Human Impact Project

ICE agents detained four customers of La Princesa Real Bakery in Kerman during an early morning operation, which Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco described as an 'ambush' after the bakery owner's son said ICE followed the customers' van into the parking lot. One of the detained individuals was later released after it was determined he had lawful immigration status, though he was shaken by the encounter. Pacheco confronted the masked agents on camera, and the video was shared widely on social media; community groups monitoring ICE activity in the Fresno area say agents have relied on racial profiling and patrols near sites frequented by immigrant workers rather than targeting individuals with warrants.

Magdaleno Benitez, a grandfather in Fresno, California, was detained by ICE on October 8, 2026, while on his way back from work. He is currently being held at a facility in McFarland, California. His family, who had recently celebrated his wedding, is raising money online to help cover legal fees.

A construction worker's father was detained by ICE agents while working alongside his son at the Riverstone Lennar development in Madera County. The son, who asked not to be identified, described the arrest: "I see my dad; he drops himself on the floor and I see all three ICE agents come get him." He said his father had no criminal record and is being held at the Golden State Annex detention facility in McFarland.

Gilbert Antonio, a 32-year-old lawful permanent resident from El Salvador who has lived in the U.S. since childhood, was stopped by immigration agents near a pharmacy in Mendota and asked to show his papers. Antonio, who makes his living harvesting cantaloupe and watermelons, said he believed he was targeted because he is Latino and avoided detention only because he was carrying his documents at the time. He described Mendota as feeling like a 'ghost town' amid an enforcement surge, saying workers are too afraid to go to their jobs or even pick up their children from school, with only those carrying documentation willing to go outside.

Javier Ramirez, who became a U.S. citizen 30 years ago, said he was racially profiled by an ICE agent last year at a Home Depot in Baldwin Park, California. Ramirez works as a street vendor at the site, where he also helps connect day laborers with work trucks and watches out for them amid ongoing immigration enforcement activity. He said his citizenship did not make him feel untouchable, but years of navigating harassment from law enforcement as a street vendor kept him from being afraid during the encounter. Javier said conditions have grown increasingly difficult due to combined pressure from ICE presence and extreme heat, which has reduced pay and worsened conditions for laborers and hurt his own business.

A resident of Kerman was detained by ICE agents on Thursday morning while stopping to buy a pastry and coffee, according to local officials who informed California Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria. Soria said she was "deeply disturbed" by the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations and reports of racial profiling in the community, saying "no one should be targeted because of their color of their skin, the language they speak, their accent, or their last name."

An unnamed man was arrested by ICE agents in Mendota on Thursday morning without being asked any questions, according to Linda Martinez, an organizing coordinator with the United Farm Worker Foundation. He was released from ICE's downtown Fresno office later that afternoon after agents found his work permit in his wallet. The arrest occurred amid a broader ICE enforcement surge that advocates say has involved racial profiling of immigrant workers in the Fresno area this week.

Thongxay Nilakout, who resettled in the U.S. from Laos as a child in 1980, was released from a life sentence in 2023 after a Supreme Court ruling found mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders unconstitutional. He was working as a restaurant cook when immigration authorities detained him in early 2025 and placed him on a deportation flight to South Sudan, a country with which he had no connection, as part of a broader removal program. A federal judge ruled the deportation violated a court order requiring migrants a meaningful chance to contest removal, but he was deported anyway, joining seven other men held in a gated house in Juba under armed guard. His attorney, Tin Nguyen, said Nilakout had been willing to return to Laos all along and that Lao travel documents had already been issued before the U.S. instead sent him to South Sudan. Birte Pfleger, daughter of the woman Nilakout was convicted of killing, said she was never notified of his arrest or deportation despite requesting updates. After more than a year in detention in South Sudan, Nilakout left for Vientiane, Laos on October 8, 2026; four of the original group and a fifth deportee from Congo remained in South Sudan.

Jennifer Guernsey, a 75-year-old San Luis Obispo County resident who volunteers as a rapid responder with 805 UndocuFund, was filming ICE agents waiting in the San Luis Obispo County Jail lobby for an inmate's release when an agent placed his hands on her shoulders and shoved her backward, telling her to get out of his way. Guernsey, who said she did not touch any agents, described the agents as being in 'a really antagonistic mood' and said the agent was 'using his physicality to intimidate' her.

Immigration attorneys and court observers say the closure of San Francisco's immigration court has overwhelmed the Concord court with new 'mega-master hearings' and scheduling changes that threaten due process. Devony Hodson, a migrant from Nicaragua, said her final hearing was abruptly moved from 2027 to this past July, giving her little time to prepare, though she has since received extensions to December 2028. The Executive Office for Immigration Review said scheduling changes are meant to prevent cases from languishing, while advocates and a local congressman question the rationale behind the court closure.

Luis Arreguin, a 54-year-old Fresno-area man who came to the U.S. from Mexico as a child and has lived there for 49 years, was detained by ICE agents around 5 a.m. on October 1, 2026 while driving to work on Manning Avenue. His family says agents, in an unmarked vehicle, acted without a warrant based on a tip and were overheard joking about how many people they had caught that day. Arreguin, described by relatives as loving, hardworking, and the sole provider for his U.S. citizen wife and children, was in the process of obtaining citizenship before his arrest. He was transferred multiple times within ICE custody with little information provided to his family, eventually landing at a facility in McFarland, where he has suffered elevated blood pressure. His daughter, Elaina Salazar, said the arrest felt like a death in the family, and relatives held a candlelit vigil in Fresno on October 7. Arreguin has chosen to fight his case in court rather than accept deportation, and his family is raising money for attorney fees and related costs. His detention came amid a surge of roughly two dozen ICE arrests across Fresno and Madera counties that advocates have called an 'election surge.'

