Human Impact Project

On July 15, 2025, ICE agents arrested two men in a Walworth County, Wisconsin courtroom during traffic court proceedings. Court Commissioner Peter Navis demanded to see a warrant from sheriff's deputies before allowing the arrest, citing lack of lawful authority and a court order requiring warrants be presented before detention. Following the incident, three county judges confronted Navis over his handling of the arrests, told him he had misstated their position, and gave him an ultimatum to resign or be fired. Navis subsequently resigned.

Eduardo Guzman Garcia was pulled over in Henry County on July 9, 2025, for a broken brake light while driving his toddler to school, then taken to jail for driving without a license. The Henry County Sheriff's Office said it was required to notify Homeland Security after finding a DHS detainer on him, and ICE agents arrested him at the jail with a warrant; the Henry County Police Department said it never contacted ICE. His wife, Amanda Guzman, said he came to the U.S. from Mexico more than 20 years ago and has spent six years working through the immigration process toward a green card, with a final interview pending. He has remained at an ICE facility in Atlanta since July 11, 2025, leaving behind their three children and a fourth on the way, as Amanda manages a high-risk pregnancy.

Deivi Jose Molina-Pena, a 33-year-old Venezuelan on Temporary Protected Status, was arrested by ICE agents at a Walmart on July 7, 2025, while working as a delivery driver for Walmart's Spark service. Video captured agents using a Taser to subdue him as he fell and struck his head. Molina-Pena remained in ICE custody in El Paso with reported head pain and no medical evaluation. His arrest followed tensions between American-born and immigrant delivery drivers, with American drivers reportedly calling ICE hotlines to report immigrants' locations.

Miguel Silvestre, born in Stockton, California, claims he has been deported four times since 1999, despite possessing a valid birth certificate proving his U.S. citizenship. ICE issued an expedited removal order against him in 2025, the same year a prior removal order from 2004 had already confirmed his citizenship status. DHS stated Silvestre has no active immigration case, though the San Francisco Chronicle reported his account of the recent deportation notice and his emotional distress upon learning of it.

Katherin Guillen-Acosta was arrested in Durham County on June 24, 2025, for failing to appear in court on two 2022 traffic misdemeanors, and a magistrate set her bond at $1,000 while also beginning a process to refer her to ICE, even though her charges did not require referral under North Carolina's new law. After her bond was posted, ICE took her into custody, and she has described poor conditions at the detention center, including inadequate food and mistreatment. Speaking from the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, she said, "The criminals are outside, and the innocent are inside." An investigation found Durham County magistrates and judges have repeatedly referred people facing low-level charges to ICE this year when not required to, with at least four such cases resulting in detention. Her brother, Wildin Guillen-Acosta, was previously detained by ICE a decade earlier while a high school student and held at the same facility.

Broadacres Marketplace, a nearly 50-year-old flea market and cultural hub in North Las Vegas, closed on June 21, 2025, due to fears of ICE raids. The 45-acre marketplace serves thousands of Latino customers weekly and employs hundreds of vendors. Ana Bernal Hernandez, whose family operates two food stalls at Broadacres (Gorditas El Fogón and Chilorio's) plus a standalone restaurant with nine employees, reported decreased foot traffic and a shift to takeout orders as customers fear detention. Peter Guzman, president of Las Vegas's Latin Chamber of Commerce, confirmed other Latino restaurants are experiencing slowdowns. The closure comes amid escalated immigration enforcement under the Trump administration and a partnership between Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and ICE, following an ICE raid at a similar swap meet near Los Angeles. Latinos comprise about one-third of Nevada's population and generated $46 billion in goods and services statewide in 2022.

Felipe de Jesus Hernandez Marcelo, a 28-year-old father from Mexico, was shot twice during an attempted robbery in Muscatine, Iowa on June 21, 2025, suffering injuries to his arm and leg that nearly killed him. After recovering in the hospital, he visited the police station on June 24 to retrieve his seized belongings. Police arrested him on an old traffic warrant and transferred him to ICE custody within hours. He has been detained since late June pending removal proceedings. His case is among a growing number of crime victims arrested and detained for removal following the Trump administration's January 2025 rescission of a policy that had shielded many victims from detention.

