Human Impact Project

Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva, a 39-year-old Salvadoran immigrant and mother of four U.S.-born children, was forcefully arrested by ICE agents in plain clothes at Salt Lake City International Airport on October 29, 2025, while traveling with her sister to visit family in Maryland. Renderos fled El Salvador in 2007 due to domestic violence and political strife, held a valid work permit issued in 2024 through 2029, and had applied for asylum. She was arrested based on a deportation order issued in absentia in February 2020, which she claims she never received due to a notary error listing an incorrect address. Video footage captured agents holding her on each side as she struggled and screamed for help in the airport's pre-security area. Her attorney argues the deportation order should be canceled because she was never properly notified as required by federal law. Two of her children have serious health issues that would be affected by her deportation. Her sister and community members, including teachers and neighbors, describe her as responsible and dedicated to her family. The incident prompted Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and the City Council to express concern about the operation's lack of transparency, the agents' plain clothes without visible identification, and the choice of a public airport lobby as the location.

Justo Betancourt, detained by ICE for six months starting October 2025, was released in May 2026 after a federal judge granted his habeas corpus petition. He lost 22 kilograms during detention, suffered strokes and a diabetic coma due to withheld insulin, and experienced neurological damage including tremors and mobility impairment. A federal judge found his arrest wrongful.

U.S. immigration officials deported an Alabama man to Laos despite a federal court order that blocked his removal. According to attorneys, the deportation proceeded against the court's directive.

Fernando Jaramillo Solano, an asylum-seeker from Colombia, and his two children—12-year-old Jana Michel Jaramillo Patiño and 15-year-old Kewin Daniel Patiño Bustamante—were detained by ICE agents on October 27 while he was driving them to school near a mobile home park in Durango, Colorado. The family had lived in Colorado for more than 18 months with an active asylum case and no criminal record. Immigration officials later admitted during a federal court hearing that Jaramillo Solano was not their intended target. The family was separated from the children's mother, Estela Patiño, who remains in Durango. On October 28, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the ICE field office demanding their release; ICE agents in tactical gear used pepper spray and rubber bullets against demonstrators, breaking through a human chain protesters had formed. The family was subsequently granted voluntary departure, with ICE facilitating their return to Colombia.

A Mexican citizen who has lived in the United States since 1970 and entered lawfully with a valid B1/B2 visitor visa in August 2009. He was arrested on October 27, 2025, and has been held in immigration detention at the Desert View Annex facility in Adelanto, California for nearly ten months. Petitioner has no prior criminal history. After an immigration judge denied his bond on May 6, 2026, and again on June 15, 2026, following an individualized hearing, Petitioner filed a habeas corpus petition seeking to prevent his removal from the United States and the Central District of California. He is experiencing health complications related to high blood pressure during his continued detention. On August 7, 2026, the federal court granted Petitioner's emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, enjoining respondents from deporting him or removing him outside the district while his petition is pending. The court scheduled oral argument on the preliminary injunction for August 13, 2026, and referred the case to the Federal Public Defender for consideration of appointed counsel.

Silvia Reyna Mendoza, who has lived in the United States for 40 years and is a mother of 8, reported sexual misconduct by an ICE contractor. A judge issued an order prohibiting her deportation. ICE deported her the following day. She is currently in ICE detention in Kern County while her family pursues her case.

Andrea Guadalupe Velez, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen and Cal Poly Pomona graduate, was detained by ICE agents in downtown Los Angeles on June 24, 2025, when she was dropped off at work during a street sweep operation targeting vendors. Agents arrested her after she stepped into the path of an officer attempting to apprehend another individual. Velez was charged with assaulting a federal officer and reported being denied water for 24 hours while held at a detention center and unable to contact the outside world for much of her detention, which lasted more than two days. A federal judge ordered her released on $5,000 bond. The Justice Department later dismissed her case without prejudice. On August 20, Velez filed a federal tort claim alleging racial profiling and wrongful arrest; she is one of six claimants represented by the Carrillo Law Firm alleging similar misconduct by ICE and Border Patrol in Southern California.

Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen of Mexican descent working in construction, was detained twice by immigration agents in coastal Alabama. During the first incident, agents ignored white and Black co-workers while targeting Latino workers, then tackled his undocumented brother and grabbed Garcia Venegas after he began filming and stated he was a citizen. Agents dismissed his Alabama REAL ID as fake and held him handcuffed for over an hour; his brother was later deported. In a second detention at a construction site weeks later, agents again questioned his citizenship and dismissed his REAL ID despite him providing both it and his Social Security card. Garcia Venegas was never charged with any crime and filed a federal lawsuit alleging unlawful detention and civil rights violations.

Federal immigration agents deployed tear gas in the Irving Park and Avondale neighborhoods on Chicago's Northwest Side on Saturday, detaining multiple people including a landscaper, a tortilla delivery driver, and an elderly resident. Neighborhood protests occurred following the incident. The incident was alleged to violate a federal judge's temporary restraining order limiting tear gas use. Additional arrests occurred at O'Hare International Airport's rideshare lot the same day.

Chanthila "Shawn" Souvannarath, 44, was deported to Laos on Friday despite a federal court order issued the day before blocking his removal. The judge had ordered ICE to keep him in the country so he could present a claim of U.S. citizenship. DHS claimed the court order was not received until after the deportation had already occurred. Souvannarath, who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand but has lived most of his life in the U.S., had been granted lawful permanent residence before his first birthday.

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was beaten and choked by ICE agents on October 23, 2025, during a traffic stop near South Gessner Road and Beechnut Street in Houston while he was on his way to school. Unmarked federal agents without visible identification pulled over the vehicle carrying Arnoldo and his father, Arnulfo Bazan. When both father and son fled, agents chased them through a nearby restaurant-supply store, where they tackled, kicked, punched, and choked both of them. During the assault, agents subjected Arnoldo to racial slurs and confiscated his phone. Arnoldo was hospitalized with bruises and welts on his neck consistent with choking. He was released after identifying himself as a minor and U.S. citizen. His father was deported to Mexico following the incident. Months later, Arnoldo testified before Congress about his experience.

On October 23, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino deployed tear gas and pepper spray against protesters in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood in response to immigration enforcement operations. Video evidence documented Bovino throwing a tear gas canister into the crowd, allegedly in violation of a federal court order prohibiting such tactics without imminent threat. The Department of Homeland Security claimed Bovino was struck by a rock, but witnesses and video evidence contradicted this account. On October 24, Federal Judge Sara Ellis ordered Bovino to appear in person to answer allegations that he violated the temporary restraining order.

During federal immigration enforcement operations in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on October 23, 2025, federal agents led by U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino detained at least five people, including two Benito Juarez Community Academy high school students and at least one U.S. citizen. A 16-year-old junior was detained and later released; video showed federal agents grabbing a teenage boy from a sidewalk and forcibly handcuffing him. When dozens of residents and protesters gathered near a discount mall at 27th and Whipple streets to oppose the enforcement action, federal agents wearing military-style camouflage and gas masks deployed tear gas and pepper spray into the crowd. Video evidence shows Bovino himself tossing a tear gas canister into the crowd after being told not to do so by Little Village Community Council President Baltazar Enriquez. A 24-year-old U.S. citizen woman protesting was also detained and placed in a van; her sister reported not hearing from her as of Thursday afternoon. Attorneys filed a federal complaint alleging agents violated a court order prohibiting riot control weapons without imminent threat and requiring prior warnings. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordered Bovino to testify for five hours and appear in person for a status hearing.

Zia S., a 36-year-old Afghan immigrant who served as a U.S. military interpreter, was detained by ICE on July 16, 2025, during a routine USCIS appointment in East Hartford, Connecticut, for biometric processing related to a Green Card application. Despite having lawful parole status until October 2026, no criminal convictions, and approval for humanitarian parole due to Taliban threats, he was moved to a detention facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A federal judge issued a 72-hour stay to prevent his deportation, and after nearly three months in custody, a second immigration judge ordered his release on a $15,000 bond on October 9, 2025. The government's subsequent motion to reverse the release was rejected on October 21, 2025. Zia was reunited with his wife and five children in Connecticut. His son Rihan was also detained by ICE in Plymouth during this period.

