Human Impact Project

Kaden Rummler, 21, was permanently blinded in his left eye after a federal agent shot him in the face with a less-lethal crowd control weapon during an anti-ICE protest in downtown Santa Ana, California on January 9, 2026. Rummler was protesting ICE deportations and the death of Renee Good at the hands of an immigration agent in Minneapolis. The impact caused severe injuries: doctors removed plastic, glass, and metal fragments from his face and skull, found pieces of plastic and glass embedded in his skull, metal in his stomach lining, and a piece of plastic the size of a nickel in his injured eye. A piece of ammunition narrowly missed his carotid artery. Rummler underwent six-hour surgery to remove shrapnel from his injuries. Officers did not call paramedics immediately and at one point pushed his face into a pool of his own blood. Rummler was one of two protesters shot in the face that night. A protester lost an eye after being struck by a scattershot munition fired by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department during immigration enforcement protests in Los Angeles. The case, Castellanos v. City of Los Angeles, resulted in litigation against local authorities under state negligence laws. PHR and UC Berkeley identified scattershot munitions as inherently indiscriminate weapons that make it impossible to prevent significant unintended harm, recommending they never be used for crowd control.

Jose Oleaz, 34, was detained by ICE during a raid in Pomona on Wednesday while serving as the sole caregiver for his 13-year-old nephew Bryan. Oleaz immigrated from Mexico over 20 years ago and had been raising Bryan following the deaths of his wife Yesenia and sister Alejandra in a DUI crash two years prior. According to family members, Oleaz is a landscaper with no criminal record who also cares for his father with cancer.

ICE agents conducted multiple enforcement activities in St. Paul, Minnesota involving immigrant communities. In one incident, agents knocked on a resident's door in the North End neighborhood and asked her to identify Hmong and Asian households, without clearly displaying badges. In a separate incident at a downtown bus stop on 6th Street and Jackson, ICE agents were photographed surrounding a man with his head covered by a black bag. These incidents occurred as part of broader ICE enforcement operations.

Estefany, a Colombian woman with a clean record and a pending immigration court case, was arrested while walking her youngest child to the school bus stop and transferred to El Paso. She had a bacterial infection and required hospitalization before her transfer. A federal judge ordered her release on January 15, 2026, but officers did not free her until two days later. The case exemplified the Justice Department's failure to follow judicial orders during Operation Metro Surge.

Heber Sanchez Dominguez, a 34-year-old Mexican man, died on January 14, 2026 after 6 days in ICE custody at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. His death was attributed to suicide by hanging.

A parent was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday morning while waiting at a bus stop with their child in Crystal, Minnesota. The incident occurred at Northport Elementary School's bus stop, and multiple students and the bus driver witnessed the detention. The school district stated that all students, including the child of the arrested parent, were able to safely board the bus and provided support services to affected students and staff.

A Liberian man was arrested on January 11, 2026, after armed ICE agents used a battering ram to break into his Minneapolis home. His attorney said he had been checking in with federal authorities for years prior to the raid. Protesters gathered outside the home to disrupt the operation, and agents pepper-sprayed them during the arrest. The raid occurred amid a large-scale immigration enforcement campaign in Minnesota that has led to more than 2,000 arrests since early December, and came days after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer on January 7, which had left the city on edge.

ICE agents detained three to four enrolled members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe near the Little Earth housing complex in Minneapolis, where the men had been sleeping in a homeless encampment under a bridge. At least one man was released after a 12-hour hold, while three others were transferred to an ICE facility at Fort Snelling. Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out said the men were U.S. citizens by statute under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and called the detentions a violation of treaty rights and constitutional protections. A 20-year-old Red Lake Nation descendant reported being struck by agents after identifying himself as a U.S. citizen. Federal officials declined to share information about the detainees unless the tribe signed an immigration enforcement agreement, which the tribe rejected to protect its sovereignty. The tribe contacted Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for assistance, and the Navajo Nation reported dozens of other Native Americans had been questioned or detained in similar ICE operations.

The Jackson family, including six children and an infant, was caught between protesters and federal immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis. An officer rolled a tear gas canister under their family's SUV, flooding the vehicle with toxic fumes. The family, including the infant, required hospital treatment for tear gas exposure.

