Human Impact Project

The government of Ghana announced that 14 West Africans (13 Nigerians and 1 Gambian) who were deported from the US have been sent to their home countries. US lawyers filed a lawsuit arguing the deportations violated immigration protections and that the Trump administration used Ghana as a third country to circumvent US immigration laws.

ICE agents detained at least two Venezuelan men in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on Monday, including one pulled from his car at 24th and Albany despite claims of legal status. Witnesses say agents hit the car before the man exited, then left his wife and two small children crying in the intersection without providing a warrant or information about his location. The Little Village Community Council, which had distributed whistles during Sunday's Mexican Independence Day parade to alert neighbors of ICE presence, is now working to secure legal representation as detentions increase and fear spreads through the community.

Immigration agents moved a car off the road after breaking its windows and detaining someone on the southwest side. The car was returned to family. Agents abandoned several other vehicles during arrests around Chicago.

Federal immigration agents conducted a raid at a carwash in California. A social media post documented the incident, describing agents detaining workers at the location.

ICE agents raided the Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on Saturday, detaining seven workers (four women and three men). The workers, from Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico, had various forms of legal status according to the manager, but agents allegedly confiscated or dismissed their immigration documents. The detained workers have been processed at facilities in Santa Ana, Adelanto, and Los Angeles.

An undocumented father, Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez, was involved in multiple federal immigration enforcement incidents in suburban Chicago. In one incident at a Sam's Club parking lot in Cicero, federal agents pepper-sprayed Villegas-Gonzalez and his 1-year-old daughter at close range, though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security disputed that pepper spray was deployed. Subsequently, Villegas-Gonzalez was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Franklin Park, Illinois during an arrest attempt. DHS stated the agent fired after Villegas-Gonzalez resisted arrest and attempted to drive his car into agents. Villegas-Gonzalez's attorney noted he had no criminal record, only minor traffic violations between 2010 and 2019.

Seven people were arrested during a U.S. Border Patrol immigration enforcement operation at Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on Saturday. The individuals arrested were from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. About 10 unmarked cars blocked the car wash exit during the raid, which resulted in the arrest of several employees. The chief of the Glassport Borough Police Department reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 17 arrests in the borough over a two-week period. Seven workers at Bixby Knoll's Car Wash in Long Beach, California were detained by federal immigration agents on September 13, 2025. During the raid, a woman being placed into a federal vehicle appeared to faint and collapse while in custody. The incident occurred as masked federal agents in tactical vests arrived in dark-colored SUVs and blocked the car wash's entrance and exits, with some workers attempting to flee. Witnesses documented the operation on their cellphones, with one observer describing the scene as impactful.

A man was detained by ICE at a Home Depot location in Orange County. He was admitted to Orange County Global Medical Center. He is a stroke patient who has had six prior strokes and takes multiple medications.

The first state-funded Prairie Thunder saturation patrol resulted in 44 felony drug arrests in Sioux Falls. Federal inmates including ICE detainees had to be moved from Minnehaha County Jail to other facilities to make room. U.S. Marshals and ICE transported 35 people to other regional facilities.

Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old line cook from Mexico, was fatally shot by an ICE agent on September 12, 2025, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois, shortly after dropping off a child at daycare. ICE agents targeted him for an alleged history of reckless driving and positioned their vehicle to block his car. According to federal authorities, Villegas González attempted to flee and struck an agent with his vehicle, prompting the agent to shoot him in the neck. The agent reported serious injuries and claimed to have fired in fear for his life, though local police video later showed the agent walking and describing his injuries as "nothing major." Policing experts criticized the tactical approach as violating standard urban policing protocols, noting the agent reached into the vehicle—a violation of traffic stop safety procedures—and that shooting at a moving vehicle on a public roadway created an uncontrolled hazard. Family members and civil organizations called for an investigation into the use of force. The shooting remains under investigation.