Over three days in late June, ICE detained 14 people at the Chesterfield County Courthouse while they were attending court proceedings on criminal charges. Six people were detained on June 20, six more on June 23, and two additional people on June 24, according to Chesterfield County Sheriff Karl Leonard. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin defended the detentions as part of a statewide collaboration between Virginia State Police, ICE, and other federal agencies, stating that the detainees were in the country illegally.

Caroline Dias Goncalves, a 19-year-old University of Utah nursing student from Brazil, was detained by ICE on June 5, 2025, following a traffic stop by a Mesa County Sheriff's deputy on Interstate 70 near Fruita, Colorado. The deputy shared information about her in a group chat used for drug interdiction efforts, which ICE agents then used to target her for immigration enforcement. Goncalves, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 7 and has a pending asylum application, was held at an ICE facility in Aurora, Colorado for 15 days, where she reported receiving poor quality food and confusing schedules, and observed differential treatment based on English proficiency. She was released on bond on June 20, 2025, and became a named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against ICE leadership.

ICE agents detained an estimated 12 to 15 people in Danbury on June 17, 2025, in what Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants described as a significant enforcement operation. According to witnesses, one woman was removed from her car (which contained children's toys) on a residential street, and at least one man was taken from outside the Danbury Superior Courthouse. The detentions, which occurred across 5th Street, Moss Avenue, and White Street near the courthouse, sparked fear in the community and prompted a rally organized by immigrant advocacy groups. The operation was part of stepped-up immigration enforcement across Connecticut in recent days.

On June 11, 2025, ICE agents coordinated with Chatham County police to conduct traffic stops targeting immigrant workers near a mobile home park outside Savannah. Eight immigrant laborers were apprehended during two traffic stops. Body camera footage reveals ICE agents proposing ongoing collaboration with local police, with one agent offering to respond to future stops.

Federal immigration agents conducted coordinated raids beginning in June 2025 at car washes and Home Depots across Los Angeles County, with armed, masked agents surrounding businesses and detaining workers, leading to family separations and lost income. According to the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, at least 373 car wash workers were detained across 106 car washes in Southern California between June 2025 and January 2026, with some businesses later closing. One worker, detained last August after 33 years in the U.S., described being held for two months in a detention facility where he slept on a cold floor without a blanket, toothbrush or medical care. Advocates say fear and lingering trauma persist among workers and families even as media attention on the raids has faded.

On June 5, 2025, ICE agents conducted a sweep of the Rio Rancho Walmart parking lot, detaining approximately a dozen delivery drivers from Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, and elsewhere. The operation was prompted by calls to ICE hotlines from American-born delivery drivers reporting the locations of immigrant workers. Sandoval County Sheriff's Office provided support to the operation. At least three of those detained remain in custody, though none have been confirmed deported.

Reyes's husband, an undocumented construction worker, was detained last June when Florida Highway Patrol stopped his car over a plastic cover obscuring his license plate. He was charged with unlawful alteration of vehicle registration and driving without a license, then transferred to ICE custody and held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. Reyes, who had been a stay-at-home mother of two children (ages eight and twelve), began working as a babysitter and selling homemade food to support the family and pay for her husband's legal fees, which totaled approximately $13,000. The family nearly faced eviction before relatives contributed $5,000 in back rent. After about one year in detention, an immigration judge granted her husband bond of approximately $1,500 in July 2026. A non-profit group outside the detention center and El Pueblo Unido provided additional funds for his plane ticket home. He arrived in Sarasota in the middle of the night, and for the first time in a year, reunited with his children. The family continues to fight his deportation case amid mixed emotions of relief and uncertainty.