Nayra Guzmán, a 22-year-old Mexican immigrant with pending asylum and visa applications, was detained by ICE in late October 2025 while traveling to a hospital to breastfeed her newborn daughter, who was in the NICU following birth complications. Guzmán had given birth via C-section approximately 15 days prior and was experiencing severe postpartum pain and a breast infection at the time of arrest. She was held at the Broadview ICE facility alongside her brother and mother, despite all three presenting valid work permits and documents showing they had been in the U.S. since 2022 after fleeing cartel violence in Mexico. During her approximately 34–36 hour detention, Guzmán was held in overcrowded conditions without adequate medical care, blankets, food, or water. A federal judge ordered the release of Guzmán and her family members, preventing their scheduled transfer to detention facilities in other states.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from about 10 agencies swept La Catedral Arena horse track in Wilder, Idaho, in October, zip-tying roughly 400 attendees, including children, during what the FBI called an illegal gambling investigation covered by a warrant for only five suspects. Ultimately 105 undocumented immigrants were taken into ICE custody, while a group of Idahoans, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, sued alleging officers used racial epithets and withheld water, food, bathroom access and medical care; lead plaintiff Juana Rodriguez said she was zip-tied for nearly four hours and unable to hold her 3-year-old son. Records show the Nampa Police Department spent about $24,000 and the Caldwell Police Department spent $11,300 in officer wages that day, with Caldwell's chief saying he felt 'very bad' that children were separated from parents. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill later ordered 16 detainees released after rejecting the government's bid to expand mandatory detention and awarded roughly $87,000 in attorneys' fees to two law firms suing over the raid. Four protesters arrested at the scene were charged with misdemeanor resisting and obstructing officers, with most charges later dropped; ICE, the FBI and local agencies have since filed motions seeking dismissal of the lawsuit. Attorney Nikki Ramirez-Smith said, 'If the government's going to illegally detain them, and we have to fight that ... we're all going to pay for it.'

A Cuban national who presented himself at Miami International Airport in December 2022 seeking asylum was placed into immigration custody on October 16, 2025, after completing a criminal sentence in Pennsylvania. He had been charged and convicted of crimes in Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania, receiving a 163-day to one-year sentence. An immigration judge ordered his removal to Ecuador on December 23, 2025, and the removal order became final on January 23, 2026. The court denied his habeas petition and temporary restraining order, finding his post-removal detention of less than six months presumptively reasonable.

The ACLU of Nevada filed a lawsuit challenging Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's 287(g) partnership with ICE, which allows local officers to hold undocumented immigrants for transfer to federal agents. The case centers on Sergio Morais-Hechavarria, a 36-year-old man arrested in August who pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a stolen vehicle. After completing his criminal sentence, a judge ordered his release to an inpatient treatment facility, but Metro detained him on an ICE immigration hold for weeks beyond his release date. On October 16, Morais-Hechavarria was transferred to a Texas immigration facility without notice to his attorneys and in violation of the court order. The ACLU contends the 287(g) partnership violates Nevada state law and Dillon's rule, which prohibits local agencies from exercising powers not authorized by the Legislature.

Eduardo Aguilar, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was federally charged for making threats against ICE agents on social media. Aguilar allegedly posted in Spanish calling for armed individuals and offering money for each ICE agent killed. He appeared before a federal judge in Dallas who ordered him held in federal custody pending trial.

Hector Esteban Justo was re-detained by immigration authorities on October 15, 2025, after previously being released on bond or conditional parole. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his ongoing immigration detention, arguing that he was denied a constitutionally required pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The court granted his petition and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

Melissa Tran, a Vietnamese refugee and Maryland mother of five who legally immigrated in 1993, was detained by ICE for over five months following a routine check-in due to a non-violent theft conviction from 2001. After a federal judge ordered her release, finding the detention unnecessary, Tran was freed and required to wear an ankle monitor while reporting to ICE authorities. She described harsh detention conditions including poor hygiene facilities and being transported shackled across multiple states, though she now faces potential deportation despite her two decades of clean immigration status.