A Honduran national was arrested for larceny on January 14, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Florida. ICE issued a detention order the same day. After criminal charges were dismissed on March 12, 2026, he was taken into ICE custody despite being scheduled for release. He has been detained at Golden State Annex in California since March 20, 2026, with a pending asylum case. The court granted his habeas petition, finding he was wrongfully denied a bond hearing and ordered ICE to provide one within 14 days or release him immediately.

Isela Hernandez Lugo, a Mexican national, was arrested by ICE agents in the Cottonwood Safeway parking lot on January 14. According to ICE, Hernandez Lugo entered the United States without inspection and remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. A bystander recorded video of the arrest, describing it as ICE "snatching" the woman off the street. The Cottonwood Police Department confirmed the arrest occurred and said it was a targeted enforcement action rather than random, adding that officers were not notified beforehand and that the department does not work with or share resources with ICE.

Alfredo A. Aljorna was detained by ICE agents at a Minneapolis home on January 14, 2026, and initially charged after agents claimed he and his cousin attacked an officer with a shovel and broom. Video evidence contradicted ICE's account, leading the Justice Department to drop charges in February. U.S. authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether two ICE officers lied under oath about the shooting; the officers have been placed on administrative leave and may face termination and criminal prosecution.

A father of four and grandfather of three was detained by ICE on January 14, 2026, while walking from a mini market back to work during his break. He had no arrest warrant. His family is seeking financial assistance to support the family during his detention.

Laura, a 24-year-old asylum applicant from Honduras, gave birth in January 2026 but remained isolated in her apartment with her newborn daughter due to fear of ICE enforcement. Her stress about immigration authorities was so severe that it affected her physical health during labor, reducing oxytocin production critical for delivery and breastfeeding. Her boyfriend rarely visited after the hospital stay, fearing detention if he left his mother's home. Fear of immigration enforcement continues to isolate Laura from the family and community support typically available to new mothers.

Tear gas was deployed into a home during an ICE arrest operation Friday night in the Berclair area of Memphis involving a family, ICE agents, and the Memphis Safe Task Force. Children were exposed to tear gas during the operation, though they were sheltered in a closet.

A Minneapolis resident and photographer was sprayed in the face with chemical irritant by an ICE agent while photographing federal officers conducting an arrest on Lake Street. He was standing approximately 10 feet away from officers when one agent screamed profanities and immediately sprayed him, causing blindness and extreme pain. This declaration is part of a class action lawsuit against DHS, ICE, and other federal agencies challenging their enforcement activities.

Thousands of Minneapolis residents have organized into rapid response groups called ICE Watch to monitor and document Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in their neighborhoods. The groups, coordinated through organizations like Defend the 612, witness arrests, record incidents on video, and document community member interactions with ICE. Federal agents have conducted vehicle box-ins, window breaking, and surveillance of observers' homes during these operations.

ICE agents visited El Tapatio, a Mexican restaurant in Willmar, Minnesota for lunch on January 14, 2026, then returned and detained the restaurant's owners and a dishwasher. According to DHS, agents were conducting surveillance of an undocumented immigrants from Mexico and apprehended three individuals total, including one with a final order of removal from an immigration judge. The restaurant closed early following the incident.

Volunteer searchers with Battalion Search and Rescue have documented dozens of sites containing migrant skeletal remains in the New Mexico desert west of El Paso, with some sites remaining unrecovered for over 18 months after being reported to authorities. The group reported finding human remains or personal effects at 15 locations that were marked on government maps as cleaned-up sites, and disputes official figures showing a sharp drop in migrant remains recovered, claiming several sites they reported in late 2024 were actually recovered but not counted in official statistics.

A Peruvian man who had been paroled into the United States under the Migrant Protection Protocols program was detained during a scheduled ICE check-in appointment on January 13, 2026. He had been living in Memphis, Tennessee, had obtained a driver's license and work authorization, and had been regularly reporting to ICE as required. The court denied his habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without an individualized bond hearing. Another Peruvian citizen, who entered the U.S. in November 2022, was detained on December 1, 2025 after voluntarily appearing at the Memphis Immigration office for allegedly failing to comply with ATD program conditions. He had previously been released on parole due to time in custody constraints and placed in the Alternatives to Detention program. The court denied his habeas petition seeking release or a bond hearing, ruling that as an applicant for admission he is subject to mandatory detention under federal law.