Human Impact Project

ICE agents were conducting operations in Santa Ana near Birch Street and Andrew Place early in the morning. Community watchers and legal observers responded to monitor the incident. An ICE agent pepper sprayed the area despite no one being near, and later remotely disabled a legal observer's vehicle engine while stopped at a red light on Main Street and Edinger Avenue.

Zia S., a 36-year-old Afghan immigrant who served as a U.S. military interpreter, was detained by ICE on July 16, 2025, during a routine USCIS appointment in East Hartford, Connecticut, for biometric processing related to a Green Card application. Despite having lawful parole status until October 2026, no criminal convictions, and approval for humanitarian parole due to Taliban threats, he was moved to a detention facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A federal judge issued a 72-hour stay to prevent his deportation, and after nearly three months in custody, a second immigration judge ordered his release on a $15,000 bond on October 9, 2025. The government's subsequent motion to reverse the release was rejected on October 21, 2025. Zia was reunited with his wife and five children in Connecticut. His son Rihan was also detained by ICE in Plymouth during this period.

An employee of a Chicago Public Schools vendor was taken into custody by federal immigration agents outside Decatur Classical School on the Far North Side. School officials stated no students witnessed the incident and emphasized that CPS will not cooperate with federal agents without a criminal judicial warrant.

2 hurt, including a US Marshal, after an ICE agent’s weapon discharged in LA immigration operation

Yassine Halhoul, a 21-year-old University of Arizona aerospace engineering student from Morocco, was detained by Homeland Security Investigations on October 21, 2025, due to a clerical visa issue. He spent approximately one month in ICE detention at Florence Correctional Center and Eloy Detention Center, where he reported poor conditions including inadequate food, interference with sleep, and frequent cell counts. After a GoFundMe campaign raised $18,500 for bail and legal expenses, Halhoul was released on November 13, 2025, with an ankle monitor.

21-year-old Judas Rivera, who immigrated to Arizona as a child, was detained by ICE agents on October 21, 2025, while traveling to work at Chick-fil-A. ICE initially and erroneously recorded his country of origin as Afghanistan instead of Mexico, a discrepancy only corrected after media inquiry. Rivera is currently held at the Eloy Detention Center awaiting a court hearing scheduled for November 7, 2025, that will determine his deportation status, as his family works to stop his deportation.

As protests continue outside the ICE facility in South Portland, Oregon, residents and local leaders are reporting health impacts from federal agents' use of tear gas and other chemical crowd control munitions. Area residents report symptoms including nausea, headaches, and respiratory issues. State lawmakers have expressed concerns about documented health effects including chemical burns and respiratory failure. Federal agents have deployed tear gas multiple times over recent weeks, with chemicals seeping into nearby apartments and affecting residents regardless of protest participation.

On October 19-20, 2025, approximately 98 men detained at Farmville Detention Center reported finding worms in their food and refused meals due to health and safety concerns. When detainees reported the contaminated food to staff, they were threatened with loss of commissary access in apparent retaliation, according to advocacy group Free Them All VA. The detained men are demanding a meeting with CoreCivic, the private company that runs the facility, and ICE. CoreCivic disputed the allegations, stating facility leadership found no evidence of contamination and that staff, including the assistant warden, ate the same meal without incident, also denying any retaliation occurred. A coalition of 40 advocacy organizations cited the incident, along with a similar 2015 complaint at the facility, in renewing calls for its closure.

Quinn Haberl, a blind protester, said federal agents at Portland's ICE facility dragged and handcuffed him twice during separate protest incidents. The first incident occurred Tuesday night when agents picked him up and dropped him on the ground. During the second incident on Saturday, agents dragged him across the driveway and held him for about an hour with pressure applied to his back and neck. Haberl was taken to the hospital where doctors documented bruising on his shoulders, hands, and arms.

An Oak Park civil litigation attorney was arrested by ICE agents outside his child's elementary school on Monday morning. The attorney was detained after following an ICE van and honking his horn and blowing a whistle, which he said was to identify the unmarked vehicle. He was charged with impeding federal agents and held for approximately one hour before being released near the school.

