Human Impact Project

Rakesh Rakesh, an Indian national detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, was granted voluntary departure to India. On May 31, 2025, ICE officers escorted him to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and mistakenly placed him on an Alaska Airlines flight to Sitka, Alaska instead of his intended connecting flight through New York to India. Flight attendants alerted ICE officers to the error, but officers directed his boarding anyway. Upon landing in Sitka, the Alaska Airlines captain assisted Rakesh and arranged his return to Seattle. However, ICE re-detained him upon arrival rather than allowing him to continue to India. He remained in the Tacoma detention center for 16 additional days, during which he undertook a hunger strike, before being released and facilitated to depart for India on June 17, 2025.

ICE fabricated its authority for over a year to arrest individuals attending legally mandated immigration court hearings at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. A May 2025 ICE guidance memo that agents used to justify the arrests did not actually apply to immigration courts, according to a letter filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in March 2026. The agency conducted mass arrests and separated families under false legal pretenses, with agents stalking immigrants in courthouse hallways and transferring detainees across the country to prevent them from meeting with lawyers. The revelation prompted civil rights organizations to request the federal court reconsider its prior denial of a stay on the arrests.

A Spanish-language journalist known for documenting immigration raids was detained by ICE after being arrested by police during a weekend protest outside Atlanta. The journalist faces charges of obstructing officers and unlawful assembly while covering the protest and could face deportation proceedings.

Javier Ramirez, a U.S. citizen and father of four, was tackled and detained by masked federal immigration agents at a tow yard in Montebello on June 12, 2025. According to security camera footage, an agent allegedly told another agent to arrest Ramirez because he was Mexican. When Ramirez called 911 while handcuffed in a van, police said they could not assist because federal agents were involved. He was held in a downtown Los Angeles facility for more than four days and charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. The federal case against him was dismissed without prejudice. His attorney believes the charge was fabricated to cover up racial profiling.

Juan Carlos Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed, slammed onto vehicle hoods, punched and kneed by armed immigration agents who raided his father's auto body shop in Oxnard on June 16, 2025. Ventura-based attorney Vanessa Valdez, who had publicly criticized Ramirez's arrest, says she was later shot six times with rubber bullets and hit with tear gas while identifying herself as a legal observer during a raid at Glass House Farms, leaving her unable to see and needing to crawl away; she has since incurred hospital costs, lost wages, and ongoing therapy. Ramirez, Valdez and dozens of other U.S. citizens and immigrants are seeking financial compensation through tort claims against the federal government for injuries, trauma, and deaths sustained during recent immigration enforcement operations, with claimants seeking at least $260 million collectively. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said immigration officers receive regular training and are held to a high professional standard, acting to protect themselves and the public when facing danger.

The Burleigh-Morton Detention Center in Bismarck, North Dakota, currently holds about 10 to 11 people for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a small fraction of its roughly 400 total population, officials said. The facility serves more than 20 local, state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service and Bureau of Prisons, and is not dedicated to immigration detention. ICE detainees are typically housed there for one to two weeks before release or transfer, and most are classified at a minimum security level. Earlier in 2025, seventeen ICE detainees were held at the facility as the agency exceeded its congressionally funded 41,500 detention beds nationwide, holding over 48,000 people.

A 41-year-old man from Guatemala drowned in the American Canal near El Paso after crossing the border fence without authorization with two other individuals in June 2025. Border Patrol agents and Department of Defense personnel observed the three individuals enter the canal and rescued two of them. The third man was found unresponsive approximately two-tenths of a mile away. Despite CPR efforts by Border Patrol and fire department personnel, he was pronounced dead at University Medical Center.

Four detainees escaped from Delaney Hall, a privately-owned immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on June 12-13, 2025, by breaking through inadequately constructed interior and exterior walls. The escape occurred amid reports of disorder at the facility, including complaints about delayed meals, poor conditions, overcrowding, and unhygienic facilities. Two of the escapees—Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez from Honduras and Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada from Colombia—were recaptured by federal authorities by June 12-13. Two others—Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes and Andres Felipe Pineda-Mogollon, a Colombian national—remained at large as of mid-June, with the FBI offering up to $10,000 for information leading to their arrests. All four face federal charges of escape from custody. DHS stated the escapees have criminal histories, and facility management announced plans to move detainees out over the following 24 hours.

A man was arrested by ICE on June 15, 2025, in Anaheim, California, while entering a store. He has been detained for over 7 months despite being in the process of obtaining residency through USCIS and having no criminal record. He has suffered serious health complications including hospitalization for oxygen deprivation, legal injustices including attorney abandonment, and needs funds for legal representation before his final asylum hearing in June.

On Saturday, June 14, ICE agents conducted a raid on a popular swap meet in Santa Fe Springs featuring vendors, food, and entertainment. Dozens of heavily armed, masked officers carried out the operation before a scheduled 5:30 p.m. concert, which was subsequently canceled. Witnesses reported that agents appeared to be targeting people based on appearance, with one attendee describing being photographed by agents after stating he was from the United States. DHS confirmed that two people were arrested at the swap meet and are facing deportation. The raid was part of sustained ICE activity across southern California targeting day laborers, car washers, warehouse workers, and residents in public spaces.

