Steve Gaines, an English teacher at Harmony School of Innovation in Waco, Texas, was fired in early 2026 after allowing students to use class time to make signs for an ICE protest walkout in February. Anti-ICE advocates held a rally in March calling for his reinstatement, though the school district has not responded to requests for his rehiring.
On September 26, 2025, federal agents used chemical agents including pepper balls and tear gas against over 100 protesters gathered outside an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. The protest was organized to demonstrate against detention conditions and show support for detainees. Following the confrontation, 11 people were taken into custody, with five subsequently facing federal charges including assault on federal officers. Broadview Mayor Katrina R. Thompson sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security requesting intervention, citing dangers to residents and public safety personnel from chemical agents that can travel hundreds of feet, and noting that a gate constructed by the agency across Beech Street is blocking emergency access.
On September 26, 2025, federal immigration agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection forcibly removed a U.S. citizen from her white Toyota in Key Largo, Florida, while she stated her citizenship status. The woman, wearing medical scrubs, was handcuffed and placed in an agent's vehicle before being released after approximately 10 minutes when agents confirmed her U.S. citizenship through her driver's license found in the car. According to CBP, the woman had refused to provide identification or roll down her window during the stop. Legal experts subsequently noted that individuals generally retain the right to refuse identification during immigration stops and that agents require individualized reasonable suspicion to conduct such stops.
Leigh Kunkle was shot in the face with pepper balls by federal agents while protesting outside the Broadview ICE facility approximately one week before October 3. She recorded video of agents shooting weapons directly at protesters' faces and torsos. After being hit, Kunkle's hand filled with blood from the impact. She is planning to take legal action with her fiancé Kyle Frankovich to hold the federal government accountable for the assault and violations of rights during Operation Midway Blitz.
Hilda Ramirez Sanan, 50, a legal permanent resident, was violently arrested by ICE on September 26 while accompanying a family member to a court hearing in Chelsea with her 13-year-old son in the car. According to a federal complaint filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights, eight armed and masked officers surrounded her vehicle, smashed the car glass, and forcibly restrained her, kicking her and slamming her face on the ground while twisting her arms to handcuff her. Her son, who has autism, was also removed from the car and questioned by agents about his legal status while being held against a fence. When local police arrived and verified her valid green card, ICE released her. Ramirez Sanan and her children were taken to a hospital emergency room for medical evaluation. The complaint alleges violations of Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and ICE protocol violations.
Nicolas W., a 43-year-old father of four from Guatemala who owned a tow truck company, had a valid work permit, and had lived in the United States for 10 years, was arrested by ICE on September 26, 2025. He was walking to his truck after buying tools at Home Depot when a masked agent grabbed him by the arm, refused to let go, and told him to shut up. Agents searched him and told him he did not have the right to speak. He was taken to a station in Burlington, Massachusetts, and later transferred to Camp East Montana.
Paramjit Singh, a lawful permanent resident who arrived in the U.S. 30 years ago, was detained at Chicago O'Hare Airport on July 30, 2025, based on a 25-year-old theft conviction. DHS subsequently filed for his removal citing an alleged 2008 forgery conviction that appears not to exist; an immigration judge ordered his release on a $10,000 bond in August, but DHS filed an automatic stay to keep him detained. Singh, who is suffering from a progressive brain tumor causing vision loss, remains in a Kentucky county jail awaiting removal proceedings scheduled for September 29.
The National Immigrant Justice Center and ACLU of Illinois filed a federal court notice on behalf of 27 people arrested without warrants or probable cause by Department of Homeland Security officers since May 2025, with at least 20 arrested in September. The filing challenges violations of a consent decree that prohibits racial profiling and warrantless arrests, documenting incidents where people were arrested while walking in neighborhoods, at parking lots, during traffic stops, and at their homes.
Independent journalist Leigh Kunkel was shot in the face and back of the head with pepper balls by federal officers while reporting on protests outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois on September 26, 2025. Kunkel was documenting demonstrations at the facility when ICE agents emerged from the gates and began firing crowd-control munitions at journalists and protesters gathered nearby.
Xiomara Suarez-Marin, a 29-year-old Peruvian national seeking asylum, was detained by ICE during a scheduled USCIS appointment in Los Angeles on September 26, despite having a pending green card application through her wife. She had entered the U.S. in 2022 under humanitarian parole and had complied with all previous ICE check-ins. She remains in federal custody at Adelanto Detention Center with an immigration court hearing scheduled for January 28.
Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian-born imam and hospital chaplain at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, was detained by ICE on July 9, 2025, during a routine immigration check-in appointment after USCIS terminated his asylum status. Authorities alleged he provided material support to terrorists through involvement with an Egyptian charity organization. During approximately 10 weeks in custody at Butler County Jail, Soliman was held in freezing conditions, placed in isolation, and denied access to his attorney. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently withdrew its deportation case after court filings documented errors and inconsistencies in the government's evidence. Soliman was released in mid-to-late September 2025, his asylum status was reinstated, and his green card application was revived.
ICE enforcement actions in major U.S. cities on September 25-26, 2025 resulted in several incidents including an officer shoving a woman in a New York courthouse, tear gas used against protesters outside a Chicago detention center, and a woman injured during an arrest in the Boston area. A Guatemalan permanent resident named Hilda was forcibly detained in Chelsea, Massachusetts, sustaining injuries requiring hospitalization.
Rosa, 12 years old, screamed as ICE agents arrested her father outside a New York immigration court on September 25, 2025. The incident was documented by photographer Carol Guzy as part of her ongoing documentation of families affected by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, died from injuries sustained in a sniper-style shooting at a Dallas ICE facility on September 24. He was shot at least eight times and had been in critical condition at Parkland Hospital before being removed from life support. Garcia-Hernandez was the second victim to die from the attack, leaving behind his wife and four children.
Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, a 37-year-old El Salvadoran national, was shot and killed on September 24, 2025, when a gunman opened fire at a Dallas ICE facility's controlled entrance. Guzman-Fuentes was in ICE custody at the time. He was the financial provider for his mother in El Salvador, who depended on his support.
A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Paulo Cesar Gamez Lira, a 27-year-old DACA recipient and father of four U.S. citizen children who was detained by ICE for 42 days. Gamez Lira was detained on August 13 when federal agents surrounded his vehicle in Horizon City, Texas, with two of his young children present. He was held at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico, separated from his family including a three-month-old infant with serious medical conditions. The federal government declined to oppose his release.
ICE agents pointed guns at and smashed the window of a car carrying a couple and their 1-month-old baby in Alamosa on September 24, 2025. The agents arrested Jose Aguilera, 33, from Mexico, who was returning from a court hearing with his partner and infant son. The arrest violated a 2020 Colorado law prohibiting ICE arrests of people going to or coming from courthouses.
A shooting occurred at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas on Wednesday morning. The shooter, 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, fired from a rooftop across the street, killing one detainee and wounding two others before dying by self-inflicted gunshot wound. Evidence suggests the attack was anti-ICE in nature, with shell casings engraved with anti-ICE messages. A third detainee was critically wounded on September 24, 2025, when a gunman identified as Joshua Jahn opened fire at a Dallas ICE facility's controlled entrance, targeting a transport van containing detainees. The shooter, positioned on a nearby roof, fired indiscriminately at the facility. Jahn died by suicide shortly after the attack. Handwritten notes found at the scene indicated the shooter intended to instill fear in ICE agents, though the attack instead killed two detainees and critically wounded a third.
On September 24, 2025, a shooter identified as Joshua Jahn fired from a rooftop into an ICE facility near Interstate 35E in Dallas, killing three people detained by ICE and injuring one other before shooting himself. Two of the three victims were taken to hospitals in critical condition, with one dying six days later. Authorities found anti-ICE markings and notes in Jahn's personal effects, concluding the attack was a premeditated terrorist act targeting ICE agents.
Job Arias-Mendoza was arrested by ICE on September 24 in the middle of an intersection in Hyattsville, Maryland, in an encounter captured on a viral nine-minute video. The footage shows officers pinning him to the pavement as he yelled 'help me' and 'I am American. I love America.' During the struggle, an agent's handgun fell from his belt onto the street; after retrieving it, the agent appeared to point the weapon toward bystanders, and another officer asked members of the crowd if they wanted 'to be next.' DHS said Arias-Mendoza entered the U.S. from El Salvador without authorization and has a prior arrest record. Neighbors held a rally near the arrest site, and Arias-Mendoza remains in ICE custody at an undisclosed location.
Marcos Antonio De Oliveira Barros, 57, has been held at Broward Transitional Center in Florida for nearly six months since his September 2025 ICE detention for overstaying his tourist visa. His daughter Daianne, an American citizen, filed an I-130 petition to initiate his green card process and launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal costs, citing financial hardship as the detention has impacted her family's income from their construction business.