Victor Cruz-Gamez, a 55-year-old Hillsboro business owner, was arrested by ICE on October 14 after agents pulled him over in downtown Hillsboro, apparently searching for another person named Victor Cruz. Cruz-Gamez had recently received work authorization and visa eligibility from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and has no Oregon criminal history except a dismissed 2008 traffic ticket. Despite these factors, he has remained in ICE custody at the Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington since his arrest, facing deportation because he unlawfully crossed the border as a teenager.

A 13-year-old Brazilian boy with a pending asylum case was arrested by ICE in Everett after an interaction with local police and transferred to a juvenile detention facility in Winchester, Virginia. His mother was told she could pick him up from the Everett Police Department but was informed ICE had taken him instead. A federal judge ordered the government to justify the arrest by October 14 or provide a bond hearing by October 17.

A federal judge in Illinois issued a temporary restraining order blocking federal agents from using tear gas, pepper balls, and excessive force against protesters demonstrating outside an ICE detention facility near Chicago. The order was prompted by video of Reverend David Black, a Presbyterian pastor in clerical garb, being repeatedly struck with pepper balls and chemical spray while peacefully praying during a protest at the Broadview facility.

Chicago TV producer for WGN-TV, Debbie Brockman, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on Friday in a residential area during immigration enforcement operations. A federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting DHS agents from arresting journalists without probable cause. Brockman was released from federal custody the same day with no charges filed against her.

On February 7, 2025, ICE officers arrested 12 employees at El Potro Mexican Restaurant in Liberty, Missouri while searching for a registered sex offender. A federal judge ruled that 11 of the arrests were unlawful, finding that ICE lacked probable cause to justify warrantless arrests and violated a legal settlement agreement requiring probable cause that a person is likely to escape before making such arrests in the Midwest region. The judge found that the restaurant owner was not informed that employees had the option to refuse speaking with agents. The National Immigrant Justice Center brought the case challenging the raids. The federal judge extended the terms of the settlement agreement through February 2026.

A non-citizen was initially detained by ICE on February 27, 2018, and released on bond in June 2018. On October 8, 2025, ICE re-detained him without providing notice or a pre-detention hearing. A court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that his prior release created a constitutionally protected liberty interest that required ICE to provide a pre-detention hearing before re-detaining him. The court ordered his immediate release on the conditions he was subject to prior to October 8, 2025, and enjoined immigration authorities from re-detaining him in the future without notice and a pre-detention hearing before an immigration judge.

An Indian citizen with a 2003 removal order was re-detained by ICE on October 7, 2025 after nearly two decades on supervised release. He had been released from detention in 2006 after six months because the government could not obtain travel documents from India. Despite complying with all supervision conditions for nearly 20 years, he was re-detained and has been held for over 5 months at Port Isabel Detention Center while India continues to refuse issuing travel documents.

Yaa'kub Ira Vijandre, a 38-year-old DACA recipient and Filipino immigrant, was detained by ICE on October 7, 2025, after his DACA status was terminated citing social media posts. Vijandre, a freelance journalist and activist in the Dallas area, had spoken out against the Gaza war, ICE detention conditions, and human rights abuses. His attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his detention violates his First and Fifth Amendment rights, as his speech constitutes protected political expression rather than support for terrorism.

Willian Giménez González, who is suing a group of off-duty police officers for harassment and abuse of day laborers at a Home Depot in Chicago, was detained and taken into ICE custody. His lawyer states the timing suggests the detention may be related to his lawsuit.

A man entered the United States on March 31, 2023 and was encountered by immigration authorities. He was released on his own recognizance on April 3, 2023, but was re-detained by ICE on October 6, 2025. The court found that his prior release created a liberty interest and ordered his immediate release with conditions, requiring pre-detention hearings for any future detention.

Marimar Martínez, a U.S. citizen and teaching assistant, was shot five times by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum during Operation Midway Blitz in Brighton Park on October 4, 2025. Prosecutors initially charged her with assaulting federal officers, claiming she rammed agents' vehicle and attempted to run over an agent as part of a convoy of protesters. Federal prosecutors abruptly dismissed all felony charges after her attorney argued agents caused the crash and that the shooting was unnecessary. A federal judge later ruled the agents' use of force against citizens "shocks the conscience."

Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara was arrested by police on June 14, 2025, while covering a protest in DeKalb County, Georgia, and charged with obstructing police, unlawful assembly, and improperly entering a roadway. After a judge granted him bond, ICE placed a 48-hour hold on him despite his work authorization and pending green card application. Guevara spent 110 days in ICE custody, including 22 hours daily in solitary confinement, before being deported to El Salvador. A federal judge questioned the legality of his detention. His attorneys argued it violated his constitutional rights to free speech and due process. The government claimed broad discretion to detain him as a deportable immigrant. Guevara stated he was targeted for his journalistic work documenting immigration raids rather than for any criminal activity.

Cole Sheridan, a 27-year-old hospitality worker, was arrested during a pro-immigrant protest at the Broadview immigration enforcement facility on October 3 while demonstrating against a deportation blitz. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino accused Sheridan of pushing and swinging at him, resulting in federal charges for assaulting, resisting, and interfering with a federal officer. Sheridan was detained for three days at the Broadview facility and the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Downtown Chicago. After a friend discovered video footage from an October 31 news report showing Sheridan being pushed down—not in front of Bovino—prosecutors dropped all charges the next business day. Sheridan said the incident cost him four days of work and a month of anxiety over potential imprisonment.

On October 3, 2025, 26th Ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was shoved and handcuffed by masked ICE agents at Humboldt Park Health Hospital while advocating for a detained constituent during Operation Midway Blitz. Fuentes filed a federal tort claims lawsuit in October 2025, and formally sued the federal government in May 2026 after the Department of Homeland Security failed to respond within the required timeframe. The lawsuit alleges battery, assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming Fuentes suffered shoulder pain, anxiety, nightmares, and emotional distress from the encounter.

Subramanyam Vedam, a legal permanent resident born in India, was released from a Pennsylvania maximum security prison after 43 years when prosecutors abandoned his murder case. He was immediately placed in ICE custody at the Moshannon Processing Center and is being held while fighting deportation, with a judge denying him bail.

Five asylum seekers from Colombia, Guatemala, China, and Nicaragua were arrested by DHS agents immediately after exiting immigration court hearings at the San Francisco Immigration Court on October 2, 2025. All had pending asylum applications and were previously released under supervision with no criminal history. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order requiring their immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without a hearing.

Leilani Payne was pepper-sprayed at point-blank range by a Federal Protection Service officer on October 2, 2025, while protesting outside the Portland ICE facility. She was 19 at the time of the incident. Video footage captured the officer spraying her in the face, and witnesses reported her screaming in agony and struggling to breathe. A nearby Portland Police officer was so concerned for her well-being that he called for an ambulance. Payne, now 20, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Protection Service seeking at least $350,000 in damages. The DHS stated that protesters had been given lawful verbal commands to back away and refused to comply.

Miramar Martinez was shot by a Border Patrol agent during a roadside confrontation in October 2025 and was subsequently charged with assault. Federal prosecutors dismissed the charges in November following the emergence of damaging text messages from the agent who shot her and other facts that undermined the government's case.

Mario Mata Cruz, a Salvadoran national with pending green card status and no criminal record, was arrested by ICE on Long Island in October 2025 while driving to work with his brother. He had obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status in 2019 after crossing the border at age 17, putting him on track for a green card. ICE transported him to a detention facility in Texas and subsequently deported him to El Salvador without a final removal order from an immigration judge—a process his lawyer, Ed Cuccia, says is illegal. Nearly six months after his deportation, Mario remains in El Salvador while his green card application, which could have been approved, remains pending. The case is part of a broader pattern documented by NY1 of at least 132 cases where people were deported without final removal orders and received those orders after already being removed.

A father from Guatemala, separated from his daughter at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2017, was returned to Guatemala under the first Trump administration but came back to Florida in 2021 to reunite with his children under the Ms. L settlement agreement. He was re-separated from his children in October 2025 after being stopped in West Palm Beach while performing landscaping work near Mar-a-Lago. He was detained first at Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades, then transferred to Camp East Montana in Texas, where he reported being fed moldy food with worms and berated by guards; he also learned that a fellow detainee died from mistreatment. The ACLU filed a motion on behalf of detained Ms. L parents, and he was released in April 2026. Though reunited with his children, he continues to feel tracked through ankle monitoring and required bi-weekly ICE check-ins, and his children worry he will not be present when they leave school.

