
Saúl Zermeño, a 45-year-old single father with deferred action status, was deported to Mexico after attending a routine ICE check-in appointment on October 3. His 15-year-old U.S. citizen son Damian, who has ADHD, autism, and other health conditions, was left without his sole caregiver. Damian subsequently experienced severe emotional distress including depression, anxiety, inability to focus in school, and withdrawal from activities.
Saúl Zermeño, a 45-year-old with deferred action status, was deported to Mexico on October 3 after attending a routine ICE check-in appointment. He had lived in the U.S. for 36 years and was the sole caregiver for his 15-year-old U.S. citizen son Damian, who has autism, ADHD, neurofibromatosis Type 1, epilepsy, and was born with one kidney. ICE officers did not ask about his son or check on Damian's well-being before deporting him. Damian experienced severe emotional distress, depression, and academic decline after his father's deportation.
On October 3, 2025, 26th Ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was shoved and handcuffed by masked ICE agents at Humboldt Park Health Hospital while advocating for a detained constituent during Operation Midway Blitz. Fuentes filed a federal tort claims lawsuit in October 2025, and formally sued the federal government in May 2026 after the Department of Homeland Security failed to respond within the required timeframe. The lawsuit alleges battery, assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming Fuentes suffered shoulder pain, anxiety, nightmares, and emotional distress from the encounter.
Subramanyam Vedam, a legal permanent resident born in India, was released from a Pennsylvania maximum security prison after 43 years when prosecutors abandoned his murder case. He was immediately placed in ICE custody at the Moshannon Processing Center and is being held while fighting deportation, with a judge denying him bail.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted multiple enforcement operations in Chicago, deploying tear gas and smoke bombs during raids. In one incident at Funston Elementary School, tear gas released in a nearby parking lot during a grocery store raid spread into the school building, exposing students including first-graders to the chemical agent. A separate operation at 51st and Damen on October 3rd resulted in video footage showing federal agents threatening a community member and throwing a smoke bomb onto a vehicle, with one person detained. ICE has conducted multiple enforcement operations in Chicago during this period, including residential raids and the detention of individuals.
Five asylum seekers from Colombia, Guatemala, China, and Nicaragua were arrested by DHS agents immediately after exiting immigration court hearings at the San Francisco Immigration Court on October 2, 2025. All had pending asylum applications and were previously released under supervision with no criminal history. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order requiring their immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without a hearing.
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Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a U.S.-born citizen, was detained by ICE agents on two separate occasions at construction sites in recent months. His attorney disputes the government's claim that he interfered with agents, stating he was violently tackled and detained despite showing his Real ID both times. The lawsuit alleges ICE violated Fourth Amendment protections and that officers targeted Latino workers based on racial assumptions.
A federal agent sprayed mace at a woman protester standing in front of him outside the Portland ICE facility. The incident was captured on video and occurred amid ongoing demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement. Portland Police liaisons were seen collecting video from witnesses, though the PPB stated they lack authority to investigate federal officers operating within the scope of their employment.
In Chicago, a federal agent grabbed a protester on a public sidewalk by the throat and body-slammed him to the ground. The agent's weapon dangled behind his back during the encounter, creating an additional public safety danger.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal investigation into a CBP officer after he grabbed a protester by the hair, put her in a chokehold, and threw her down a grassy embankment outside an ICE facility in Durango. In April 2026, state prosecutors filed third-degree assault and criminal mischief charges against the officer.
In Berwyn, Illinois, a federal agent walked toward a pregnant driver with his gun raised after she honked to warn others that immigration agents were nearby. The woman said agents had been chasing two people when she began honking. DHS later called her conduct 'threatening and aggressive' and said she had been 'impeding' agents' pursuit. She asked them, 'You're really gonna shoot a pregnant woman?'
An asylum seeker and U-Visa applicant was arrested as she and her family loaded into their car in Cicero, Illinois, for the daily drive to see her days-old premature newborn in the NICU.
In north Phoenix, federal agents shot at a driver during a 4 a.m. vehicle stop on Interstate 17 after the driver began to drive away. DHS said an officer fired twice because he was in the vehicle's path, but the Phoenix New Times reported that photos showed damage to the driver's side window, not the windshield, contradicting the official account.
In Bowie, Maryland, federal agents arrested a father after he had just left home to drive his children to school in the family minivan. His three children — ages 6, 7, and 8 — were in the backseat as masked agents smashed his window, pulled him from the car, pinned him to the ground, pressed a hand on his neck, and pointed a Taser at him while he was pinned. The children later told their mother they saw agents point a gun at their father. He was detained one day after his wife said he had checked in for immigration supervision.
In Illinois, two men in a pickup truck were pursued by federal agents for nearly 10 minutes from one town to the next, colliding with at least three other vehicles and losing a tire, before ending up in a high school parking lot in Gurnee where special education students were arriving for class. Agents chased one man inside the school, pushing a student aside, and arrested him in a classroom. A Lutheran pastor greeting arriving students was threatened twice with pepper spray for trying to record the event.