Victor Acurio Suárez, a 52-year-old Ecuadorian man with developmental disabilities living in Seaford, Delaware, has been detained at an ICE facility in Pennsylvania for three months following his arrest in a Lowe's parking lot. Governor Matt Meyer called for his immediate release and asylum. Suárez has no criminal history and has a credible fear of gang violence if deported to Ecuador.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe, a 39-year-old Mexican national and former DACA recipient, died in ICE custody after being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. He was arrested by ICE and Border Patrol agents on August 17, 2025, during an enforcement operation at a car wash in Fountain Valley, and transferred to Adelanto five days later. During roughly five weeks in detention, he reported severe pain from an infected abscess along with cough, fever, and shaking; on September 18, facility medical staff responded to his complaints with only Tylenol. After developing complications, he was transferred to Victor Valley Global Medical Center, where he was found unresponsive at 1:48 a.m. on September 22 and declared dead at 2:32 a.m. from cardiac arrest arising from septic shock. His family was not notified of his hospitalization until after his death. His death occurred amid a rise in ICE detainee deaths, with at least 16 recorded in nine months of 2025.
Marwan Marouf, a community leader in North Texas who has served the Muslim community for 30 years, was arrested by ICE on September 22, 2025, the same day his green card application was denied. He was transferred to Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson. His green card application denial relied on allegations from over a decade ago. The Muslim Legal Fund of America is challenging the denial in immigration and federal court.
Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Sikh woman who had lived legally in the United States for 33-34 years with no criminal record, was detained by ICE on September 8, 2025, following a routine check-in. During her 15-day detention at facilities in Bakersfield and Georgia, Kaur reported being denied basic hygiene supplies, vegetarian meals consistent with her Sikh faith, and water to take with her medication, and was forced to sleep on detention cell floors. She had filed multiple unsuccessful asylum applications and appeals, including to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On September 22, Kaur was deported to India without advance notice to her family and without being allowed to return home or say goodbye, despite her attorney's requests for release with monitoring or commercial flight accompaniment given her age and medical conditions.
The Department of Homeland Security subpoenaed activist Sherman Austin and social media accounts associated with Stop ICE, a crowdsourced alert network documenting immigration enforcement activities, after they posted a video of a Border Patrol agent in February 2025. DHS alleged the post constituted doxing and violated officer safety protocols. Austin and civil liberties lawyers representing him argue the information was publicly available and that the post is protected speech under the First Amendment.
A 26-year-old San Jose woman learned of her pregnancy and miscarriage in a Central California immigrant detention facility.
A San Diego family's parents were ordered removed to Mexico on September 22, 2025, after an eight-year legal battle that began with their detention in May 2017. The parents worked as a paletero and had lived in the community for nearly thirty years. Their adult children have organized a fundraiser to support their parents' transition to Mexico.
Mi nombre es Ernesto y estoy recaudando fondos para ayudar a mi papá, Julio Ernesto Chavez Linares, quien fue detenido por inmigración mientras trabajaba el dia 11 de septiembre en un car wash que se llama 100 % hand Wash en Los Angeles California . Él es salvadoreño, nació el 13 de enero de 1983, y siempre ha sido el pilar de nuestra familia, especialmente para mi hermana menor de 12 años. La ausencia de mi papá ha sido muy difícil para nosotros, ya que él se encargaba de la vida diaria de mi hermana, su educación y el bienestar del hogar.
A 26-year-old San Jose asylum-seeker miscarried while detained at Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield after being denied immediate medical care for severe bleeding and cramping; she was shackled during hospital transport and required a blood transfusion. According to migrant rights advocates, her case may reflect a broader pattern, with evidence suggesting ICE is not following required protocols for pregnant and postpartum detainees, who are being held in unprecedented numbers without adequate medical care and food.
Congressional candidates Mayor Daniel Biss, Kat Abughazaleh, and Bushra Amiwala were teargassed by ICE agents during a protest at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois. Abughazaleh reported being thrown to the ground, and multiple protesters were struck with pepper balls and teargassed. ICE agents allegedly attempted to run over a peaceful protester with a van and detained at least one protester at the facility.
Paramjit Singh, a green card holder who has lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years and operates a business in Fort Wayne, was detained by ICE and DHS on July 30 at O'Hare. He was held incommunicado for five days before being hospitalized. His family learned of his location when a hospital bill arrived. He remains held at Boone County Jail in Kentucky. According to records, Singh is being detained for a 25-year-old infraction related to a payphone.
