ICE conducted a raid at a Koreatown plaza in Los Angeles. A security guard at the location reported that approximately 10 people were detained during the operation. The guard stated that shoppers were present at businesses in the plaza including Speakeasy Fitness and Food 4 Less.
A British woman was arrested by ICE while holding her 5-month-old baby at her green card interview in San Diego on November 20, 2025. She spent five days in custody before being released with her green card approved on November 25. Multiple immigration attorneys noted that federal law provides exceptions for direct relatives of U.S. citizens undergoing adjustment of status.
A 41-year-old undocumented immigrant and stepfather of a 22-year-old Army National Guard member was detained by ICE agents around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday while walking to work in Port Richmond, Staten Island. The stepfather, who immigrated from Mexico in the early 2000s and has no criminal record, is now being held in an ICE detention facility. The National Guard member, a U.S. citizen, said the detention occurred just one month after completing his first year of military service.
Gladys Tentes-Pitiur, a 25-year-old Indigenous Shuar woman from Ecuador, was detained by ICE for 135 days at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana after being arrested outside a courthouse in New Haven on July 7, 2025. She had fled Ecuador due to persecution and traveled through seven countries with her two young sons, surviving cartel kidnapping in Mexico before arriving in New Haven in November 2023. After an immigration judge granted her asylum on October 17, 2025, based on the violence she experienced in Ecuador, she was released on November 19 and reunited with her children. Her lawyer noted this was an increasingly rare outcome, with Tentes-Pitiur's case being the only successful asylum grant her office had achieved in 2025.
On October 19, 2025, approximately 200-plus law enforcement officers from at least 14 agencies, including the FBI, ICE, and Border Patrol, conducted a raid on La Catedral Arena, a horse track near Boise in Wilder, Idaho, as part of a gambling investigation. The operation detained approximately 400 people for hours, resulting in 105 immigration-related detentions and 5 arrests on gambling charges. Officers zip-tied children as young as 8 and 11 years old, used flash-bang devices, and fired rubber bullets when crowds surged forward. Four protesters, including activist Avalon Hardy, were arrested and charged with misdemeanor resisting or obstructing officers after officers used force against them. One month after the raid, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the release of 15 detainees, ruling the government failed to demonstrate they posed a danger or flight risk and that mandatory detention violated due process rights.
Fatima Issela Velasquez-Antonio, 23, of Wendell, North Carolina, was detained by federal agents during a U.S. Border Patrol immigration enforcement sweep on November 19, 2025. Velasquez-Antonio came to the United States at age 14 from Honduras after her father was killed by a gang and her mother died of cancer; she had no criminal record beyond two traffic violations, had graduated high school, and recently purchased a home in Wendell with her boyfriend with plans to start a family. She was arrested near her workplace at an HVAC business and transferred to New Hanover County jail before being moved to an undisclosed location on November 20, 2025. Her family has received no information about her whereabouts or what will happen to her next. The detention occurred as part of a broader U.S. Border Patrol operation in the Triangle area that detained nine people total.
Melissa Tran, a Maryland mother who came to the U.S. from Vietnam in the 1990s as a refugee with a Green Card, was deported to Vietnam after being detained by ICE in May. Though a judge ordered her release in October, she still faced deportation due to a 2003 removal order stemming from a 2001 conviction for stealing checks as a teenager. Vietnam had previously refused to accept her, allowing her to remain in the U.S. for over 20 years while completing regular immigration check-ins, until her detention during a check-in in Baltimore.
On November 18, a 23-year-old asylum seeker named Fatima Issela Velasquez-Antonio was detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a construction site in Cary, North Carolina, and held at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia for over a month. A federal immigration judge ordered her release in late December, ruling that her detention violated a juvenile-arrival settlement agreement since she had entered the United States unaccompanied as a minor nine years prior and held a valid work permit. The detention was part of Operation Charlotte's Web, a federal enforcement operation that resulted in at least 370 arrests in North Carolina.
