Human Impact Project

During an immigration sweep on June 19 outside a Lowe's store in Pacoima, Border Patrol agents arrested a 54-year-old woman who had sold tamales at the same spot for 10 years, without presenting a warrant. She lost consciousness after being restrained and later suffered a heart attack; witnesses said a bystander identifying herself as a nurse was denied access to help before LAFD paramedics arrived. She was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, where doctors confirmed a minor heart attack. A U.S. citizen recording the incident was also arrested and detained, and a federal judge later ruled the sweeps violated the 4th Amendment due to racial profiling.

Job Garcia, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and PhD student, was arrested and detained for over 24 hours on June 19, 2025, while filming an ICE immigration raid at a Home Depot in Hollywood, Los Angeles. CBP agents tackled Garcia without warning, smashed his phone, and restrained him as he attempted to document the arrest of day laborers and inform them of their rights. Garcia was released without arraignment or court date notification. MALDEF and Garcia are seeking $1 million in damages from the Department of Homeland Security through a Federal Tort Claims Act notice, citing wrongful arrest, detention based on race, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and interference with his right to document government actions.

Juan Ramirez Diaz, a U.S. citizen from Oxnard, was detained by ICE agents on June 17, 2025, while filming video of federal immigration agents arresting his father during an ICE operation. According to his family and attorney, Ramirez Diaz was tased, maced, punched, and beaten before being transported to a hospital and then the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. He was released on June 18 before 3 p.m. and returned to his family.

Jose Francisco Orellana-Rivera, who arrived from Honduras at age 4 and was paroled into the community in 2001, was detained by ICE in June 2025 after 24 years of living freely in the United States. He is married to a U.S. citizen with two citizen children and was previously granted DACA. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without a pre-detention hearing violated due process rights.

Javier Ramirez, a U.S. citizen and father of four, was tackled and detained by masked federal immigration agents at a tow yard in Montebello on June 12, 2025. According to security camera footage, an agent allegedly told another agent to arrest Ramirez because he was Mexican. When Ramirez called 911 while handcuffed in a van, police said they could not assist because federal agents were involved. He was held in a downtown Los Angeles facility for more than four days and charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. The federal case against him was dismissed without prejudice. His attorney believes the charge was fabricated to cover up racial profiling.

Juan Carlos Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed, slammed onto vehicle hoods, punched and kneed by armed immigration agents who raided his father's auto body shop in Oxnard on June 16, 2025. Ventura-based attorney Vanessa Valdez, who had publicly criticized Ramirez's arrest, says she was later shot six times with rubber bullets and hit with tear gas while identifying herself as a legal observer during a raid at Glass House Farms, leaving her unable to see and needing to crawl away; she has since incurred hospital costs, lost wages, and ongoing therapy. Ramirez, Valdez and dozens of other U.S. citizens and immigrants are seeking financial compensation through tort claims against the federal government for injuries, trauma, and deaths sustained during recent immigration enforcement operations, with claimants seeking at least $260 million collectively. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said immigration officers receive regular training and are held to a high professional standard, acting to protect themselves and the public when facing danger.

Juan Carlos Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed, slammed onto vehicle hoods, punched in the face, and kneed by armed immigration agents during a raid on an auto body shop where his father was arrested. Ramirez filmed the incident and subsequently filed a legal claim against the federal government seeking damages for injuries and trauma.

Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen, was detained and interrogated by armed Border Patrol agents at a tow yard in Montebello during a roving patrol. Agents pushed him against a metal gate and demanded to know where he was born, asking specific questions about his birthplace despite his repeated assertions that he was American and attempts to show his Real ID. Agents took his identification and detained him for investigation of interference in an enforcement operation before releasing him after confirming his U.S. citizenship. The incident occurred during broader Border Patrol sweeps across Southern California targeting largely Latino neighborhoods and raising concerns about racial profiling.

Heidi Plummer, a U.S. citizen and Orange County attorney, was arrested by federal agents at Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana on June 14 while taking a walk. Plummer was detained, handcuffed, and transported to an ICE detention facility in Santa Ana, where she was held for approximately an hour and a half before being released. ICE denied the incident occurred, stating they were not at the park that day and made no arrests there.

Border Patrol agents questioned Brian Gavidia, a U.S. citizen born in East Los Angeles, at his workplace on West Olympic Boulevard. Despite Gavidia showing his Real ID and repeatedly asserting his citizenship, agents held him against a fence, twisted his arm, and confiscated his ID and phone. The incident was captured on video.

Jason Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old US citizen born in Montebello, was detained by armed border patrol agents in an unmarked car near his auto body shop. Video footage shows agents pressing him against a fence, twisting his arm, and interrogating him about his birthplace despite his repeated statements that he was born in the United States and offered to show his ID. Witnesses described the encounter as racial profiling based on appearance. Gavidia was eventually released, but the incident occurred amid a series of ICE raids across southern California targeting people based on their appearance.