Federal immigration agents conducted an operation on Chicago's Southeast Side near 105th Street and Avenue N, pursuing and deliberately ramming a vehicle that resulted in a crash. Two occupants were arrested on allegations of being in the U.S. without legal status. When dozens of neighbors gathered to protest the aggressive enforcement tactics, federal agents deployed tear gas, pepper balls, and smoke grenades as crowd control measures. The response affected residents, children, and at least 13 Chicago police officers, with at least four protesters detained during the incident.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview on Friday to demonstrate against the Trump administration's deportation operations in the Chicago area. Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was shoved to the ground by ICE agents in camouflage gear; she reported being thrown twice and lifted by her chest before being thrown onto asphalt. Federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls against crowds of demonstrators in two separate protests that began at 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. and lasted for hours, resulting in multiple arrests.
Federal ICE agents used tear gas and pepper balls to disperse approximately 100 protesters outside a Chicago ICE detention facility during a demonstration against immigration enforcement operations. Protesters included a pastor and two Democratic congressional candidates. The protest aimed to block government vehicles from entering the facility. At least three arrests resulted and there were clashes between federal agents and demonstrators. A DHS official defended the ICE officer's use of pepper balls against the pastor.
Federal immigration agents intimidated two women who were documenting their activity on the west side this morning near Grand and Kostner. In a video posted to social media, they say agents boxed their car in a parking lot and surrounded it—but the women themselves never exited their vehicle. Agents threatened the women with arrest, and shined a flashlight into their vehicle.
Gustavo, a detainee at California City ICE Detention Facility speaking from inside the facility, reported inadequate medical attention and expressed concern that CoreCivic staff are not providing proper care because they assume all detainees will be deported. He stated that medical staff appear unwilling to spend money on medication, assuming detainees will "just gonna get sent to Mexico."
Karam, a detainee with a chronic stomach ulcer, was transferred from Mesa Verde ICE facility to the California City ICE Detention Facility in late August 2025. Despite informing intake staff of his ulcer, prescribed liquid diet, and daily medications, he received no medication during his first 24 hours and subsequently received wrong pills infrequently. As his health declined, he began a hunger strike on September 18th. By September 22nd he was vomiting blood; he fainted the next day, triggering a medical emergency. Staff conditioned his medication on ending the strike. After ending the strike, he was told to "go back" to his country for medical care and has not received proper treatment. Three months later, his condition has worsened with mouth ulcers, continued blood vomiting, and blood in stool. He has gone on three additional hunger strikes since September.
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested during a civil disobedience protest inside 26 Federal Plaza in September 2025, where ICE maintains holding cells for recently detained immigrants. Lander and 10 state lawmakers were taken into custody while demanding access to detention cells to draw attention to conditions at the facility. Federal prosecutors offered to drop obstruction charges if Lander avoided arrest in federal buildings for six months, but he rejected the plea deal while the lawmakers accepted. Lander proceeded to a bench trial, stating he took the case to trial to insist that the rule of law apply to all people facing removal proceedings. He was found not guilty of obstructing elevators and the elevator lobby at 26 Federal Plaza.
Carmen Aracely Pablo Sequen, an asylum-seeker, was detained at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco and held in harsh conditions including small, cold rooms with no beds, limited hygiene supplies, and restricted access to counsel. She was held for extended periods—sometimes up to six days—despite the holding cells being designed for stays under 12 hours. The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit on September 18, 2025, challenging ICE's detention practices and courthouse arrest policies, alleging unconstitutional conditions and violations of due-process protections.
Wesley Powers, a U.S. Navy veteran and U.S. citizen, was shot with chemical agent by ICE agents while protesting at Minnesota's Whipple Detention Center in January 2026. He was detained for 9 hours in an overcrowded cell, had his lawyer calls monitored, and was photographed by agents using personal phones before being released without charges. Powers reports subsequent incidents including vehicles at his home and lost work income.
Ligia Garcia, an asylum-seeker from Colombia with no criminal record, was arrested by ICE on July 31, 2025, after attending her immigration court hearing in San Francisco and detained at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street. She was held in harsh conditions including small, cold rooms with no beds, forced to sleep on the floor under bright lights, limited hygiene supplies, and restricted access to counsel after 3 p.m. and on weekends. She was held for extended periods despite the holding cells being designed for stays under 12 hours. On September 18, 2025, the ACLU and immigrant rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Garcia and three other plaintiffs detained at the same facility, challenging ICE's detention practices and courthouse arrest policies and alleging unconstitutional conditions and violations of due-process protections.