At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, ride-share drivers — including, in one sweep, a nursing mother — were blocked in and questioned about their status by federal immigration agents. In a separate incident, a ride-share driver who produced an Illinois ID and work authorization had his car boxed in, window broken, was fired on with a Taser twice after the first attempt failed, and then tased again after being pulled from the vehicle.
Pertissue Fisher, a U.S. citizen who lives in the South Shore apartment building, was handcuffed, held for hours, and released around 3 a.m. following the military-style federal raid. Fisher told ABC7 Chicago that this was the first time a gun had been put in her face.
Miramar Martinez was shot by a Border Patrol agent during a roadside confrontation in October 2025 and was subsequently charged with assault. Federal prosecutors dismissed the charges in November following the emergence of damaging text messages from the agent who shot her and other facts that undermined the government's case.
LT, a 30-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, was detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, 1,500 miles from her 13-month-old daughter in Florida. Her baby, who is allergic to formula and has food sensitivities, vomited constantly and needed breastmilk. The government denied her petition to pump and mail breastmilk, denied bringing the child into detention, and refused bond. LT fled political violence in Haiti where supporters of an opposing party burned her house, kidnapped and raped her. She fears her daughter will end up in foster care.
Mario Mata Cruz, a Salvadoran national with pending green card status and no criminal record, was arrested by ICE on Long Island in October 2025 while driving to work with his brother. He had obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status in 2019 after crossing the border at age 17, putting him on track for a green card. ICE transported him to a detention facility in Texas and subsequently deported him to El Salvador without a final removal order from an immigration judge—a process his lawyer, Ed Cuccia, says is illegal. Nearly six months after his deportation, Mario remains in El Salvador while his green card application, which could have been approved, remains pending. The case is part of a broader pattern documented by NY1 of at least 132 cases where people were deported without final removal orders and received those orders after already being removed.
Federal agents with Border Patrol, FBI, and ATF conducted a predawn raid on a five-story apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood around 1 a.m. on October 1, 2025. Agents rappelled from helicopters, kicked down doors, and threw flash bang grenades during the operation, part of "Operation Midway Blitz." The raid resulted in 37 arrests and the detention of dozens of people, including screaming children placed in zip-ties and without clothing. Four of the detained children are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents. U.S. citizens were also detained for hours during the operation. Residents reported missing belongings and property damage throughout the building. Governor J.B. Pritzker and local officials expressed outrage over the use of military tactics against children and families.
Oscar Polanco was detained at a green card appointment in October and deported to Guatemala, a country he had not lived in for 20 years. His wife Geraldine, a Peruvian citizen, witnessed his arrest. The couple were separated for nearly three months before reuniting at an airport in Peru, where they are now rebuilding their lives.
Three members of an Albany Park family detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents Sunday in Millennium Park are now being held at O’Hare Airport, according to neighbors. Federal agents stopped Noemi Chavez; her husband, Jaime Ramirez; their 8-year-old daughter, Dasha Ramirez; and their 3-year-old son and took them away in a white van during a family outing Sunday at the park. Witnesses saw Dasha Ramirez crying and clutching a doll during the arrests. The incident was caught on video and shared widely on social media. Chavez told the Tribune the family made the outing because Dasha “really wanted to visit Millennium Park.” Dasha and her little brother were playing in the water at the Crown Fountain when federal agents approached their parents, according to the Tribune. Albany Park resident Lauren Rappold said she saw the photos and videos of the family being detained and recognized them immediately. Her son attends Grover Cleveland Elementary School and is in the same third-grade class as Dasha. Rappold shared the information in a Cleveland Elementary moms group and spoke with a neighbor who had been able to get in contact with Chavez via WhatsApp. The neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told Rappold that Chavez and her two children had been taken to O’Hare’s immigration customs enforcement area at Terminal 5. Chavez told the Tribune that federal officers declined to show her a warrant during the arrest. Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment. Rappold brought a bag with fresh clothes, diapers and medicine to O’Hare on Monday morning. Chavez confirmed she got the bag over WhatsApp and said she was told she will be kept at O’Hare until there are enough people to fill a plane to send to a detention center in Texas, Rappold said. ✍️ Full story by @Writtenbymollyd in our link in bio.📸 Provided
Rey, a Cuban in his mid-fifties who arrived in the U.S. in 1994 and had been authorized to remain in the country due to Cuba's non-cooperation with deportation, was arrested at an ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program) check-in in El Paso in October 2025. Rey had built a life in El Paso as a truck driver and small business owner, opening a Cuban pizzeria, nightclub, and trash-collection and furniture-restoration businesses. He was married to Sara, a U.S. citizen and Texas state employee, and was a father figure to her son. After his arrest at the ISAP office, he was transferred to Camp East Montana, where he spent six weeks in the facility's deteriorating conditions.
Jean, a 33-year-old Haitian, was deported from the United States to Mexico in late October 2025. He was transferred by bus to Villahermosa, then relocated to Cancún, where he was left without official assistance or resources. He submitted an asylum application to COMAR in mid-November but has not received confirmation of receipt. Jean cannot work because he is undocumented, cannot leave Quintana Roo state where he filed his application, and cannot access banking services or receive money from relatives.