ICE agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old Mexican citizen, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park near Chicago. The Department of Homeland Security claimed Villegas González drove his car at officers, but witness videos and security footage show he was driving away from agents when shot. He was pronounced dead at Loyola Hospital after his vehicle crashed into a semitruck.

José Daniel López Peña, a 26-year-old from Honduras who came to the U.S. in 2020, was detained by ICE agents on Churn Creek Road while dropping off his girlfriend for work. According to his sister, agents showed no warrants and the family still does not know why he was detained. López Peña has never been arrested and has no deportation order but lacks legal status, and organizers say he is the sole caregiver for his 6 young siblings. He was transported to Mesa Verde Detention Facility. Hundreds of people gathered in Redding to protest his detention, and local officials said they had no information about the incident and directed questions to ICE.

Ruperto, a Mexican roofing contractor who lived and worked in Oklahoma for 28 years, was stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrol after his truck blew a tire and overturned on an interstate in Oklahoma City. Troopers, working under ICE's 287(g) program, detained him despite having insurance and deported him to Mexico. His U.S. citizen daughter Karen, a college student majoring in elementary education, and her older brother were forced to leave school and work to support the family and pay the mortgage. Ruperto was transported through multiple facilities in Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Cushing before deportation, and agreed to voluntary removal rather than continue fighting through the legal system. He cannot reapply for reentry for 10 years.

Omar Salazar, a Dallas community leader and SMU graduate, was detained by ICE for seven months following a traffic stop in Lubbock in August 2025 where he presented a Mexican ID and lacked a valid U.S. driver's license. After losing his immigration case, he was ordered deported to Mexico with 60 days to voluntarily depart. Salazar was brought to the U.S. as a minor at age 11, did not qualify for asylum, and missed DACA eligibility by a few months.

Silverio Villegas Gonzalez was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Franklin Park on September 12, 2025. The agent claimed Villegas Gonzalez attempted to run him over. Video evidence contradicts this account. Following his death, Idaho authorities took custody of his two young sons. His family is fighting to reunite with the children and demanding an investigation into the fatal shooting.

On September 12, 2025, an ICE officer fatally shot Silverio Villegas González, a Mexican immigrant, during a traffic stop. Body camera footage shows the injured officer telling police his injuries were "nothing major," including a knee injury and hand lacerations. Federal officials stated he was "seriously injured" and dragged by González's vehicle.

On September 12, ICE officers attempted to arrest Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Mexican immigrant, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois. After the officers approached his vehicle, Villegas-Gonzalez reversed and then drove forward; an officer fired two shots, striking him in the neck. The vehicle crashed approximately 170 feet away, and Villegas-Gonzalez was pronounced dead at a hospital. Video analysis found no evidence of contact between the vehicle and an officer. An officer sustained injuries including a knee injury and hand lacerations.

ICE agents detained Willian Gimenez in Little Village on September 12 while he entered a barbershop with his wife. ICE refused to disclose his location and denied his attorneys access to him. Gimenez is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Home Depot and off-duty Chicago police for targeting immigrant day laborers.

Denis Omar Rivera Martinez, a 42-year-old parent from Honduras, was arrested by ICE agents outside Gerald E. Talbot Community School on September 11 and deported to Honduras on October 8. An immigration judge ordered his removal before Rivera Martinez could appear in court for a pending domestic violence charge, preventing him from responding to the allegations. The District Attorney stated ICE did not notify her office of his deportation status, and a scheduled court hearing on Thursday found neither prosecutors nor the judge aware of his whereabouts.

Cary López Alvarado, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by ICE while nine months pregnant after exiting immigration court in New York City alongside her husband, a Guatemalan immigrant. ICE detained her overnight but released her after discovering her citizenship status. She experienced sharp stomach pains immediately after release and gave birth days later. She has filed a claim against the federal government seeking $1 million, citing unlawful arrest and unconstitutional conduct. Her husband has since been deported, leaving her without income and uncertain about childcare arrangements.