Misael Garcia Lopez, 48, spent 18 years building a life in Eugene, Oregon with his wife Valeria and three children—Leo, 11, Jasmine, 22, and Luis—working in landscaping, roofing, and other jobs. On November 19, 2025, ICE agents in unmarked vehicles conducted a traffic stop near Meadowlark Prairie minutes after he dropped Leo at school and arrested him for lacking legal status, despite his clean criminal record. Over nearly two months detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, Garcia Lopez received support letters from family, friends, and community members attesting to his work ethic, kindness, and role as a devoted father. His 22-year-old daughter Jasmine, a U.S. citizen and certified nursing assistant, spoke publicly about his case despite her mother's fear. On January 15, 2026, Garcia Lopez accepted voluntary departure and was deported to Mexico, arriving with only 96 cents and no documents. His family remained in Oregon; months later, he watched via video call as his grandson was born.
An Australian woman and wife of a Navy veteran was arrested by ICE agents during her green card interview on November 18, 2025, in the same enforcement operation as other military spouses. She was detained for eight days before an immigration judge ordered her release on bond on November 26, 2025. She has no criminal history and remains eligible to pursue her green card through her U.S. citizen spouse. Her attorney noted this was the first arrest of this type at green card interviews in over 12 years of practice.
Community organizers and immigration attorneys report an uptick in detainments at the Dallas ICE Field Office during routine check-in appointments. Multiple immigrants, including those with pending asylum cases and proper documentation, have been detained during check-in appointments.
Chanidaphon Sopimpa, a Thai national and wife of retired Marine Staff Sergeant Samuel Shasteen, was arrested by ICE agents during her final green card interview on November 18, 2025, and detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center. Sopimpa had overstayed her visa but the couple had been pursuing her green card through marriage to a U.S. citizen spouse, which includes a federal law exception for such cases. ICE stated the arrests were for visa overstays, but immigration attorneys note this enforcement action at green card interviews is unprecedented in recent history. Sopimpa has no criminal history and is scheduled for a bond hearing.
An NYPD sergeant named Atickul Islam was charged with posing as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field director and ordering a victim and their family to report to an ICE facility by April 15. Islam pleaded not guilty to personation of a federal officer and was released on an unsecured $25,000 bond. The NYPD suspended him without pay and seized his badge and service weapon.
Border Patrol detained Moises Benitez Diaz, a 27-year-old Raleigh construction contractor, on November 18 during Operation Charlotte's Web. His wife Esmeralda Escobar, who is 8 months pregnant, is now managing the family business while he is held at a Georgia facility. Despite DHS claiming he was a criminal convicted of felony larceny, court records show his charges were dismissed and he completed a misdemeanor diversion agreement.
Harrinson Jose Osuna Benitez, a Venezuelan tattoo artist seeking asylum over fears of torture and persecution, was released on parole when he arrived at the U.S. border in September 2024 after ICE found no criminal history. He moved to Portland with his partner, who gave birth to their son in December 2024. On November 17, 2025, when Osuna Benitez appeared for an immigration court appointment in Portland, ICE detained him. Court documents indicate ICE later reassessed his tattoos as a security concern, despite having cleared him on the same basis at entry. He spent two months in detention while his family struggled financially without his income as primary breadwinner.
Cristobal Maltos, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was stopped by Border Patrol agents on November 17, 2025, while following a hit-and-run driver and reporting it to police. Agents surrounded his vehicle at an intersection, and when he attempted to move forward, they broke his car windows and removed him from the vehicle, allegedly causing injuries. Maltos was charged with felony assault, resisting arrest, and impeding a federal officer during the enforcement operation dubbed "Charlotte's Web."
Joel Camas, a 16-year-old with approved Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, was detained by ICE on October 23 during a routine immigration check-in at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, despite having legal protections and a pending pathway to permanent residency. After nearly a month in federal custody, U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel ordered his immediate release on November 17. His attorneys argue ICE violated federal law and the Constitution by arresting a child with legal status at a routine appointment.
Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested by Border Patrol agents on November 16, 2025, while photographing and documenting their operations in Charlotte to warn immigrants of their locations. He was charged with using his van as a deadly weapon to assault, resist, and impede federal agents after driving away when agents approached his vehicle and attempted to open its door. According to court documents, an agent was injured breaking the van's window during the incident.
A U.S. citizen in his early 20s and his undocumented father were stopped by federal agents while walking to La Chiquita grocery store in Little Village to buy carne asada and beans. Both men were arrested and transported to the ICE facility in Broadview. The son was later released but said agents dismissed his pleas that his younger brother has epilepsy and needs their father's care. The father remains in ICE detention out of state. The son requested anonymity to protect his father from potential retaliation.