Giovanni, a 48-year-old car wash worker in the San Fernando Valley, was detained in October 2025 along with three coworkers during a federal immigration raid. Unlike his coworkers who were deported to Mexico within 24 hours, Giovanni refused to sign voluntary departure documents and was held at Adelanto ICE Processing Center for six months rather than return to El Salvador. His detention left his wife Maria and school-age children without his primary income.
Erick Pena, a 29-year-old from Honduras who came to the U.S. as a child, was detained by ICE in October while on his way to work. He had an approved petition for permanent residency through his U.S. citizen wife. After three months in ICE custody, he was released on bond while his deportation case is pending. His wife Synthea, a U.S. citizen, started a GoFundMe to cover legal fees and government costs as they pursue a hardship waiver.
A 60-year-old Mexican tamale vendor who had been selling street food in Pilsen for over a decade was detained by ICE agents when she could not provide proof of legal status. She had been supporting herself and her son while managing diabetes since her husband's death in 2023. She was released on October 22, 11 days after filing her habeas case.
Samuel Ochoa Ochoa, a Venezuelan immigrant, was detained by ICE and held for 126 days before a federal judge ordered his release in October. His habeas corpus ruling has since been cited as a favorable precedent in 186 other immigration cases filed in the Northern District of Illinois.
Amanda Ungaro, a 41-year-old Brazilian former model who lived in the U.S. for over 20 years, was arrested in June 2025 on fraud charges related to unlicensed cosmetic procedures at a wellness center in Florida. She was detained for approximately three and a half months at ICE facilities in Miami and Louisiana before being deported to Brazil in October 2025. Ungaro alleges that her ex-partner Paolo Zampolli, a Trump special envoy and father of their teenage son, contacted senior ICE officials to ensure her detention and deportation amid an ongoing child custody dispute. Zampolli and the Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations, with DHS stating the removal was based on visa overstay and fraud charges. The case remains open with an arrest warrant issued should she return to the United States.
Stanley Minjale, who immigrated to the United States from Malawi in 2021 on a student visa, was detained in October 2025 after his visa status was terminated for failing to enroll in a university as required. At the time of detention, he held a valid work permit and was employed full-time as a nursing assistant. He has a nearly two-year-old U.S. citizen son whom he has not seen during his nine-month detention at North Lake Processing Center. Minjale has received a deportation order but continues to appeal.
Kamal Tijani, who arrived in the U.S. from Nigeria in 2017 on a valid student visa, was arrested by ICE in October 2025 for overstaying his visa. He has been detained at North Lake Processing Center for nine months. His wife, a U.S. resident from Georgia, lost their apartment without his income and cannot visit him. Tijani has received a deportation order but continues to appeal his case while remaining in indefinite detention.
Alberto, a 59-year-old surgical technician who worked as a confidential informant for federal immigration agents in the 1990s in exchange for promised legal status, was arrested in October 2025 during a scheduled green card interview at a USCIS field office in Fresno when ICE agents entered the room. Released after four days following a successful habeas petition, he was re-arrested at a subsequent ICE check-in appointment in November and detained for nearly four months at Golden State Annex detention center near Bakersfield before being released on bond in February with an ankle monitor.
a 24-year-old Colombian migrant, Angie Rodriguez, suffered a miscarriage in the facility. Upon discovering her pregnancy while in detention, she was provided no medical care or prenatal vitamins. Her diet was also inadequate, forcing her to supplement provided meals with instant ramen, chips, and candy, often purchased at a high cost from the commissary.
A father from an unnamed country who was separated from his daughter at the US-Mexico border in 2017 and reunited with his children in Florida in 2021 was detained by ICE in October 2025 at Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades and transferred to Camp East Montana in Texas. While detained, he experienced poor conditions including mouldy food with worms and witnessed a fellow detainee's death from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. The ACLU filed a motion and he was released in April 2026, but remains subject to ankle monitoring and bi-weekly ICE check-ins.
Michael James Garcia, a 39-year-old marine engineer with a valid crew visa, was interrogated by CBP agents aboard a Viking Ocean Cruises ship docked in Charleston on October 1, 2025. Agents claimed his email was linked to child pornography but never provided evidence or filed charges against him. Without a formal criminal proceeding or due process, his visa was revoked and he received a 10-year ban from entering the United States.
Abdullahi Mohamed, a Somali immigrant with 25+ years in the U.S. and valid work authorization, was detained by ICE in October 2025 during a routine check-in and subsequently transferred rapidly across multiple states without warning to his family or attorney. His family lost contact with him for approximately five days during the transfers, receiving fragmented updates before he was deported to Somalia. According to a Marshall Project investigation, rapid transfers of detainees have become increasingly common under the Trump administration, with transfers of five or more times more than tripling and out-of-state transfers within 24 hours more than doubling since the Biden administration's final year.
A Chicago couple was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz just eight days after getting married. The wife was deported to Mexico while the husband remained in detention in Michigan. Despite being named in a federal lawsuit alleging unlawful arrests, a judge ordered the husband's removal to El Salvador.
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