Human Impact Project

Maria Santay, a U.S. citizen and community observer, livestreamed her detainment by federal immigration agents at an El Monte gas station on February 1, 2026. Agents surrounded her vehicle and broke her car window with a hammer while she recorded on Instagram. She was detained and released Friday evening with charges including resisting arrest.

Anti-ICE protesters held demonstrations across Southern California on January 30-31, 2026, including marches through Los Angeles, rallies at City Hall, and actions outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. Clashes erupted when protesters blocked access points and threw objects, including fireworks, rocks and bottles, at federal agents, who responded with chemical irritants and dispersal orders. Eight people were arrested Friday, and police later said 50 people were arrested following Saturday's protest, mostly for failing to disperse, along with charges including assault with a deadly weapon and vandalism; streets near the federal building were closed overnight and a police pursuit tied to the protest ended in a crash. The protests were part of a nationwide action following fatal shootings by federal officers in Minneapolis.

A three-year-old girl named Lily was separated from her family at the border and detained in an immigrant children's shelter in South Texas for over five months. Her father, a legal permanent resident, attempted to reunify with her during her detention. After her attorney at ProBAR filed a habeas petition in federal district court on February 18, she was released two days later and reunified with her father on February 21.

CNN correspondent Veronica Miracle was struck with pepper spray while reporting live on a protest at an ICE facility in Los Angeles. Protesters overtook the property and pushed Department of Homeland Security officers back inside the building. Miracle choked and coughed on camera due to the chemical irritant but continued reporting on the incident.

Thousands of protesters marched to an ICE facility in South Portland on Saturday as part of a "Labor Against ICE" rally organized by local unions. Federal agents deployed tear gas, pepper balls, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades after some protesters approached the building's security gate. The protest coincided with a march honoring Alex Pretti, an intensive-care nurse fatally shot by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis.

Olga Perez, a 47-year-old translator of a rare Mayan dialect who arrived in the U.S. in 1997 after Guatemala's civil war, self-deported in July 2026 after her asylum case was dismissed and efforts to stay were rejected by immigration courts. She had been detained since November 2025 at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona following a traffic stop, and her husband had been taken into ICE custody two months earlier while working a landscaping job. Perez said goodbye to her children—Eliza, 21, Jessica, 18, Romeo, 15, and Cynthia, 13—at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, with the eldest daughter continuing to run the family's landscaping business to support her siblings. Perez had no criminal record and had worked with police departments, courts and nonprofits across Florida, including helping clear a Guatemalan immigrant of criminal charges in a 2024 case.

Keith Porter Jr., 43, a Black father of two daughters, was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year's Eve outside his apartment complex in Northridge, Los Angeles. Friends and family described Porter as a devoted father and jack of all trades who worked as a waiter, tow truck driver, and Home Depot employee. He was close to his mother, Franceola Armstrong, and known for being compassionate and funny. Porter had recently obtained a firearm safety certificate and was proud to own a gun legally. He was firing a gun into the air to celebrate the new year when he was shot three times by the off-duty agent. Witnesses told Porter's attorney they never heard the officer identify himself as law enforcement and heard demands to "put down the rifle" followed by three shots. His mother spoke at a Los Angeles City Council meeting, saying: "He was on his way back. He didn't even get to pop the champagne. He didn't get to say goodbye. I just want to touch my baby one last time, kiss his face and hold him." Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and family lawyer Jamal Tooson urged California's attorney general to conduct an independent investigation. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office is reviewing the killing to determine if the use of force constitutes a crime.

ICE detained a husband in Tacoma and coerced him to sign self-deportation papers while threatening to apprehend his wife and children within four days. In response to the threats, the entire family voluntarily returned to Venezuela.

On January 23, 2026, ICE agents conducted traffic stops in Eagle County, Colorado, detaining nine people. After the vehicles were abandoned, family members retrieved them and discovered ace of spades cards printed with ICE Denver Field Office contact information left inside at least two vehicles. Immigrant rights groups, including Voices Unidas, characterized the cards as referencing a Vietnam War-era racist practice. Federal officials offered an alternative explanation that the cards may reference the ace of spades as the trump card in the card game Spades. The Department of Homeland Security announced an investigation into the ICE agents' conduct.