Two homeschooled brothers, Sam (16) and Ben (17) Luhmann, have been patrolling West Chicago and surrounding areas since mid-September to document federal immigration enforcement activity during Operation Midway Blitz. The brothers have had numerous encounters with ICE agents and have been threatened with arrest while documenting their activities. Their efforts represent part of a broader youth activism movement against the enforcement operation across the Chicago area.
José Barco, a 39-40-year-old decorated Iraq War veteran who received a Purple Heart after suffering traumatic brain injury in combat, was deported in November 2025 despite serving in the U.S. Army since age 4. After his release from prison in January 2025—following 15 years served for a 2008 shooting conviction—ICE detained him immediately. His 2006 citizenship application while stationed at Fort Carson was lost in the system. Venezuela initially ordered him deported there but refused to accept him at the Honduras border, citing documentation concerns. He was eventually deported to Mexico in November 2025, a country he had never visited, where he is now seeking asylum.
On November 14, 2025, ICE agents detained Wilmer Toledo-Martinez, a 28-year-old Vancouver resident married to a U.S. citizen with three American-born children. One agent posed as a construction worker to lure Toledo-Martinez outside his home, after which another agent released a dog that attacked him on the arms and torso. Toledo-Martinez was hospitalized and received stitches for his injuries. He was denied medical care while in federal immigration detention at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. Senator Patty Murray condemned the use of force, noting that Toledo-Martinez did not resist arrest or attempt to flee.
A 33-year-old Queens woman reported that ICE agents raided her apartment on November 13, 2025 at 5:30 a.m. while searching for her cousin on a criminal arrest warrant. The woman claims agents forced entry, grabbed her by the hair, and pointed guns at her three children when the family attempted to record. ICE stated they knocked for 20 minutes before lawfully entering when no response was received.
A 24-year-old Native American woman from Arizona, Leticia Jacobo, was subject to an ICE detainer issued by Polk County Jail in Des Moines. The detainer was intended for a different person booked at the same time but was erroneously placed on Jacobo's file. Her family provided tribal identification documents, and she was released before being transferred to federal custody.
Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez, a 53-year-old day laborer, was detained by ICE/Border Patrol on November 13, 2025, while at a bus stop in Pomona, California. He has been held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center for over two months and has no criminal record. He has serious health conditions including congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and diabetes. According to community members, faith leaders, and advocates, he was denied heart medication for two weeks in custody and required emergency heart surgery while detained. On January 21, 2026, the community gathered to demand his release, and organizers plan to present a resolution to the Pomona City Council regarding his case and immigration enforcement.
Carine Balenda Mbizi, a Congolese mother, was detained by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry in New York after attempting to seek asylum in Canada with her three teenage children. The family had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022 and was transferred to the Dilley family detention facility in Texas. An immigration judge issued a deportation order in February 2025, and her appeal was dismissed in October. Online immigration court records show she remains in the facility while her case is pending.
Carlos Jimenez, a 24-25-year-old U.S. citizen and food bank worker with three children, was shot in the shoulder by ICE agents on October 30, 2025, during an enforcement action in Ontario near an elementary school bus stop on Baseline Avenue. According to Jimenez's legal team, he approached the officers to warn them that children would soon arrive at the nearby school bus stop, and was shot from behind while attempting to leave the scene after an agent drew a gun and pepper spray. Federal authorities maintain Jimenez reversed his vehicle toward officers in a threatening manner, prompting defensive gunfire. A bullet remains lodged in his right shoulder, and bullet fragments remain in his torso, causing ongoing pain. Jimenez was arrested and charged with assault on a federal officer but was released on bond and has pleaded not guilty. The incident is under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI. His attorneys argue the shooting reflects a broader pattern of escalated ICE enforcement tactics.
Joel Andre, a 16-year-old Deering High School student from Congo, was detained by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry in New York after his family attempted to seek asylum in Canada. The family had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022 and was transferred to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas. An immigration judge issued a deportation order for the family in February 2025, and their appeal was dismissed in October. Joel is a well-known member of Portland's Kennedy Park pickup soccer community, and his detention prompted his school district and congregation to mobilize support.
