Human Impact Project

Tae Heung "Will" Kim, a Korean American green card holder who has lived in the U.S. since age 5 and whose mother is a U.S. citizen, was detained by CBP at San Francisco International Airport on July 21, 2025, upon returning from his brother's wedding in South Korea. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University researching a vaccine for Lyme disease. Kim was held for more than a week without access to legal counsel, his asthma medication, sunlight, or a bed to sleep in, with lights kept on continuously in his holding room, before being transferred to detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. His attorney, Eric Lee, said a CBP supervisor told him the Constitution did not apply to Kim and that deportation proceedings were based on a 2011 misdemeanor marijuana charge for which Kim had completed community service.

A video posted online shows federal ICE agents detaining people near a Home Depot in Encinitas. A woman driving through the area recorded the encounter and spoke with NBC 7 about witnessing what appeared to be two men in custody with ICE agents present.

LA County Department of Animal Care and Control has taken in 28 animals from deported or detained families since June 2025, with pet surrenders nearly doubling after a series of summer raids. Children have come to the Carson Animal Care Center for painful goodbyes with family pets including Coco, a pug-beagle mix, and Bruce, a Labrador mix, after their families were ordered to leave the country.

Jorge Willy Valera Chuquillanqui, a Peruvian asylum seeker with no criminal history, was arrested by DHS agents minutes after completing routine immigration court proceedings on July 25, 2025. He had been living in the U.S. since December 2022 after being released on bond. The federal court granted a preliminary injunction ordering his release and prohibiting re-detention without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. The court found that ICE violated his due process rights by detaining him without proper procedural safeguards.

Jefersson Bladimir Alemán Beltrán, 19, was taken into ICE custody outside a Santa Maria jail on July 24, after being arrested July 21 on suspicion of inappropriate sexual conduct and having the charges dismissed by a judge for lack of evidence. His mother, Alba Beltrán, says masked agents arrived in several unmarked vehicles and beat her son after he declined to answer questions about his immigration status and asked for a lawyer. Beltrán, who is herself undocumented, says she hid on the floor of her car out of fear while watching the arrest, and alleges the sheriff's office tipped off ICE ahead of her son's release, a possible violation of California's sanctuary law. Jefersson, who entered the U.S. in 2019 at age 14 as an unaccompanied minor, graduated from Santa Maria High School, and works picking strawberries alongside his mother, remains held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where support workers say he has shown bruising, a swollen neck, and back pain; his mother says the accusation against him arose from a dispute over a romantic relationship.

Tae Heung "Will" Kim, a 40-year-old Korean American legal permanent resident and Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University studying infectious disease, was detained by CBP at San Francisco Airport upon returning from his brother's wedding in South Korea. He was held at the airport for more than a week without access to legal counsel, sleeping on a chair with lights on 24 hours, and denied contact with the outside world. Kim was subsequently transferred to ICE detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. His attorney states the cited reason for arrest was a 2011 marijuana possession conviction, though Kim had completed community service and had the record sealed; the government used it anyway. He faces a September 4 deportation hearing.

A family facing ICE enforcement operations decided to self-deport but were unable to bring their 6-year-old German Shepherd, Draco, on their flight due to airline size restrictions. The family surrendered the dog they had raised for over five years to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control. Pet surrenders from families affected by recent immigration enforcement operations have occurred in Southern California.

U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted an enforcement operation at a Home Depot parking lot in south Sacramento on July 17, detaining 11 undocumented immigrants and a U.S. citizen identified as Jose Castillo. Castillo, an immigration watch volunteer documenting the operation, was detained after agents alleged he damaged a vehicle tire during a brief chase in the parking lot; he was later released. A total of 11 people were arrested during the raid, which Border Patrol stated was a message that the federal government can enforce immigration law anywhere in California.

Jose Manuel Castillo Jr., a U.S. citizen and volunteer with immigrant advocacy group NorCal Resist, was charged with depredation of government property after allegedly puncturing a Border Patrol vehicle tire during an ICE raid at a Home Depot on July 17. According to the DOJ, Castillo was seen walking toward a Border Patrol SUV and agents heard a pop and hissing noise before finding the tire slashed; a pocketknife found on him matched the hole's width. Castillo's attorney and the advocacy group dispute the charges, claiming he was merely documenting arrests and was not obstructing operations.

Federal authorities conducted immigration enforcement raids on Glass House Farms facilities in Southern California between July 10-14, 2025, resulting in over 360 arrests. Jonathan Anthony Caravello, a California State University Channel Islands math lecturer, was arrested during the July 10 raid in Camarillo and charged with allegedly throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement, though some accounts indicate he was attempting to dislodge a canister stuck under a wheelchair. Caravello was released on a $15,000 bond with arraignment scheduled for August 1. During the broader enforcement operations, one farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof.

