Human Impact Project

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.

Paul Jack Cobby Essel, 51, a grants accounting manager at Missouri State University and a native of Ghana, was arrested by ICE off campus in Springfield around 1:20 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2026, and booked into the Greene County Jail, where he is being held without bond. Essel entered the U.S. legally on a student visa in 2003, earned two graduate degrees at MSU between 2008 and 2014, and has worked at the university since 2010, serving as grants accounting manager since 2019. His removal order stems from a 2015 immigration judge ruling that his first marriage to a U.S. citizen was fraudulent; he remarried a U.S. citizen weeks later, and though her 2018 petition on his behalf was approved, subsequent motions to reopen his case were denied, including by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2023. Essel has no criminal record aside from two minor driving offenses, is married with three children, and is an active member of the Springfield Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having recently offered a prayer at the groundbreaking for its new Springfield temple. Neighbors describe his family as 'humble, gracious, generous,' and Missouri State called him a 'valued, long-standing member' of the university community, placing him on paid administrative leave. A community petition titled 'Bring Paul Home' asks ICE to pause his deportation and allow him to remain with his family while his attorneys continue pursuing his case.

A shackled immigration detainee was thrown to the ground and placed in a WRAP full-body restraint device before being carried onto an ICE Air deportation flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Observers said it was the first time they had seen the restraint device used during an ICE Air operation in Minnesota. The detainee was one of three people reportedly unloaded in Minnesota via El Paso, Texas or Omaha, Nebraska that day.

Leonardo Pinzon Fernandez, a native and citizen of Colombia, entered the United States with his wife and stepdaughter in December 2022 and was released on humanitarian parole. He had a pending asylum application, valid employment authorization, and had lived for over three years with a fixed residence and steady employment. On June 27, 2026, ICE detained him at his home in Los Angeles without notice, days after briefly detaining and releasing him at a construction site. A federal judge granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his detention unlawful and ordering his immediate release from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.

Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian-born lawful permanent resident in his early 30s who came to the U.S. at age four and grew up in Phoenix and Tucson, was deported to Equatorial Guinea despite a court ruling blocking his removal to Egypt over fears of persecution based on his sexuality. He was deported under a $7.5 million third-country removal deal before a scheduled hearing on his persecution claim, with officials revealing his destination only moments before boarding and denying his fear interview request. After video surfaced showing Equatorial Guinean police pointing firearms at Soliman and other detainees at a hotel in Malabo, and after he spoke to journalists about facility conditions, he was arrested, blindfolded, beaten, pushed down a staircase, and held incommunicado for more than a week at a police station also used to detain human rights activists. U.S. District Judge John C. Hinderaker ruled that DHS violated Soliman's due process rights, an account of abuse the Trump administration did not contest, and ordered officials to facilitate his return. His lawyers later announced he had been released from custody after weeks of detention without charge.

Jeury Concepcion, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from the Bronx, was tackled and handcuffed by masked ICE agents near East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue after being mistaken for a man with a removal order, minutes after another man was detained nearby. Cellphone video showed agents forcing him to the ground as a bystander shouted 'Why you kidnapping?!' and witnesses said he repeatedly identified himself as a U.S. citizen while being restrained and left bleeding from a head wound. "He just grabbed me and threw me on the floor," Concepcion recalled. Agents eventually checked his ID, apologized, and left him bloodied in an unfamiliar park, where his mother and grandmother, Ivelisse Garcia Santana, found him and took him for treatment; he was diagnosed with a concussion and received stitches. A DHS spokesperson claimed he was briefly detained for matching a description and refusing to identify himself, but Judge Gary R. Brown reviewed the video, called the incident 'extremely violent,' found ICE officers gave 'inconsistent, false and misleading testimony' and falsified records, and ruled the arrest illegal. The judge ordered the government to propose remedies and detail steps to ensure future arrests comply with the law; Concepcion has since been released. His case is among more than 500 U.S. citizens identified as having been detained by immigration agents during the Trump administration.

Jeyli Salguero, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was asleep at her family's Minneapolis-area home in January 2026 when armed federal agents broke through the front door searching for her brother, who did not live there. Salguero said she told agents she was a citizen with the right to record, after which they seized her phone; she and her mother were released about half an hour later. Her father, who held temporary protected status, and her undocumented sister were detained in the raid, leaving the family's door broken and exposed to winter weather. Her sister was later deported to El Salvador, while her father was eventually released from detention. Salguero is now one of several plaintiffs, represented by Protect Democracy, the ACLU of Minnesota and Dorsey & Whitney, suing the federal government over a DHS memo allowing ICE agents to enter homes using administrative rather than judicial warrants. The lawsuit is part of broader legal challenges to immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis.

Baldemar Gutierrez, a 15-year-old U.S. citizen with significant hearing loss, speech delays, and developmental disabilities, was pulled from a car and handcuffed at gunpoint by masked federal agents outside Arleta High School in Los Angeles on August 11, 2025, while his mother, Andreina Mejia, was nearby enrolling his sister in school. Agents showed a photo of a Salvadoran national suspected of gang ties, mistaking Baldemar for him, and released him only after he repeatedly stated his name and citizenship during the roughly seven-minute encounter. Mejia, a San Fernando Valley resident of more than 20 years, said she intervened to protect her son and that an agent told him the mistake would make an 'exciting story to tell' his friends; she said he has since felt harassed and unsafe. School officials said agents left bullets at the scene, prompting increased school police patrols. The family's attorneys filed a $1 million claim against DHS, CBP, Border Patrol and ICE alleging racial profiling, false arrest, false imprisonment, and assault and battery; DHS denied racial profiling, calling it a case of mistaken identity. The case has been cited as part of a broader pattern of more than 500 U.S. citizens detained by ICE, despite DHS statements that ICE does not restrain or zip-tie children.