A 41-year-old man from Mexico was detained by ICE agents on Washington Street in Northfield while sitting in a passenger seat. According to witnesses and video, masked ICE agents shattered the car window, drew firearms, and forcibly removed the man while his teenage son pleaded with agents and filmed the incident. The family was reportedly waiting for a lawyer to arrive when agents broke the window. A community volunteer who worked with his son described him as hardworking, maintaining two local jobs to provide for his family. The man is now held at Kandiyohi County Jail pending removal from the United States. ICE claims he had an active warrant and endangered officers by refusing to comply, though he was wearing a seatbelt and not operating the vehicle. The Advocates for Human Rights is providing legal representation and disputes ICE's account as inaccurate and an attempt to defend excessive force.
Rafael Veraza and his 1-year-old daughter were allegedly pepper-sprayed by ICE agents in a Chicago suburb while the family was going grocery shopping. The incident occurred last week, and the family held a news conference to discuss the alleged use of force. The Department of Homeland Security has disputed the allegation.
A high school student and mariachi musician describes two separate immigration raids on his family occurring four months apart. The article details the student's experience and documents the effects of federal immigration enforcement on young people of color across the United States.
Alex González and Yan Vázquez, a married couple who work at Upstate Medical University, were released from Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in February 2026 after posting bond, months after their October 2025 ICE arrest. The couple were detained while awaiting a hearing to finalize their legal status and now face deportation orders to Ecuador, a country where they have no connection. Their asylum cases based on persecution claims related to their sexual orientation remain pending in court, and a third hospital coworker, Mohamed Fofana, remains in ICE custody in Texas.
Jaykie Funez-Andrade, who has lived in the United States for over 20 years, was detained by ICE on Route 11 North in Harrisonburg, Virginia while driving her 16-year-old daughter to school. When an ICE agent asked her to recite her Social Security number from memory, Funez-Andrade had difficulty, and the agent lunged at her. She immediately produced proof of legal status including a work permit, Social Security card, driver's license, and car registration, but ICE arrested her anyway. Her daughter filmed the interaction and stated: "I want this video out there because I want my mother home." Funez-Andrade is being held in Rockingham County Jail with no criminal charges, reportedly as a courtesy to ICE.
Federal agents sprayed pepper spray from a moving vehicle at a line of cars exiting a Sam's Club parking lot in Cicero on Saturday morning, striking a 1-year-old child among other occupants. Video footage shows a masked federal agent firing chemical irritants through open car windows.
Juliana Milena Ojeda Montoya, 24, an Ecuadorian national with a pending asylum claim and valid work authorization, was detained by ICE on November 6, 2025, during a traffic stop on Kimball Street in Fitchburg. The detention occurred while her husband, Carlos Sebastian Zapata, 24, a Fitchburg resident, appeared to suffer a seizure while holding their 1½-year-old daughter. According to Zapata's account, an ICE agent pushed him, hit his ribs, and pressed on his neck, causing him to lose consciousness. Video of the incident captured bystanders expressing concern for his safety and went viral. The Department of Homeland Security claimed Zapata was faking a medical emergency to help his wife evade arrest, though medical examination findings are disputed. A federal judge ordered Ojeda Montoya's release on November 10, finding that her detention without a hearing violated her due process rights and citing her young daughter whom she breastfeeds and her husband's acute medical episode. Ojeda Montoya had been released on bond in March 2024.
ICE agents surrounded a family's car in Fitchburg on Thursday morning to arrest Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya, who was wanted for allegedly stabbing a coworker with scissors. Video shows her husband Carlos Zapata, 24, appearing to have a seizure while holding their toddler daughter during the arrest. Zapata said agents pushed, hit him, and pressed on his neck, causing him to lose consciousness. DHS officials disputed his account, claiming he faked the medical emergency and stating medical personnel found no legitimate emergency.
Dennis Quiñonez, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested during a DHS immigration enforcement operation at a Home Depot parking lot in Cypress Park on November 4, 2025. ICE agents took his 1-year-old daughter into custody during the arrest. The child was subsequently reunited with family members, including her grandmother. Quiñonez was released on bond on November 6, 2025, and reunited with his family. He has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of domestic violence.