Martin Hernandez-Torres, a noncitizen who has lived in the United States for 30 years and has cancer, was arrested Wednesday during a "reasonable fear" interview at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. He was held in harsh conditions including small, cold rooms with no beds, forced to sleep on metal benches or the floor with only thin plastic or foil as blankets, bright lights kept on all night causing sleep deprivation, open toilets, limited hygiene supplies, and restricted access to counsel and medical care. He was held for extended periods—sometimes up to six days—despite the holding cells being designed for stays under 12 hours. The ACLU, alongside the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights and CARECEN, filed a class-action lawsuit on September 18, 2025, on behalf of Hernandez-Torres and three other asylum-seeker plaintiffs, challenging ICE's detention practices and courthouse arrest policies and alleging unconstitutional conditions and violations of due-process protections.
Santos Reyes Banegas, a Honduran man, died on September 18 at the Nassau County Correctional Center on Long Island, New York, where he was held by ICE. During intake at 11:22 a.m. on September 17, a nurse noted he was experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Two hours later, a doctor evaluated him and prescribed medications for withdrawal but the ICE report does not specify which medications or confirm they were administered. Reyes was found unresponsive in his cell at 6:25 a.m. the next morning and declared dead 20 minutes later. DHS reported the preliminary cause as liver failure complicated by alcoholism. Medical experts noted that timely hospital care could greatly reduce life-threatening risks from alcohol withdrawal.
An 11-year-old U.S. citizen girl recovering from a rare brain tumor was deported to Mexico on February 4, 2025, when immigration authorities arrested her undocumented parents at a checkpoint while the family traveled to Houston for her emergency medical checkup. The girl had undergone surgery to remove the tumor and requires specialized care every three months. Since deportation, her health has deteriorated significantly, with worsening seizures, muscle spasms, and loss of neurological functions. She has received only one MRI scan instead of the recommended quarterly monitoring. Four of the family's five children are U.S. citizens. The family filed humanitarian parole applications through the Texas Civil Rights Project, but USCIS has not yet responded. Congressional members including Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Sylvia Garcia, and Joaquin Castro are advocating for the family's return.
A Senegalese national who entered the US in 2006 and applied for asylum in 2007 was detained without bond on September 17, 2025 for removal after an immigration judge denied his asylum claim in 2012. ICE initially planned to remove him to Gabon, but when that country refused travel documents, they arranged for his removal to Ghana without allowing him to assert fear-based claims about that country. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his removal until he receives a fair hearing.
Three women were found not guilty of conspiracy to dox an ICE agent on February 27 after a week-long trial revealed they did not know they were following the agent to his home and never disclosed his address during their livestreamed protest. Two of the women were convicted of stalking, a charge their attorney argues represents an unprecedented application of federal law, as the incident occurred over a single day within an hour and a half rather than involving repeated behavior.
Joe Botello, a U.S. citizen born in Texas, was handcuffed and detained by federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Elgin on September 16, 2025. Agents forcibly entered his home, breaking down doors, and placed him in a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle before releasing him after scanning his driver's license. The operation, part of a larger immigration enforcement blitz in the Chicago area, also resulted in the detention of his roommates.
A 73-year old East Bay grandmother, Harjit Kaur, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during a routine check-in this week. Today, her family and an expected 200 community members will stage a protest demanding her release.The protest will be held at 5 p.m. today (Friday, Sept. 12) at the intersection of Appian Way and San Pablo Dam Road in El Sobrante (below the El Sobrante Gurdwara).Kaur has lived in the East Bay for more than 30 years. She currently lives in Hercules but worked for two decades at a small business, Sari Palace, in Berkeley and regularly attended the El Sobrante Sikh Gurdwara. She was detained on Monday after ICE asked her to come to the San Francisco office to turn in additional paperwork. On Tuesday she was taken to a detention center in Bakersfield.“It’s just been a total nightmare. I don’t feel like this is real,” Manji Kaur, Harjit Kaur’s daughter-in-law, told Richmondside. Kaur has two -grandsons and three granddaughters.
A short time after the raid on an Elgin home, ICE agents stopped a driver on Route 31 a few blocks away and took him into custody. This stop was one of several ICE detentions made in the Chicagoland area on September 16, 2025, as part of DHS Operation "Midway Blitz," which targeted Illinois and Lake County, Indiana.
Showing 50 of 4490 incidents
