Human Impact Project

Border Patrol agents conducted immigration enforcement raids across Chicago and nearby suburbs on Halloween, detaining multiple individuals. Incidents included pepper-spray deployment in Albany Park, an agent pointing a weapon at protesters in Evanston, and an officer punching a detainee. Three U.S. citizens were arrested for allegedly obstructing the operations, while five Mexican nationals were detained.

M-J-M-A, a 45-year-old Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. legally in January 2025 and later overstayed her visa, was arrested by ICE on October 30, 2025 while on her way to work. At the Portland ICE facility, an officer pressured her to sign a Spanish-language document waiving her right to an immigration court hearing and requesting voluntary removal, despite her intention to seek asylum, telling her that refusing would delay her departure. When her attorney was finally able to meet with her roughly three hours later, the meeting was cut short after only about 10 minutes. ICE then shackled her and transferred her to a facility in Tacoma, Washington, leaving her without attorney contact for approximately two days.

Armando Garcia Picazo, detained by ICE in August without legal status, was ordered released by federal judge Leonard Strand after being denied bond approved by an immigration judge. Garcia Picazo was held at Woodbury County jail for over two months before filing a habeas corpus lawsuit. He was required to post $6,000 bond and will continue his immigration case on a non-detained docket.

Two employees of SUNY Upstate Medical University were detained by ICE on Wednesday while attending immigration hearings to finalize their legal status. The workers were taken into custody before entering the courtroom and are being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, facing possible deportation. Union officials from CSEA and UUP issued statements regarding ICE's actions.

Ruperto Vicens Marquez, 38, head chef and co-owner of Emilio's Kitchen in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, was detained by ICE on October 19, 2025. He is a father of three and co-owns the restaurant with his brother Emilio, after the pair worked together for seven years at another local restaurant, Copper Canyon. ICE says an immigration judge issued him a final removal order in July, but his attorney and Atlantic Highlands Mayor Lori Hohenleitner dispute this, noting he has valid work authorization through 2029 and a pending merits hearing scheduled for 2028. He has been held at Newark's Delaney Hall Detention Facility since his arrest. A protest was held in his support, a GoFundMe campaign has raised $85,000 for legal fees, and more than 200 community letters have been submitted on his behalf. A judge has granted him a bond hearing within seven days.

Rian Andrianzah, an Indonesian national, was arrested by ICE agents while attending what he believed was a routine biometrics appointment in Philadelphia. His arrest occurred while his wife waited in another room, and he was subsequently sent to a Central Pennsylvania detention center where he now faces deportation. The arrest is part of the Trump administration's strategy shift to apprehend green card applicants, asylum seekers, and others engaged in legal immigration processes.

A 16-year-old boy named Diego had both parents taken in separate ICE raids. After being released from ICE custody, Diego's mother Yolanda shared her account of the experience. The incident was originally covered in November of the previous year.

MJMA, a 45-year-old farm worker and lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit, was detained in a van stop by ICE agents who smashed the vehicle's windows without waiting for occupants to comply with commands. Body-camera footage shows MJMA asserting her right to remain silent and requesting a lawyer in Spanish, while an officer broke her phone as she called 911. Agents used facial recognition software to scan her face multiple times, obtaining inaccurate matches—one incorrectly identifying her as "Maria"—and falsely claiming she entered the country unlawfully when she had actually arrived with a valid temporary visa. A federal judge ruled the arrests unlawful and unjustified, finding officers engaged in misconduct, made inaccurate statements in reports, and improperly used facial recognition technology without warrants. MJMA has an ongoing asylum case.

A Mexican mother of a 10-month-old was arrested by ICE agents while driving her taxi near O'Hare International Airport and detained at the Broadview facility. She lacked access to a lactation room to pump breast milk for her daughter. A federal judge ordered her release on October 31, the day after her habeas case was filed.

Five plainclothes federal agents arrested a 26-year-old barber from Venezuela at Rockstar Fadez barbershop in Brighton Park. One agent had posed as a construction worker and customer earlier that morning without identifying himself as law enforcement. The agents threw the barber to the ground and carried him away in a pickup truck while threatening to detain anyone who intervened, and no warrant was presented before the arrest.

Federal immigration agents arrested two men, Adolfo Felipe Mendoza-Cruz on October 30 and Fabian Pablo Beltran-Flores on November 3, in apparent violation of Washington state law prohibiting immigration enforcement within one mile of courthouses. Mendoza-Cruz was detained in a courthouse parking lot after attending a DUI arraignment, while Beltran-Flores was arrested on a sidewalk outside City Hall after a court appearance. City officials reported both incidents to the Washington State Attorney General's Office.