Democratic US Senator Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents. He was released shortly after the incident. The FBI defended the agents' actions in response to questions about the Department of Homeland Security's response.

Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen born and raised in East Los Angeles, was detained by Border Patrol agents on June 12 at his workplace on West Olympic Boulevard in Montebello during an immigration enforcement operation in the San Gabriel Valley. An agent pushed Gavidia against a metal fence and demanded proof of citizenship, asking repeatedly where he was born despite his repeated statements that he was American. Video footage shows two agents holding Gavidia against the fence while he stated "I'm American, bro!" Agents confiscated his Real ID and did not return it; they also took his phone for approximately 20 minutes before returning it. Gavidia, whose mother is Colombian and his father is Salvadoran, believes he was targeted because of his Latino heritage and appearance. He described the encounter as traumatic, saying he feared for his life when an agent racked a chamber in an AR-15. A friend who was filming the encounter was injured and bleeding from the forehead after being pushed by another agent. Gavidia has since joined an ACLU lawsuit with other plaintiffs challenging immigration enforcement tactics and racial profiling, and has renounced his earlier support for President Trump, stating he was "manipulated" and "brainwashed." He now carries a copy of the U.S. Constitution and helps with know-your-rights workshops.

Brian Gavidia, a U.S. citizen born and raised in East Los Angeles, was pinned against a gate at his car lot by armed federal agents who refused to accept that he was a citizen. He was forced to close his used-car business after agents kept returning to the neighborhood. He joined an ACLU class-action lawsuit challenging ICE's racial profiling. He also had to tell his nine-year-old daughter she couldn't visit from Portland because it wasn't safe.

Elzon Lemus, a 23-year-old Hispanic U.S. citizen and electrician from Brentwood, Long Island, was stopped by ICE agents on June 3 while riding as a passenger in a car on Union Avenue in Westbury, one of six vehicles halted that day. Agents said he "looks like somebody we are looking for," then opened the car door, removed his identification, and handcuffed him for 20 to 25 minutes, holding him and the driver at the scene for about an hour. Video recorded by Lemus and the driver shows agents approaching the vehicle and demanding identification before the footage ends. His attorney, Frederick Brewington, called the stop racial discrimination and is evaluating a possible lawsuit, while State Assembly Deputy Speaker Phil Ramos described the video as showing a clear rights violation.

A 23-year-old electrician from Brentwood was pulled over by ICE agents while driving a work van in Westbury and was handcuffed and detained for approximately 25 minutes. The agents claimed he looked like someone they were searching for but provided no specific basis for the stop. After finding his ID confirming his U.S. citizenship, the agents released him without explanation or apology.

ICE agents rammed a white sedan with two unmarked vehicles in Boyle Heights, pinning it between them during an arrest operation. The vehicle contained a male driver, female passenger, toddler, and baby. Federal agents drew weapons and deployed tear gas before dragging the male driver from the car. The arrested man was identified as Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho, though family members claimed he is a U.S. citizen.

Christian Cerna, a 28-year-old US citizen and carpenter from Paramount, California, was arrested by ICE on June 11, 2025, after participating in an anti-ICE protest near a Home Depot on June 7. Officers used aggressive tactics including ramming his vehicle, detonating flash-bang grenades, and pointing assault rifles at his car while his partner and two young children were inside; court records show the arrest operation involved a drone, four vehicles, and a filming crew. Cerna, whose father was deported when he was 12, was charged with felony assault after border agent Eduardo Mejorado alleged Cerna struck him during the protest, though Cerna and his lawyers say he swung his hand without making contact; he was also struck in the face by pepper balls during the demonstration. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple assault in December 2025 and was sentenced in March 2026; a federal judge later criticized the case as a "vindictive effort" to impose extrajudicial punishment, and DHS filmed the arrest and posted footage on social media labeling Cerna a "violent rioter."

Luis Mejía, a 20-year-old Nebraska native raised in South Omaha, was at work at Glenn Valley Foods when ICE conducted a raid on June 10, 2025. Immigration officers asked him to prove U.S. citizenship; after looking him up in their system, they cleared him to leave. Mejía's undocumented mother was among those detained and taken to Lincoln County Detention Center four hours away. Mejía and his older brother were forced to provide for their two younger siblings while their mother was detained for an unknown duration, unable to contact her for several days.

Osmar Lorenzo-Genchi, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and employee at Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, Nebraska, was arrested during an ICE raid on June 10, 2025. After ICE officers confirmed his citizenship and released him, he joined protesters blocking law enforcement vehicles from leaving the scene. He struck a vehicle's mirror with his fists, bent a windshield wiper, and shattered a passenger-side window with a rock. He was convicted and sentenced to 22 months in prison for assaulting and impeding federal officers with a dangerous weapon. His mother, also a Glenn Valley Foods employee, was detained during the same raid and remained in custody at Lincoln County Jail. The raid resulted in the detention of 76 employees at the meatpacking plant.