Human Impact Project

Luis Olvera, a Mexican national who has lived in the U.S. for 38 years since being brought here at age 8, was detained by ICE on June 23, 2025, while walking his family dog outside his apartment building in Burbank. Olvera works in the hospitality industry and lives with his partner and three young children who attend Burbank Unified School District elementary schools. Friends describe him as exceptionally kind and devoted to his family and community, noting that he often gives water and donations to struggling community members and teaches his children to "love thy neighbor." He is currently detained at Adelanto detention facility, which is operated by the for-profit Geo Group.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran spoke out after witnessing video of his father, Narciso Barranco, being beaten by masked Border Patrol officers during an immigration arrest in Santa Ana. Barranco, a landscaper who came from Mexico in the 1990s without legal status, was arrested outside an IHOP restaurant. While DHS claimed Barranco swung his weed trimmer at agents, witnesses posted videos showing officers punching him repeatedly as he lay on the ground.

Adrian Martinez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and Walmart employee, was detained by federal agents on June 18, 2025, during an immigration enforcement operation at a Pico Rivera Walmart parking lot. When agents began detaining an elderly maintenance worker, Martinez intervened by blocking the agents' vehicle with the worker's cart in an attempt to help. Agents shoved him to the ground twice. Federal officials initially claimed Martinez punched agents, but security camera footage from the store showed no punches were thrown and that agents initiated the physical contact. Martinez was charged with conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, a felony, rather than assault. He spent three nights in jail following his arrest. A federal judge ordered his release on a $5,000 bond.

ICE agents detained a gardener working in Long Beach's University Park Estates neighborhood who told agents he was a dual citizen and showed identification. A video of the incident shows the man claiming U.S. citizenship and stating he was born at Memorial Hospital in Long Beach. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson condemned the operation as an "abduction," stating ICE was not given prior notice and criticized the enforcement as rooted in "fear and intimidation."

Narciso Barranco, a 5'7", 150-pound landscaper who has lived in the United States since the 1990s, was detained by ICE and Border Patrol agents on June 21, 2025, during a workplace enforcement action at an IHOP in Santa Ana, Orange County, California. Video footage of the arrest shows multiple masked federal agents repeatedly punching Barranco in the head and neck and tackling him to the ground in a busy intersection as he was pinned by three officers. His oldest son, Alejandro, a 25-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran with two active-duty Marine brothers, said his father was scared when plainclothes armed agents approached him and expressed concern about the excessive force used by multiple larger officers. After speaking with his father by phone the following day, Alejandro reported that Barranco was injured, had not received medical attention, was very thirsty, and had not eaten. Barranco is being held by ICE at a detention center in Los Angeles. The Department of Homeland Security claimed Barranco swung a weed whacker at an agent and refused to comply with commands, though videos show him running with the tool and attempting to open a car door before being tackled.

Federal agents conducted an immigration enforcement action at Xpress Wash in Maywood on the same day as the Bell raid. A minor collision occurred when federal agents opened a vehicle door into a slowly moving BMW; the BMW's driver was detained and later released after onlookers protested. As crowds gathered, federal agents threw flash bang grenades at people standing near Riverfront Park who were recording and asking for badge numbers. No one was ultimately taken from the Maywood business, according to the councilman.

Federal agents conducted an immigration raid at Jack's Car Wash in Bell, detaining at least three people. A U.S. citizen employee wearing a white long-sleeved shirt was tackled and detained after attempting to defend a coworker, according to his brother Jesús Rafael Cervantes. The raid sparked protests, with crowds confronting masked federal agents and property damage to federal vehicles occurring amid the confrontation. Federal agents used tear gas and flash bang grenades to disperse protesters.

A longtime parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Montclair was detained by ICE agents on June 20, 2025, while doing landscaping work on church property. His family is involved in the parish ministry. According to ICE, the man was initially stopped during a traffic stop near the church and chose to pull into the church parking lot, where officers made the arrest. The detention occurred after President Trump revoked protections for immigration enforcement at sensitive locations including churches, schools, and hospitals that had been in place since the Obama administration. On the same day, ICE agents chased several other men onto the parking lot of St. Adelaide parish in Highland.

A plainclothes federal law enforcement officer drew a weapon on a man attempting to photograph his vehicle's license plate at a stoplight in Pasadena. The incident occurred Wednesday morning around the same time federal immigration agents conducted enforcement operations at a nearby bus stop, detaining multiple day laborers. Masked plainclothes agents arrested at least two men and several other day laborers, transporting them in an unmarked minivan.