A Slovak national who entered the U.S. in 2015 on a visa waiver and later overstayed was detained by immigration officials near his residence in October 2025 and held at Pike County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania. He had pending applications for a green card through his U.S. citizen spouse and for work authorization, and later sought asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture, all denied by an immigration judge in March 2026. He says he endured months of physical and mental abuse in detention, and his family said he was removed without notice to them or his attorney; he and his family, working with the ACLU, then filed a federal habeas corpus petition seeking to block his deportation. In July 2026, a federal district court in Pennsylvania ruled it lacked jurisdiction over his claims, dismissed the petition, vacated an earlier temporary stay of removal, and denied his request for a restraining order as moot.

A group of ten women arrested in the October 2025 immigration raid at the Savino del Bene warehouse in Woodbridge, New Jersey, were transferred through detention facilities in Texas and Ohio before being sent to the North Lake Correctional Facility in Michigan, near the Canadian border. The women, including one identified as Sofía, said they were given little food or water during the days-long transfer, forced to undress and shower in front of a female officer, and verbally demeaned by an immigration officer who called them "bitches" when handing them to an Ohio county sheriff. Once at the Michigan facility, the women said the heat was not turned on during the freezing Upper Midwest winter.

Jhonatan Bello Cabrera, an 18-year-old Colombian national, was detained during an immigration raid at the Savino del Bene warehouse in Woodbridge, New Jersey, while in the process of obtaining permanent residency through his U.S. citizen stepfather and legal permanent resident mother. He was transferred to detention facilities in New Jersey, Texas and Arizona before being released in December after posting a $6,000 bond and being fitted with an ankle monitor. His mother, Sandra Suero, said she never expected the arrest, calling him "a newly graduated kid, still a child."

Killy Tatiana Yangquen García, a 21-year-old Colombian woman who came to the U.S. at age 10, was arrested at the Savino del Bene bonded warehouse in Woodbridge, New Jersey, during an immigration raid in which more than 50 agents from multiple federal agencies, including a helicopter, detained 46 workers. After nearly four months in detention, including transfers across multiple states, an immigration judge denied her bond and she accepted a voluntary departure, returning to Bogotá in February. Her mother, María Eugenia García, has been living in hiding in Elizabeth, New Jersey, since the raid and says she has struggled to cope with the separation, speaking with her daughter only by video call, while Yangquen García's husband, who is applying for U.S. citizenship, hopes to eventually sponsor her return.

Federal authorities arrested 10 anti-ICE activists, including Isai Carrillo, and charged them with violence and property damage during immigration enforcement operations in Southern California between June and July 2025. The charges stem from three separate incidents: a June 6 incident in the Fashion District where a protester allegedly used pepper spray against federal agents; a June 8 downtown Los Angeles protest at Civic Center where demonstrators allegedly threw objects at officers; and a July 10 protest at a federal operation in Camarillo where protesters allegedly blocked vehicles, threw rocks, and damaged federal property. Two members of VC Defensa, an organization prosecutors said operates a rapid response network to impede immigration agents, were among those charged. Federal authorities arrested the suspects on October 29, 2025, with charges including conspiring to obstruct federal law enforcement.

Protesters gathered at the Durango ICE Facility after agents detained a father and two children (ages 12 and 15) following a traffic stop. The family possesses valid documentation and an active legal asylum process. During the demonstration, a federal agent allegedly pushed a protester. The City of Durango requested investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which declined the request.

Illinois state representative Hoan Huynh, a Vietnamese refugee, reported being confronted by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents who pointed a gun at his head while he monitored immigration enforcement operations on Chicago's North Side. Huynh was documenting the agents' activities and informing residents of their rights when the incident occurred. ICE enforcement operations in Chicago have separated families from their communities. Gerardo Perez's mother was arrested and deported in June.

An unidentified law enforcement officer placed a 57-year-old woman named Franci Stagi in a chokehold and threw her down a grassy embankment during a protest outside an ICE field office in Durango, Colorado on October 28. The incident was recorded on video. Hundreds of protesters had gathered at the location. The officer wore a black balaclava and tactical vest labeled with 'Police' or 'Police HSI' and was not identified as part of any specific law enforcement agency.

Fernando Jaramillo Solano, a Colombian asylum-seeker, was detained by ICE agents on October 27, 2025 while driving his two children—ages 11/12 and 14/15—to school near a mobile home park in Durango, Colorado. The family had lived in Colorado for more than 18 months with an active asylum case and no criminal record. Immigration officials later admitted in federal court that Jaramillo Solano was not their intended target. The father was sent to a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, while the children were held separately at an ICE facility in southern Texas, apart from their mother, Estela Patiño, who remained in Durango. Local police tried multiple times to secure the children's release but were denied entry by federal agents, and Colorado Governor Jared Polis said ICE had not notified the state in advance. On October 28, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the ICE field office demanding the family's release; agents in tactical gear used pepper spray and rubber bullets, breaking through a human chain formed by demonstrators. The family was subsequently granted voluntary departure, with ICE facilitating their return to Colombia.