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who lived in Maryland with his U.S. citizen wife and young son who has autism, was arrested in Baltimore in March 2025 and deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison despite a 2019 court order protecting him from removal. US District Judge Paula Xinis ruled the government had 'no legal authority' to arrest, detain, or deport him, calling it a 'grievous error' that 'shocks the conscience,' and ordered his return; his lawyer denied any gang ties and said he had never been charged with a crime. Following public pressure and a Supreme Court order, he was returned to the U.S. in June 2025, after which federal prosecutors indicted him on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. Costa Rica offered him refugee status in August 2025, but the administration instead pursued deporting him to Liberia. A judge ordered his release from ICE custody in December 2025 after finding government lawyers misled the court, later blocking his re-detention and deportation to Liberia, and a federal judge dismissed the smuggling charges in May 2026 as a vindictive response to his legal challenges, a ruling the government is appealing. A hearing meant to determine whether he would be deported to Liberia was abruptly canceled, as his legal team seeks a permanent injunction and argues he should instead be sent to Costa Rica.

A farmworker who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation told the Los Angeles Times that he was pulled over by ICE officers while driving to work on Oct. 6 with three other people. He said the officers did not know his name, and when he declined to answer their questions about where he was born and when he crossed the border, they let him go.

Griselda, a mother known for feeding unhoused neighbors and volunteering with the El Sereno Bicentennial Committee, was detained by ICE at a USCIS center on October 6 while attending a scheduled immigration appointment. Her sudden detention has separated her from her children, who are now facing loss of income and emotional stress. A GoFundMe campaign was organized to cover legal fees, living costs, and healthcare support for her family while she fights for release.

ICE agents reportedly detained a vanload of farm workers in California's Central Valley on Tuesday morning, part of a series of recent enforcement actions carried out across multiple cities.

A whistleblower complaint from former FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Jill Fields alleges that Donald Trump directed the FBI to investigate protesters demonstrating against ICE operations in Los Angeles in February 2025. The complaint claims a dedicated 10-agent squad was formed to investigate protesters even after agents determined their activities were constitutionally protected. Fields says she was later removed from oversight roles and resigned, believing it was retaliation for objecting to the investigations.

In the unincorporated West Park community near Fresno, ICE agents detained several people, including a man taken into custody outside Saber's Mart/Market at Prospect and Jensen avenues, and a group of people—described as a man and woman by one source and four men and a woman by another—detained outside a home on Prospect Avenue as they arrived home from work. Resident Rose Arellano said she watched agents take the individuals without asking about immigration status, saying, "Nobody should have to go through our city in fear of randomly being taken simply because of the color of their skin." Resident Selina Castillo recorded cellphone video of the detentions near her mother's house. The West Park School District sent a notice to families stating it would not share immigration status information with authorities and asked parents to meet children at bus stops. Volunteers with the Valley Watch Network said they regularly assist families of detained individuals and people released from the Fresno ICE facility, amid a broader surge of ICE activity across Fresno and Madera counties.

A van transporting farmworkers from Selma to their jobs in Bakersfield was stopped by ICE agents on Tuesday morning, and everyone aboard was taken into custody, according to the Valley Watch Network, a rapid response group that tracks ICE arrests and assists detained individuals' families. The stop was part of a reported surge of roughly two dozen ICE arrests across Fresno and Madera counties that week, which advocates said involved roving patrols and traffic stops at places frequented by farmworkers and landscapers.

A father of five living in Santa Maria, California was detained by ICE agents on October 5, 2026, after being stopped near Allan Hancock College, where his daughter Abby is a student. Abby said agents followed their vehicle, forced her to hang up the phone, and asked for identification before taking her father into custody, later saying, 'My dad was kidnapped by ICE today.' According to Immigrant Legal Defense Center Executive Director Julissa Pena, he has lived in the U.S. since 2004, worked in local agricultural fields for over a decade, had no criminal record, and is raising five children, including two he adopted after their mother died; he also co-owned a father-daughter business called Carnitas El Pri. Pena said the nonprofit would 'fight for this father's freedom,' and his family launched a fundraiser seeking legal help. College officials said they had no advance notice of the arrest, which occurred amid a broader ICE operation across Santa Maria and Guadalupe that day resulting in at least 17 arrests at a jail, DMV office, health center, and market, prompting condemnation from local officials including state Senate leader Monique Limon.

A viral cellphone video shows a woman being surrounded by plainclothes, masked men and placed into an unmarked white van with DHS markings outside Los Angeles International Airport before dawn. In the footage she repeatedly pleads for bystanders to call 911, insists 'I'm not doing anything wrong,' and only gives her name after being pressed, while one man confirms he is an ICE agent citing an 'immigration violation' without further explanation. Social media users identified her as Jing Zhao, an Irvine, California special education teacher with an MBA who provided early childhood intervention and speech support to children with developmental needs. A parent of a child she once tutored described her as a patient, dedicated teacher who 'walked into our family and helped my child, little by little,' and expressed hope she would receive legal help and a fair process. Detention records later showed she was transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, though ICE has not issued a public statement confirming her identity or the specific violation alleged. Airport officials said federal agencies conduct independent investigations and that airport operations continued as normal.