On November 5, 2025, ICE agents detained Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, a teacher at Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in Chicago's North Center neighborhood, during morning drop-off hours. According to DHS, officers conducted a traffic stop that led to a vehicle pursuit ending at the daycare facility. Agents entered and forcibly removed Galeano in front of children and parents, searching the facility. Galeano claimed to have work authorization and a pending asylum case, while DHS identified her as undocumented from Colombia. A federal judge subsequently ruled her mandatory detention illegal and ordered a bond hearing before an immigration judge. The incident prompted a rally of hundreds of community members and local officials demanding ICE stay out of schools and daycares.
Federal agents arrested a teacher at a Chicago daycare in front of parents and children; the educator had a work permit and can be heard telling authorities she had papers. In a separate incident in Los Angeles, federal immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen during a Home Depot raid and drove away with his 1-year-old daughter still in the vehicle; the child and her grandmother are both U.S. citizens.
Federal immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen in Los Angeles and took control of his vehicle, which contained his one-year-old daughter inside. The agents drove away with the child in the car after detaining the father.
ICE agents arrested Juanita Avila, a 47-year-old legal permanent resident carrying her green card, during a traffic stop in November 2025 without showing a warrant or probable cause. Video evidence of the arrest captured by her daughter became part of a lawsuit challenging ICE's arrest practices. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking ICE from continuing warrantless arrests in Oregon, citing the agency's conduct and systematic violation of constitutional rights.
A 32-year-old U.S. citizen was detained by federal agents during an immigration raid at a Home Depot in Cypress Park, Los Angeles. According to witnesses, agents allegedly drove off in his car with his 1-year-old daughter in the backseat after detaining him for allegedly throwing rocks at agents. The child was later released to her family with a bruised cheek but was otherwise unharmed. The father was released after two days in custody.
Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva, a 39-year-old from El Salvador, was arrested by ICE at Salt Lake City International Airport while arriving on a flight. She had a valid work permit approved in 2024 and was unaware of a 2020 deportation order, as the court notice had been sent to an address where she no longer lived. Her attorney states she was detained for months, transferred through multiple facilities, and deported despite having an active appeal pending, leaving behind her four U.S. citizen children.
Daniel Angel Meléndez, an immigrant from El Salvador, was detained by ICE agents on November 4 during a yearly check-in in Cedar Rapids. His wife María Lozano, a U.S. citizen, and family members appealed to U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks at a town hall on November 10 to prevent his deportation. Meléndez has a U.S.-born child and has been in the country since 2017, having applied for asylum based on gang violence threats.
Julio Vargas, a 66-year-old Guatemalan, was detained by U.S. Border Patrol during an immigration raid at El Corredor Salvadoreño in Los Angeles on Sunday. He is being held at Adelanto Detention Center and has reported breathing problems and cramps due to cold conditions, worsened by his existing health conditions and lack of medication. His family is seeking legal assistance but faces financial and resource barriers.
Kenia Jackeline Merlos, a Honduran mother of four U.S. citizen children, was arrested by ICE agents in June at the U.S.-Canada border during a family outing. She had been granted deferred status to reside in the U.S. after being threatened at gunpoint by a man. Merlos was detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma for nearly four months. An immigration judge terminated the government's deportation case on October 14, and Merlos was released on October 28. Her husband was deported to Honduras, and her mother also resides there.
Immigration agents forcibly entered a family's apartment in November 2025 searching for the mother's cousin, breaking down the door and using force against the mother while her children hid. The 10-year-old boy, identified as J., witnessed agents point a gun at him and his sister as they tried to film the encounter on an iPad. Months later, J. continues experiencing nightmares and flashbacks, struggling to focus in school and fearing for his parents' safety. The incident is part of a broader pattern of immigration enforcement affecting children's mental health nationwide, with studies showing significant psychological impacts on minors in immigrant families.
Maria Vargas, 6, was detained with her parents at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas after her family was arrested during a September immigration check-in. The family had fled Colombia in 2022 and settled in New York, where they applied for special visas for human trafficking victims. At Dilley, Maria experienced severe trauma including regression (bedwetting and accidents), loss of appetite and weight loss, a staff member's accidental eye injury, and persistent psychological distress. Her parents reported officers pressured them to abandon their visa applications by threatening to separate Maria. After two months, the family agreed to self-deport and was sent to Colombia in November 2026. Maria continues to suffer vision problems, headaches, and behavioral changes including fear of police.
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