Human Impact Project

Illinois state representative Hoan Huynh, a Vietnamese refugee, reported being confronted by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents who pointed a gun at his head while he monitored immigration enforcement operations on Chicago's North Side. Huynh was documenting the agents' activities and informing residents of their rights when the incident occurred. ICE enforcement operations in Chicago have separated families from their communities. Gerardo Perez's mother was arrested and deported in June.

Chanthila "Shawn" Souvannarath, 44, was deported to Laos despite a federal court order issued the day before blocking his removal so he could pursue a claim of U.S. citizenship. Souvannarath was born in a refugee camp in Thailand but has lived most of his life in the United States and had been granted lawful permanent residence before his first birthday. A federal judge had directed ICE to keep him in the country while his citizenship claim was reviewed. DHS said the court order was not received until after the deportation had already taken place, according to attorneys.

U.S. citizens were detained by federal agents at an Aurora school hospital. Protesters confronted the agents at the scene. The detained individuals have since spoken out about their experience.

Arnulfo Bazan, a Mexican immigrant from Michoacán living in Houston, was detained by masked federal immigration agents on October 23, 2025, while driving his 16-year-old U.S. citizen son, Arnoldo, to school. Agents in an unmarked vehicle chased the pair into a restaurant-supply store, where Arnoldo was tackled and choked, leaving him with bruises and welts on his neck that required hospitalization. Arnoldo was released after questioning and returned to family in Houston, including a sister who helps care for him. Immigrant rights group FIEL Houston said Arnulfo was intimidated into signing a voluntary departure form and was subsequently deported to Reynosa, Mexico, calling the treatment of the family 'cruel and unjust.'

George Retes, a disabled American combat veteran, was detained for three days without access to a lawyer or ability to contact family during a July 2025 immigration raid on a Camarillo, California cannabis farm where he worked as a security guard. Agents broke his car window, pepper sprayed him, and tackled him, leaving him with a cut leg and pepper-spray burns; he was released without charges and missed his daughter's third birthday. In February 2026, represented by the Institute for Justice, Retes filed a lawsuit against the federal government over his detention, and he has since testified before Congress about the incident. The same raid resulted in more than 300 arrests, the removal of 14 children, and the death of farmworker Jaime Alanis Garcia, whose family has filed a $47 million wrongful death claim against ICE.

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.

On October 25, 2025, a 67-year-old U.S. citizen was removed from his car and assaulted by Border Patrol agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago's Old Irving Park neighborhood. The man sustained six broken ribs and internal bleeding during the incident. The enforcement operation occurred during a children's Halloween parade preparation, and tear gas was deployed near children in the area. Border Patrol agents had blocked off the street as part of their operation to apprehend an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. On October 10, 2025, Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen paralegal employed by WGN TV, was removed from her vehicle by masked Border Patrol agents on West Hubbard Street in Chicago following a traffic accident involving an unmarked government vehicle. Video footage documents armed federal agents dragging her from the car by her legs and pinning her to the ground without initially explaining the reason for the detention. Figueroa sustained injuries requiring hospital treatment. She was subsequently released without being charged. Accounts differ between Figueroa and DHS regarding who struck whom and her actions during the encounter.

Federal agents from ICE and U.S. Marshals Service raided a home in Gary, Indiana on October 23, 2025, taking an entire family into custody. The 26-year-old son reported being punched in the eye and choked during the arrest, while his parents—who lack legal immigration status—remain in custody. The two adult U.S. citizen children were released, but the family now faces four separate court cases and legal expenses.

A junior at Benito Juarez High School in Chicago was detained by federal agents on October 23, 2025, while on his way to school in the Little Village neighborhood. The student, who city leaders identified as a U.S. citizen, was zip-tied and taken into custody after federal agents conducted immigration enforcement operations at a shopping center at 26th and Whipple. He was released back to his family at approximately 3 p.m. that day. A second student was injured during the same operation but was not detained.

During a second day of federal immigration enforcement operations in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood in October 2025, agents led by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino detained at least five people, including two Benito Juarez Community Academy students and a U.S. citizen. Protesters and city officials said the students were beaten and assaulted by officers, with one left with blood on his face; a teacher said she realized one student was missing only when taking attendance. When residents gathered to oppose the sweeps, agents in camouflage and gas masks deployed tear gas and pepper spray, with video showing Bovino tossing a canister into the crowd despite a court order restricting such force. Additional arrests, including two staff members of a local alderman, occurred in Little Village and suburban Cicero, and a federal judge ordered Bovino to testify and appear at a status hearing.

Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was indicted along with five other protesters for allegedly blocking vehicles outside a federal ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois. Abughazaleh faces charges of conspiracy and forcibly impeding a federal officer. She and other defendants will self-surrender to authorities following the indictment filed on October 23.