Rami Othmane, a 36-year-old Tunisian man married to Dr. Wafaa Alrashid, chief medical officer at Pasadena's Huntington Hospital, was arrested by ICE agents on July 13 while driving to a grocery store in Pasadena. Alrashid witnessed the arrest over FaceTime and followed his location by car. He was held for 13 days at the downtown L.A. ICE facility despite a settlement requiring detainees be held no more than 12 hours, describing conditions including an open toilet, concrete floor sleeping, no toothbrush, minimal food, and extreme cold while suffering from a brain tumor. Othmane has lived in the U.S. since 2015; his prior deportation order was dismissed in 2020, and he and Alrashid married in March 2025 and filed for a green card. After his transfer to an Arizona detention center and 13 additional days there, he was released on bail with an ankle monitor.

Federal ICE agents raided Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria, California on July 10-11, detaining 361 adults and 14 minors. Hundreds of community members and family members of farmworkers gathered to protest, throwing rocks at enforcement vehicles while agents deployed tear gas, smoke bombs and pepper bullets, injuring protesters including at least one city council member. Workers inside the facility, fearing separation from their families, hid in underground water tanks and on rooftops during the raid. A 56-year-old farmworker died after falling 30 feet from a greenhouse roof, and the FBI opened a search for a man reported to have fired a gun at the scene. Judith Ramos, a 22-year-old certified nurse assistant, was sprayed with tear gas when she arrived to support her father, a detained farmworker. Rep. Salud Carbajal was denied entry while attempting congressional oversight, and National Guard troops in military vehicles also responded. Three men—farm worker Santiago, security guard and Iraq veteran George Retes, and professor John Caravello—were arrested during the operation.

Sandra, an asylum seeker from South America, was arrested by ICE during a routine check-in appointment at the agency's San Francisco field office on July 11, 2025, and has been held in a detention center awaiting updates on her pending asylum case. She met her husband Roberto online in 2017 and undertook a months-long journey through Central America and the Darien Gap to reunite with him in San Francisco, where they married in early 2025. Sandra was taking English classes at City College and the couple was planning to start a family when she was detained. Roberto, who recently obtained legal status and received a promotion at work, was present during the appointment. Sandra continues to wait for her first court date, with her attorney fighting for her pending asylum application while she remains in detention.

Barbara Stone, a 71-year-old U.S. citizen and volunteer legal observer with Detention Resistance, was handcuffed and detained by ICE agents for more than eight hours at San Diego's Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building on July 8, 2025. The detention began after an agent accused her of pushing during an enforcement operation, an allegation Stone denied; no criminal charges were filed. Stone said her phone and purse were confiscated, she was questioned by officers from multiple agencies, and she requested to speak with an attorney roughly 15 times without being granted access.

Vanessa Valdez, a Ventura-based attorney and legal observer, was shot six times with rubber bullets and exposed to tear gas during a raid at Glass House Farms in July 2025, despite identifying herself as a legal observer. The raid, conducted by ICE and Border Patrol agents, resulted in more than 360 arrests at farm sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo, northwest of Los Angeles. Valdez reported severe pain, sleep disruption for three weeks, inability to see, and crawled on all fours to escape. She has filed a tort claim against the federal government seeking compensation for hospital visits, lost wages during recovery, anxiety medication, and mental health treatment.

Mitch Lillie, a volunteer with grassroots organization VC Defense, was at the Glass House Farms facility in Camarillo when federal agents raided the site on July 10, 2025. Lillie was shot in the temple with a rubber bullet during the operation. He witnessed workers trapped in the facility and family members distraught on their phones.

Two federal ICE agents arrested 27-year-old Jack Randmaa and pepper sprayed 80-year-old attorney Doug Hayes during a chaotic scene in downtown Santa Barbara. Randmaa, a volunteer ICE observer, was allegedly arrested after approaching an ICE vehicle on Carrillo Street, with agents accusing him of slashing a tire, though his father claims the charges are false.

A deaf Mongolian man, identified by the pseudonym Avirmed to protect his family from retaliation, has spent more than four months at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego without access to anyone who understands Mongolian Sign Language, according to his attorney Alegría De La Cruz of the Disability Rights Legal Center. Avirmed entered the U.S. in February 2025 seeking asylum after a 2020 assault in Mongolia left him deaf with a traumatic brain injury causing seizures and memory loss; his attorneys say he gave border officials a letter explaining his disability and asylum request, which Customs and Border Protection agents refused to accept. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered officials to provide him a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter and to redo his mental health and credible-fear assessments. His attorney said he has effectively been isolated because no one has been able to communicate with him in his sign language throughout his detention and legal proceedings.

ICE agents arrested a Guatemalan asylum seeker identified as Juan on July 8, 2025, minutes after he completed his immigration court hearing at the John E. Moss Federal Building in downtown Sacramento. The man had been complying with all court requirements, had no criminal record, and had not missed any previous hearings or check-ins. Despite receiving a new court date scheduled for October, he was detained by ICE immediately following his hearing. Volunteers from NorCal Resist assisted his family member in locating legal resources and using the federal detainee locator system.

Anastasio Sanchez, a 51-year-old man who had operated a taco truck in East L.A. for five years and lived in the U.S. for over 20 years with a work permit, was detained by federal agents on July 6, 2025, near Whittier and Atlantic boulevards. He had paused his business due to ICE raids in the area but reopened out of financial necessity to support his wife and five children. He was held at Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A., where his daughter visited and brought him diabetes medication, before being transferred to Adelanto Detention Facility in San Bernardino County.