Human Impact Project

Three women—Cynthia Raygoza, Sandra Carmona Samane, and Ashleigh Brown—have been federally indicted for allegedly following an ICE agent home and publicly disclosing his personal information on social media. On August 28, 2025, the women livestreamed their pursuit of the agent from Downtown Los Angeles to his residence on Instagram, then shouted to neighbors about his identity and posted his address online. Each faces federal charges of conspiracy and disclosing a federal agent's personal information, with sentences of up to five years in prison per count. Raygoza remains at large while her codefendants have been arrested.

Freelance photojournalist Dave Decker, on assignment for Zuma Press, was shot multiple times with pepper balls by federal officers and had his camera lens damaged while covering protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, on September 27, 2025. Officers appeared to target Decker specifically, pointing him out before firing; he said he was also shot with pepper balls the previous day while covering protests at the same site. Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson had sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security objecting to the use of chemical agents against residents and first responders, and the village said ICE agents warned of a more aggressive response in apparent retaliation before the September 27 protest.

An independent journalist was shot with pepper balls in the face and back of the head by federal officers while covering protests outside the Broadview ICE facility on Sept. 26, 2025. She had joined a group of journalists documenting the demonstration when officers opened fire from behind; a fellow journalist was also struck by multiple pepper balls in the same volley. After being hit, her nose began bleeding. She and her fiancé are planning legal action to hold the federal government accountable for the assault and alleged rights violations during Operation Midway Blitz.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, and when neighbors gathered to protest, agents deployed tear gas, pepper balls and smoke grenades, affecting residents, children and at least 13 Chicago police officers, with at least four protesters detained. In the following days, Southeast Side residents organized community defense efforts, including filming and reporting immigration activity, with local groups such as the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Centro de Trabajadores Unidos holding a press conference to rally support for rapid-response and deportation-defense work. Residents described the incident as part of the broader federal immigration crackdown known as Operation Midway Blitz, which began in the city the previous month.

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 and Border Patrol agents used tear gas and pepper balls to disperse protesters outside a Chicago-area ICE detention facility during demonstrations against immigration enforcement operations. Protesters have included a pastor and two Democratic congressional candidates, with at least three arrests and clashes between agents and demonstrators. Video reviewed by NBC 5 Investigates shows a protester struck in the back of the head and face by a pepper ball during a September 26 demonstration, and another protester's back was covered in bruises from apparent pepper ball strikes. The incidents have raised questions about whether agents violated Border Patrol's own use-of-force policy, which restricts targeting the head, neck, spine or groin with compressed air launchers, as well as a judge's standing order limiting use of chemical agents.

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.

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.

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.

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, and they now face up to five years in federal prison. The agent testified that the incident prompted his family to move and his son to withdraw from high school, though Baldwin Park police said there were no repeat incidents, no injuries, and no weapons were found, and the agent acknowledged relatives still live at the same property.

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.

ICE agents detained two American citizens near an El Super grocery store in City Heights, San Diego, after they began recording a federal enforcement operation. Brooke Benner said she was handcuffed within 14 seconds of starting to film, while a second woman was tackled to the ground and handcuffed after witnesses said she kicked a federal vehicle. Both women were taken to a federal building downtown, held for about seven hours, and released without charges. DHS said the two were 'agitators attempting to impede operations,' while Benner said agents targeted her for criticizing them.

Brooke Benner, an American citizen with a young daughter, was detained by ICE agents in the parking lot of an El Super grocery store in San Diego's City Heights neighborhood after she began filming agents who had just detained another man. Within seconds of recording, agents grabbed and handcuffed Benner, telling her she was being arrested for "impeding" their operations. Shortly after, agents detained a second American citizen steps away in the same parking lot, after witnesses said she kicked a federal vehicle; community patrollers recording the encounter said two agents pinned her against a car before one tackled her to the ground, while another agent pointed a taser at bystanders. Both women were taken to a federal building downtown and held for about seven hours before being released without charges. Benner said the experience frightened her and that she plans to continue monitoring ICE activity in her community.

Seven people were arrested during a U.S. Border Patrol immigration enforcement operation at Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on Saturday. The individuals arrested were from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. About 10 unmarked cars blocked the car wash exit during the raid, which resulted in the arrest of several employees. The chief of the Glassport Borough Police Department reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 17 arrests in the borough over a two-week period. Seven workers at Bixby Knoll's Car Wash in Long Beach, California were detained by federal immigration agents on September 13, 2025. During the raid, a woman being placed into a federal vehicle appeared to faint and collapse while in custody. The incident occurred as masked federal agents in tactical vests arrived in dark-colored SUVs and blocked the car wash's entrance and exits, with some workers attempting to flee. Witnesses documented the operation on their cellphones, with one observer describing the scene as impactful.