Erick Pena, a 29-year-old from Honduras who came to the U.S. as a child, was detained by ICE in October while on his way to work. He had an approved petition for permanent residency through his U.S. citizen wife. After three months in ICE custody, he was released on bond while his deportation case is pending. His wife Synthea, a U.S. citizen, started a GoFundMe to cover legal fees and government costs as they pursue a hardship waiver.

A 60-year-old Mexican tamale vendor who had been selling street food in Pilsen for over a decade was detained by ICE agents when she could not provide proof of legal status. She had been supporting herself and her son while managing diabetes since her husband's death in 2023. She was released on October 22, 11 days after filing her habeas case.

Samuel Ochoa Ochoa, a Venezuelan immigrant, was detained by ICE and held for 126 days before a federal judge ordered his release in October. His habeas corpus ruling has since been cited as a favorable precedent in 186 other immigration cases filed in the Northern District of Illinois.

Alberto, a 59-year-old surgical technician who worked as a confidential informant for federal immigration agents in the 1990s in exchange for promised legal status, was arrested in October 2025 during a scheduled green card interview at a USCIS field office in Fresno when ICE agents entered the room. Released after four days following a successful habeas petition, he was re-arrested at a subsequent ICE check-in appointment in November and detained for nearly four months at Golden State Annex detention center near Bakersfield before being released on bond in February with an ankle monitor.

A father from an unnamed country who was separated from his daughter at the US-Mexico border in 2017 and reunited with his children in Florida in 2021 was detained by ICE in October 2025 at Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades and transferred to Camp East Montana in Texas. While detained, he experienced poor conditions including mouldy food with worms and witnessed a fellow detainee's death from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. The ACLU filed a motion and he was released in April 2026, but remains subject to ankle monitoring and bi-weekly ICE check-ins.

A Chicago couple was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz just eight days after getting married. The wife was deported to Mexico while the husband remained in detention in Michigan. Despite being named in a federal lawsuit alleging unlawful arrests, a judge ordered the husband's removal to El Salvador.

Catalina 'Xóchitl' Santiago, a 28-year-old DACA recipient and community organizer from El Paso, was detained by Border Patrol agents on August 3, 2025, at El Paso International Airport while traveling for work with her wife, Desiree Miller, a U.S. citizen whom Santiago married earlier in 2025. Despite holding valid DACA status since 2012—renewed seven times with her current renewal expiring in April 2026—Santiago was subjected to deportation proceedings. Originally from Mexico, Santiago has lived in the U.S. since age 8. On October 1, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Santiago's arrest and detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and ordered her release from the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Judge Cardone found that the government presented no evidence that Santiago endangered anyone during her twenty years at liberty, including her thirteen years under DACA, and failed to articulate any individualized reason for her detention. Santiago's brother Jose said the family was deeply affected by her detention and expressed relief at her release.

West Africans deported from the United States to Ghana under a deportation agreement were subsequently transferred to Togo without proper documentation or identification papers. Between six and ten individuals, including nationals from Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia, and Togo, arrived in Ghana via U.S. military plane in shackles after being detained in U.S. facilities. Despite some having legal protections against deportation, they were transferred across the border to Togo and left on the street. Their lawyers pursued legal cases arguing rights violations, though some legal challenges against Ghana's government were withdrawn.

Noemi Chavez, her husband Jaime Ramirez, and their two children (ages 8 and 3) were detained by federal agents at Millennium Park on September 28, 2025, without a warrant while the children played at the Crown Fountain. When Chavez asked to see a warrant, agents ignored her request. The family originally came from Guatemala in 2023 seeking protection and have an asylum hearing scheduled for October 2027. Chavez and the children were released after detention, but Jaime Ramirez was transferred to detention facilities in Texas and Indiana. A federal judge characterized the stop as "unconstitutional" based on the family's appearance, and attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition alleging the family was stopped because of their skin color. The case is part of broader litigation challenging ICE's warrantless arrest practices in violation of a 2022 consent decree.