Heidi Plummer, a U.S. citizen and Orange County attorney, was arrested by federal agents at Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana on June 14 while taking a walk. Plummer was detained, handcuffed, and transported to an ICE detention facility in Santa Ana, where she was held for approximately an hour and a half before being released. ICE denied the incident occurred, stating they were not at the park that day and made no arrests there.

Mason Lake, an independent journalist and founder of the Portland-based outlet Channel Heed, was shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with a pepper round that struck his right arm while he filmed a protest outside an immigration detention center around 10 p.m. on June 13, 2025. The protest followed the arrest of Moisés Sotelo, a Newberg business owner detained by federal immigration agents the day after at least four asylum-seekers were detained outside a Portland courthouse following immigration hearings. Despite wearing clear press markings on his coat, helmet, and belt, ICE agents shot at him multiple times, and Lake believes the ICE Special Response Team was responsible, identifying agents' badges as belonging to the Houston Field Office. Since 2020, Lake has been assaulted at least 14 times while covering Portland protests. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin later said in a statement that journalists should be cautious while covering what she called 'violent riots,' adding that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem are 'committed to restoring law and order.' In November 2025, Lake and fellow journalist Hugo Rios filed a federal class-action lawsuit against President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security, and Noem, alleging indiscriminate, retaliatory violence by DHS agents. In March 2026, Lake and Rios won a preliminary injunction protecting journalists against retaliatory violence by DHS agents in Portland.

Justin Chung, who moved to the U.S. from South Korea at age two, was detained by ICE agents at his home despite having agreed to voluntarily depart and having purchased a ticket for June 13. He had been granted clemency and parole after serving time for a youth offense, married his wife Neftali, a U.S. citizen, in October 2023, and had since worked mentoring at-risk teens. ICE notified him on June 12 to prepare for deportation before detaining him, and Neftali, who is six weeks pregnant, is seeking funds for legal assistance and support.

Jose Juarez Ramos, a 29-year-old Mexican citizen, was arrested in June 2025 for immigration law violations and fraud related to possessing counterfeit permanent resident and Social Security cards. After being released on a $50,000 bond on June 25, he was transferred to ICE custody pursuant to an immigration detainer and deported without notice to him or his attorney before his scheduled arraignment on June 27. His federal public defender filed a motion to dismiss the charges with prejudice, arguing the government violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights and the court's release order.

ICE detained several undocumented immigrants during what they believed were routine check-ins at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) office in Birmingham's Southside last week. The detainees had final removal orders from immigration judges and had not complied with those orders, according to ICE officials. Immigration advocates expressed concern that targeting people in the ISAP program, which is meant to be an alternative to detention, sends a discouraging message to immigrants trying to follow the law.

Javier Diaz Santana, a 32-year-old deaf DACA recipient with no criminal history, was arrested by ICE agents during a raid at a car wash in Temple City, California on June 12, 2025. Despite being deaf and unable to communicate, agents confiscated his phone and wallet, handcuffed him, and transported him to an El Paso detention center without explaining his detention or accommodating his disability. He was released on July 8 after his attorney provided proof of his DACA status to authorities.

Sayed Naser, an Afghan national who worked as a translator and contractor for U.S. military forces in Afghanistan, was detained by ICE agents in June 2025 during a hearing at a San Diego immigration court, after entering the U.S. legally in July 2024 under humanitarian parole while his asylum case was pending. On September 26, federal judge Gonzalo Curiel ordered his release from Otay Mesa Detention Center, ruling that the government violated his due process rights by revoking his parole without notice and placing him in expedited removal despite his pending case. Video of his arrest went viral, prompting veteran-run nonprofits Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and AfghanEvac to launch “Battle Buddies,” a program in which over 1,000 veterans now accompany Afghans to immigration hearings. Naser, reunited with friends and family after his release, said he remains hopeful because of the support he received from Americans.

At least five undocumented immigrants were detained by ICE agents in Phoenixville on a Thursday morning at multiple locations, including an Acme supermarket and Wawa convenience store, according to immigrant advocacy group Project Libertad, with plainclothes officers observed near Starr and Washington streets starting around 7 a.m. That operation came two days after the borough council passed an ordinance limiting immigration enforcement on municipal property. A viral video from Feb. 3, 2026, showed agents breaking a car window outside the Foodery on Bridge Street and pulling two men from the vehicle, prompting bystanders to protest. Phoenixville Mayor Peter Urscheler said local police have no agreement to enforce federal immigration law, while Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz called for greater oversight of ICE's enforcement practices.

Noemi's husband was deported to Mexico during the June 2025 ICE raids in Los Angeles. They used to get ready together before she headed to work at LA international airport. Now he calls her each morning at 8am from Mexico.

Yurien saw her father handcuffed, chained from the waist and ankles, and whisked away by ICE agents outside his workplace in LA's fashion district during the June 2025 raids. She remains haunted by the image a year later.