A long-term resident who entered the United States in 2004 and has continuously resided here since was detained by ICE on January 30, 2026. The petitioner has no criminal record. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding he could not be detained under section 1225(b) but only under section 1226(a), and enjoined ICE from re-detaining him without a pre-detention hearing.

Yoandry Rafael Garcia Gali was re-detained on January 30, 2026, after previously being released on bond or conditional parole. The court found that the government violated due process by failing to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter when re-detaining someone who had been previously released. The court ordered Garcia Gali's immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

Anti-ICE demonstrations at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles turned confrontational on January 30, 2026, with protesters throwing objects at federal agents. Dozens of arrests were made over the weekend as demonstrations expanded to City Hall. The protests were part of a nationwide call to end funding for ICE.

Jose Flores, 47, was arrested during an ICE operation in Oakmont. The arrest occurred while Flores was preparing for work with his wife Harriett and their 8-year-old daughter Lily. The operation disrupted the family's morning routine.

The police chief of St. Peter intervened with federal agents to prevent the detention of a local resident who was observing ICE enforcement actions. This intervention by local police in Minnesota occurred during ICE and border patrol operations in the state.

Wilmer Menjivar, an employee at Viper Auto Body with no criminal record, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in West Valley City, Utah. Menjivar believed he was being followed by unmarked vehicles as he arrived at work and ran into the locked auto body shop. CBP agents then broke through the glass door, entered the business, and detained him. His wife, Lilly, said Menjivar believes he may have been profiled based on his appearance, his low-rider truck, and skin color. Menjivar plans to return to El Salvador, and his wife and three U.S. citizen children plan to move with him to keep the family together.

Maryna Ishchenko, a Ukrainian asylum seeker from eastern Ukraine, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in appointment at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. She had previously been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border when she and her U.S. citizen husband, Asael Ramirez, presented her asylum case, but was released after he agreed to sponsor her. Despite being married to a U.S. citizen and complying with all required check-ins, she was detained again. She is experiencing abdominal medical issues exacerbated by anxiety and fear while in detention. Her husband has spent $15,000 on her case and is seeking a habeas corpus petition for her release.

Elena, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a pending case and work authorization, gave birth prematurely in early January and was forced to remain at her infant daughter's hospital bedside for 13 days due to fear of encountering ICE agents during travel to and from the facility. While recovering from a C-section, she had little rest, coordinated rides from trusted community members for frequent follow-up appointments, and moved her own care to telehealth. Her husband was unable to work during this period; he later traveled to Wisconsin for two weeks to work as a rideshare driver to pay rent and afford groceries. The family continues to shelter in place and lives in fear of detention despite Elena's open asylum case and work authorization, having witnessed others with similar immigration status being detained.

A non-citizen who entered the U.S. without lawful admission in December 2021 was detained by ICE on January 30, 2026 after appearing at a scheduled appointment in Los Angeles. He had previously missed an immigration court hearing on January 12, 2026, resulting in a removal order. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered he receive a bond hearing within seven days or be released.

Bradford County commissioners voted 3-2 to move forward with a proposal to convert the Douglas Warehouse in Starke into a 3,000-bed ICE detention center. The decision allows Sabot Consulting to present design plans to ICE for approval. A protest challenging the proposed facility is scheduled for Saturday at 209 S. Temple Ave. in Starke.

Bob Peck, a U.S. citizen, filed a notice of claim seeking $7.5 million in damages against ICE after agents threatened to arrest him for observing and filming their enforcement activities. The filing documents an incident on January 22 where masked agents confronted Peck while he was following their vehicle and told him he would be arrested if he continued. The case is among multiple reports of ICE agents intimidating observers, including threats to add them to watchlists and agents driving to observers' homes.