Pedro Vasquez Perdomo, a 54-year-old Latino man, has lived in Pasadena, California for decades and works as a day laborer in construction while managing diabetes. On June 18, 2025, at 5:30 a.m., he was waiting at a Metro stop near Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue with coworkers to be picked up for a construction job when four large black vehicles with tinted windows arrived. Armed men wearing masks but no visible badges or identification emerged with guns and surrounded him and his coworkers. Perdomo was handcuffed without being informed of any warrant and stated his right to remain silent in English. He was taken to a CVS parking lot where officers searched his pockets, found his expired foreign consular ID, and placed him in a car. He was transported to a detention center in Los Angeles where he was held in a crowded room with 52 others, given minimal food and water, and provided no medical attention for six days despite his diabetes requiring daily medication management. He was then transferred to Adelanto detention facility where he remains shackled and continues to experience health deterioration and psychological distress. Vasquez Perdomo is challenging his detention and the conditions thereof through this litigation.

Senator Alex Padilla was handcuffed by federal agents after interrupting a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles. Padilla attempted to question Noem's characterization of federal military deployment in response to protests over immigration enforcement actions targeting undocumented immigrants. The senator was physically removed, placed on the ground, and restrained in handcuffs after identifying himself and asserting his role.

During an immigration sweep on June 19 outside a Lowe's store in Pacoima, Border Patrol agents arrested a 54-year-old woman who had sold tamales at the same spot for 10 years, without presenting a warrant. She lost consciousness after being restrained and later suffered a heart attack; witnesses said a bystander identifying herself as a nurse was denied access to help before LAFD paramedics arrived. She was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, where doctors confirmed a minor heart attack. A U.S. citizen recording the incident was also arrested and detained, and a federal judge later ruled the sweeps violated the 4th Amendment due to racial profiling.

Job Garcia, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and PhD student, was arrested and detained for over 24 hours on June 19, 2025, while filming an ICE immigration raid at a Home Depot in Hollywood, Los Angeles. CBP agents tackled Garcia without warning, smashed his phone, and restrained him as he attempted to document the arrest of day laborers and inform them of their rights. Garcia was released without arraignment or court date notification. MALDEF and Garcia are seeking $1 million in damages from the Department of Homeland Security through a Federal Tort Claims Act notice, citing wrongful arrest, detention based on race, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and interference with his right to document government actions.

Two individuals were arrested in Fontana on June 20, 2025, at approximately 9:24 AM by Fontana Police Department officers who were misidentified as ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents during the operation.

An ICE agent drew a gun on a man who was photographing a vehicle's license plate during an enforcement operation at a bus stop near Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena on Wednesday morning. Video footage posted by immigration advocacy account Stop ICE Mobile Alerts shows the agent jumping out of an unmarked car and pointing the gun directly at the individual before returning to the vehicle without making an arrest or explanation. Multiple people were reportedly taken away from nearby Dena's Burgers by masked agents in unmarked vehicles during the same operation.

Juan Ramirez Diaz, a U.S. citizen from Oxnard, was detained by ICE agents on June 17, 2025, while filming video of federal immigration agents arresting his father during an ICE operation. According to his family and attorney, Ramirez Diaz was tased, maced, punched, and beaten before being transported to a hospital and then the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. He was released on June 18 before 3 p.m. and returned to his family.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking ICE from detaining a severely disabled man with an IQ of 47 upon his return to the United States after he was deported to Mexico. The man, who has lived in the U.S. since the early 1990s under the care of a conservator, was taken by ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle on June 17, 2025, and removed to Mexico on June 24 under voluntary departure, despite appearing unable to meaningfully consent to removal due to his cognitive impairments and lack of understanding of English-language documents. Court filings show no removal proceedings were ever initiated against him and he never appeared before an immigration judge, and the court found his caretakers were not notified before his removal.

Javier Ramirez, a U.S. citizen and father of four, was tackled and detained by masked federal immigration agents at a tow yard in Montebello on June 12, 2025. According to security camera footage, an agent allegedly told another agent to arrest Ramirez because he was Mexican. When Ramirez called 911 while handcuffed in a van, police said they could not assist because federal agents were involved. He was held in a downtown Los Angeles facility for more than four days and charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. The federal case against him was dismissed without prejudice. His attorney believes the charge was fabricated to cover up racial profiling.

Juan Carlos Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed, slammed onto vehicle hoods, punched and kneed by armed immigration agents who raided his father's auto body shop in Oxnard on June 16, 2025. Ventura-based attorney Vanessa Valdez, who had publicly criticized Ramirez's arrest, says she was later shot six times with rubber bullets and hit with tear gas while identifying herself as a legal observer during a raid at Glass House Farms, leaving her unable to see and needing to crawl away; she has since incurred hospital costs, lost wages, and ongoing therapy. Ramirez, Valdez and dozens of other U.S. citizens and immigrants are seeking financial compensation through tort claims against the federal government for injuries, trauma, and deaths sustained during recent immigration enforcement operations, with claimants seeking at least $260 million collectively. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said immigration officers receive regular training and are held to a high professional standard, acting to protect themselves and the public when facing danger.

Juan Carlos Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed, slammed onto vehicle hoods, punched in the face, and kneed by armed immigration agents during a raid on an auto body shop where his father was arrested. Ramirez filmed the incident and subsequently filed a legal claim against the federal government seeking damages for injuries and trauma.