Edgardo David Campos, a 55-year-old Salvadoran man who has lived in the United States for 30 years, was arrested by ICE agents in tactical gear at a gas station in South Nashville in early May on his birthday. A Tennessee state trooper was present during the arrest, which was captured on video by bystander Dinora Romero, who helped locate his family and return his vehicle to his home. Campos is a construction and tire installation worker and devoted family man married with a wife. His cousin Laura Campos described him as "the first to arrive and the last to leave" at his church, always willing to volunteer and help others. The Nashville Catholic Diocese and local parishioners rallied around him, with a parish petition describing him as the "heart of our parish" who has faithfully served in multiple church ministries for years. The arrest was part of "Operation Flood the Zone," a coordinated week-long effort between Tennessee state police and ICE targeting Latino neighborhoods, during which over 600 vehicles were stopped and ICE claimed nearly 200 arrests. Campos was held at Putnam County Jail over the weekend with no charges filed, then transferred to Knox County Jail where charges remained unfiled. Spanish-speaking parishes in Nashville saw a 50% drop in Mass attendance following the operation.

Nestor Alejandro Umana Barquero, a 23-year-old Honduran citizen, was arrested by Durham police in May 2025 on misdemeanor charges, none of which required notification to ICE under North Carolina's new referral law. He was nonetheless referred to ICE, which issued a detainer on May 8, 2025, and he remained in the Durham County jail for more than 60 days. His attorney filed a habeas petition arguing he was being held on an improper judicial order; the same day the petition was filed, prosecutors dismissed the charges against him, but the judge denied his habeas petition. He was later confirmed to be in ICE detention in Texas before disappearing from the detention system, and could not be reached for comment.

Early one Sunday in May, Tennessee Highway Patrol, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security conducted a joint operation dubbed "Operation Flood the Zone" in South Nashville, pulling over roughly 150 drivers for alleged traffic violations and transporting detainees to a federal facility in Louisiana. Advocacy groups, including Hijos de Immigrantes and the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition, said officers targeted people over minor infractions like broken taillights and tinted windows in immigrant communities, calling it racial profiling. A six-month investigation by Lighthouse Reports, Mother Jones and partner newsrooms, based on ICE documents, court records and police footage, found that about 75 percent of the roughly 200 people ICE said it arrested had no criminal record, despite the agency's claim it had detained "the worst of the worst." Nine months later, Nashville residents say they still have little information from state or federal officials about who was detained and deported in the operation.

An undocumented landscaper known as Esdras was detained during a May 2 traffic stop by Florida Highway Patrol and Border Patrol agents while driving to a landscaping job with his coworkers. Video footage shows officers pulling him out of the van by his leg and neck, forcing him to the ground while he was rigidly resisting, and tasering him twice in the stomach despite no indication of a threat. He spasmed and fell crying to the pavement. Esdras was transferred to the Krome Detention Center in Miami and faces deportation proceedings, though he has been released on bail.

Kenny Laynez, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen born in West Palm Beach, was detained for six hours by Florida Highway Patrol and Border Patrol agents on May 2 after being stopped while driving to a landscaping job with his mother and two undocumented coworkers. Video footage captured officers using physical force against Laynez, twisting his arms and pushing him face-down to the pavement, while tasering one of his coworkers twice. An officer told Laynez, "You have no rights here. You are a 'Migo,' brother," after Laynez asserted his citizenship. Laynez was eventually released from a Riviera Beach federal facility after agents confirmed his citizenship status, but was charged with misdemeanor obstruction without violence and entered a pretrial diversion program.

After months in ICE detention in Tacoma, Rakesh Rakesh volunteered to self-deport to India but was mistakenly placed on a flight to Sitka, Alaska instead of New York. Alaska Airlines staff assisted him with meals, lodging, and rebooking at no charge. Upon his return to Seattle, ICE re-detained him at the Northwest ICE Processing Center for an additional 16 days before completing his deportation, prompting him to conduct a hunger strike to protest the situation.