A Mexican immigrant father of five, who has lived and worked in the U.S. for two decades without a criminal record, was detained during an Oct. 19 ICE raid on a horse track near Wilder, Idaho, that swept up more than 100 people. He has since been held in Wyoming's Uinta and Sweetwater county jails, and his attorney is petitioning a federal judge for his release or a bond hearing while his immigration case proceeds. His daughter, a U.S. citizen who witnessed the raid while caring for her baby, said her father 'works his butt off' for the family and that her younger siblings, ages 15 and 11, were handcuffed with zip ties for hours and traumatized by the operation. A federal judge has since ordered the government to provide the man a bond hearing within seven days or release him.

Miguel Barreno López, a 39-year-old Spanish citizen, was arrested by ICE on October 18, 2025, during a traffic stop near Chicago after his tourist visa expired. An immigration judge approved his voluntary departure to Spain on November 17, 2025. Despite this approval, Barreno remained detained at Kenton County Detention Center in Kentucky for six months with no communication from ICE regarding his departure status or case updates. He was eventually deported to Spain in May 2026 and banned from re-entering the U.S. for ten years.

A 57-year-old Mexican father of four was detained at Broadview Processing Center for four days in severely overcrowded conditions before signing a voluntary departure form, unaware his attorney had secured an emergency hearing that could have allowed him to stay. He was deported to Mexico the following day after waiving his right to appeal. The case illustrates concerns among immigration attorneys that voluntary departures may not be truly voluntary, with immigrants reporting coercion due to language barriers and lack of legal knowledge.

A 42-year-old San Francisco tenant from Russia who fled political persecution remains in federal immigration custody at California City Detention Center while facing eviction for alleged nonpayment of rent. The Eviction Defense Collaborative has taken on his legal representation ahead of his Monday eviction trial at McAllister Street court, preventing an automatic no-show eviction. His landlord's legal firm has refused to reschedule the hearing despite awareness of his detention, and ICE has not responded to requests about allowing virtual court appearance.

Kevin Larson, a 68-year-old Canadian retiree with no criminal record, was stopped at the Blue Water Bridge on October 18, 2025, while attempting to enter Michigan to attend a No Kings protest against Trump's policies. After three hours of questioning, fingerprinting, a phone search, and a DNA cheek swab collected under threat of jail time, Larson was denied entry and returned to Canada. Border agents told him he was turned away due to the nature of his planned protest activity.

David Huerta, president of SEIU California, was arrested while protesting a federal immigration raid at an apparel business in downtown Los Angeles. Federal agents pushed him to the ground, causing his head to hit the curb, then sprayed him with a chemical irritant, handcuffed him, and took him to a hospital before transferring him to a federal detention center. Prosecutors initially charged him with felony conspiracy to impede a federal officer. The charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor, and the case was ultimately dismissed with prejudice in July. Huerta said the 15-month legal ordeal caused him significant psychological stress, strained his marriage, and led him to begin therapy.

Portland Police Commander Franz Schoening testified in federal court that on October 18, federal officers accidentally escalated a No Kings protest at an ICE facility when one officer misfired a tear gas launcher, sending a canister onto the roof where other federal officers were stationed. The officers on the roof mistook the friendly fire for an attack by protesters and retaliated by firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd, injuring local law enforcement in the process.

Alexander Villeda, 30, an El Salvadoran national, was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz at the Swap-O-Rama market in October 2025, eight days after marrying Alexa Ramírez. He is being held at an immigration detention center in Battle Creek, Michigan, fighting his immigration case and hoping to secure release on bond. Villeda arrived in the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2015 and has no criminal record. His wife was deported to Mexico, and he faces pressure to self-deport to El Salvador, which would prevent them from reuniting.

Alexa Ramírez, 38, a Mexican national who had been living and working in Chicago, was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz at the Swap-O-Rama market in October 2025, just eight days after marrying her husband Alexander Villeda. She was held for four days at the Broadview federal immigration processing center, where she signed a form agreeing to self-deport. She was deported to Mexico two days later and is now living on her parents' farm in Oaxaca, unable to reunite with her husband who remains detained in Michigan.

Ali Faqirzada, a 31-year-old Afghan refugee and Bard College student, fled Afghanistan in 2021 after he and his family received death threats from the Taliban. He had been waiting since 2022 for a decision on his asylum case, and every other member of his family had already been granted asylum. On October 14, 2025, an Asylum Officer found Ali had a viable asylum claim, but the Department of Homeland Security terminated his application and placed him in expedited removal proceedings. ICE then arrested and detained him despite his having passed the initial asylum screening. He was held in detention for six months before being released and reunited with his family in New Paltz.