Four U.S. citizens were arrested and held at 26 Federal Plaza for nearly 24 hours without any federal charges during a joint ICE enforcement operation on Canal Street in Manhattan's Chinatown on October 21, 2025. The operation, described by ICE as targeting criminal activity related to counterfeit goods, also resulted in the detention of nine undocumented immigrants. The families of the arrested citizens filed missing persons reports with the NYPD before the four Americans were released approximately 30 minutes after Congressman Dan Goldman held a press conference about the arrests.

A Pennsylvania man exonerated after spending over 40 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit was immediately taken into ICE custody upon his release, with authorities seeking to deport him to India based on a 1988 deportation order. Subu Vedam, who moved to the US at nine months old, was cleared of the 1980 murder charge earlier this month, but ICE cited his old drug conviction and deportation order as grounds for detention. His family and lawyers are fighting the deportation, arguing that Vedam has virtually no ties to India, had applied for US citizenship before his arrest, and demonstrated decades of good behavior in prison where he earned three degrees and mentored fellow inmates.

Jude Jasmine Jeannine Allard, 28, and Jenaro-Ernesto Ayala, 43, day-laborer advocates, were arrested by federal Border Patrol at a Home Depot parking lot in Van Nuys on suspicion of interfering with immigration enforcement operations. They are facing additional felony charges for allegedly placing homemade tire spikes to disable law enforcement vehicles. Ayala is a U.S. citizen and outreach coordinator at the Van Nuys Day Labor Center who helps connect workers with resources and jobs. After their arrests, attorneys Cal Soto and Colleen Flynn attempted to meet with the detainees at the Federal Detention Center on Alameda Street in Downtown Los Angeles but were denied access, with federal authorities citing ongoing "processing" and inability to locate where the detainees were being held.

On October 16, 2025, Leonardo Martinez, a US citizen volunteer with VC Defensa immigrant rights group, was monitoring ICE enforcement activity in Oxnard, California when federal immigration agents in an unmarked SUV rammed his pickup truck, injuring him. Agents then falsely told dispatchers and investigating officers that Martinez had hit them. Body camera footage from Oxnard Police and witness videos contradicted the federal agents' accounts. Martinez was arrested and taken to Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, where he was detained but released the same day. He was informed he faced charges but has not been formally charged in any jurisdiction.

Evelyn, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen, was pulled from a car and detained by ICE agents on October 10, 2025, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Video showed an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer throw her to the ground and kneel on her neck and upper back as she screamed that she was a citizen and not resisting. According to her aunt, Evelyn and two friends had been following and honking at agents' vehicles to warn neighbors of ICE activity before being chased and detained. She and her friends were held for hours in the Hoffman Estates Police Department parking lot without explanation before being released without charges; Evelyn was later taken away in an ambulance. Her parents, Jazmin and Gerardo, said officers ignored their daughter's pleas of citizenship, with Gerardo saying 'I couldn't protect my child.' Evelyn told the Chicago Tribune, 'I don't like the way they're treating everybody... it's not about race or ethnicity — we're all humans.' A DHS spokesperson falsely claimed the video showed a year-old, unrelated Chicago burglary arrest, a claim PolitiFact rated False after confirming the footage depicted the October 10 incident. The family is considering legal action.

A 15-year-old U.S. citizen was detained by Customs and Border Patrol agents on Chicago's East Side after federal agents deployed tear gas at a crash scene. According to his attorneys, the teen was slammed to the ground, zip-tied, and held in a garage for five hours without being booked, read his rights, or allowed to contact his mother. DHS stated the teen was arrested for allegedly throwing an egg at an agent, taken to an FBI field office where he admitted to the action, and released without charges. A 16-year-old U.S. citizen born and raised in Chicago was arrested and body-slammed by federal immigration agents during the East Side operation. His mother, Juanita Garnica, reported receiving a call that her son had been beaten, body-slammed, and taken into custody, but was not informed of his whereabouts or status. He was among multiple people arrested during the federal operation and subsequent protest.

Hanover Park police officer Radule Bojovic, a Montenegrin citizen, was detained by ICE on October 15, 2025, as part of Operation Midway Blitz after overstaying his B2 tourist visa by approximately 10 years—he was supposed to leave in March 2015 but remained in the country unlawfully while serving as a sworn officer with firearm access. He was released on bond on October 31 after federal authorities did not contest the release, and returned to full duty shortly after. Village officials stated Bojovic was legally authorized to work and carry a firearm at the time of hire with no criminal history.

Four U.S. citizen cemetery workers at Concordia Cemetery were arrested and subjected to pepper balls and pepper spray during an ICE operation that crossed onto private property. The workers were detained for hours before being released without charges. Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins made statements regarding the operation and requested its termination.

Maria Greeley, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen and Chicago resident born at Illinois Masonic Hospital, was detained by three masked federal agents outside the Beach Bar on Ohio Street after finishing a double shift in early October 2025. The agents restrained her with zip ties and questioned her for approximately one hour, challenging the authenticity of her passport and telling her she "doesn't look like" her last name Greeley, despite her carrying documentation proving her citizenship. After about an hour, the agents released her. Following the incident, Greeley reported experiencing psychological distress and said she felt compelled to "lay low."