U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained several residents in Hudson County, New Jersey on Sunday using unmarked vehicles. An ICE agent told a city councilman that warrants are not needed to conduct their operations. Local officials reported that ICE arrested at least three people, including two workers at local businesses, without advance notification to local police.
Federal ICE agents were present outside the Ventura County Sheriff's Office on Monday, February 2, 2026, where protesters and observers had gathered. During the encounter, an ICE agent threw a woman to the ground and subsequently used pepper spray on the crowd. Witnesses stated they were documenting the ICE operation and posed no physical threat to officers. At least one person was detained during the incident. The woman who was thrown to the ground declined to speak about what happened.
ICE agents conducted enforcement operations at Hudson Bergen Light Rail Station in Jersey City Heights and Hoboken on Sunday morning, detaining several people. An ICE officer was recorded telling a city councilman he did not need a warrant to make arrests. The incident prompted community meetings and responses from local leaders.
Jhony Gonzalez Merino, a Mexican national from the Triqui Indigenous group, was arrested by ICE agents in Anchorage in February 2026 after dropping off his son at school. He had applied for asylum. After initial detention at the Anchorage jail, Gonzalez Merino was transferred to the federal immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington, where he remains.
Amalia, a 1-year-old, and her parents including mother Kheilin Valero Marcano were detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Amalia developed a fever and grew lethargic. Her parents returned to the facility's medical clinic repeatedly but were only given Tylenol and warned not to complain. When Amalia lost consciousness, her mother asked clinic employees if they would let her die. Amalia spent more than a week in an outside hospital after her oxygen levels dropped to dangerously low levels, diagnosed with COVID-19, an ear infection, pneumonia, bronchitis, and RSV. The family was released in February 2026 after two months at Dilley.
Jose Lozano, a 28-year-old Worthington resident with a valid temporary permit allowing him to remain in the U.S. for five years, was detained by ICE agents on February 1, 2026, while attempting to jumpstart his minivan. Lozano, who arrived from El Salvador as an asylum seeker ten years ago, was working as a mechanic and attending college when detained. He was being held in a Minneapolis detention center with a hearing scheduled for February 28, 2026, though an earlier bond hearing was possible.
Federal ICE agents made arrests near the Jersey City-Hoboken border on Sunday morning without advance warning to local police. Multiple detentions occurred at the 9th Street Light Rail Station in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, with at least two people seen being taken into unmarked vehicles. Local officials stated that residents have rights, including the right to refuse entry without a judge-signed warrant.
Johanny Lacruz, a Venezuelan asylum seeker and fiancée of Juan Rodriguez, was detained by ICE at a Border Patrol checkpoint in February 2026 despite having valid work authorization and no criminal record. Rodriguez observed that U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz secured the release of Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, a teenager in the same detention facility with similar legal status, but was unable to obtain similar assistance for his fiancée. Both Lacruz and Gámez-Cuéllar were detained during the Trump administration's deportation operations.
At least two confirmed cases of measles have been reported at the Dilley family detention center in Texas, which houses children and parents in immigration detention. A broader measles outbreak is occurring across the U.S. Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro called for the facility to be shut down immediately, citing detention centers as potential vectors for disease transmission.
An advocacy post calls for the release of Diana Crespo-Gonzalez from immigration detention, urging people to contact DHS at 202-282-8485. The post references a previous case where 180,000 calls led to the release of someone named Liam, and directs followers to an OPB news article for more details about Diana's situation.
According to Senator John Hickenlooper and other Colorado lawmakers, ICE agents left ace of spades cards—symbols historically used by white supremacist groups—in vehicles of up to 11 detainees after a January 21 enforcement action in Eagle County. Hickenlooper demanded a Department of Homeland Security meeting after ICE failed to respond to requests for information about the incident, including details on those detained and the status of an internal investigation.
Harold, a 58-year-old Cuban national, was deported to Mexico in February 2026 as part of the third-country deportation program. He finds himself unable to work due to lack of documentation, unable to afford food and rent, and without clear prospects for legal status or support.
Lázara Santana, 57, migrated to the United States from Cuba at age 11. She lost her refugee status 20 years ago for selling drugs. For two decades she checked in annually with Immigration and Customs Enforcement under parole conditions and held work permits while raising her son, a U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan and voted for Trump. In fall 2025, ICE took her into custody at a check-in and deported her to Mexico, where she was given the choice of Congo or Mexico. She now rents a shared room with money sent by her partner and fears leaving her house.
Mauricio De Leon, 50, was born in Guatemala and taken to the United States by his mother at age one. He grew up in the foster system in Long Beach after his mother lost custody. Given a deportation order in 2007 after serving time for drug trafficking, he was deported to Mexico last year. Mexico attempted to return him to Guatemala, but Guatemala said it had no record of him, leaving him essentially stateless. He survives on savings from his work as a truck driver in California.
Ricardo del Pino Olivera, 67, was deported from the United States to Mexico on July 3, 2025 after serving a 17-year sentence. He applied for refugee status on July 31 but struggled to find formal employment or access services. After the Amparito shelter in Villahermosa advocated on his behalf, he received some medical treatment but was repeatedly hospitalized beginning December 12. He was severely malnourished and remained without legal documentation. Ricardo died on February 21, 2026. His death certificate listed his nationality as "unknown."
Luis René Lemus, 59, a Cuban with Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia, was deported to Mexico where he has struggled to procure needed medication. He is among elderly and infirm Cubans sent to Villahermosa under the third-country deportation program.
Ricardo Pérez, 67, a Cuban, was pushed across the U.S. border by immigration agents while in a wheelchair and deported to Mexico. He arrived at a Catholic shelter in Villahermosa among many elderly Cubans with health problems, where he struggles to access care and necessities.
Nikita and Oksana, a Russian couple who fled Russia and requested asylum at the Otay Mesa port of entry in October 2025, were detained with their three children (ages 4, 12, and 14) at Dilley Immigration Processing Center for over four months, despite a federal court limit of 20 days for detaining minors. An asylum officer found the family had credible fear of persecution based on Nikita's activism against the Russian government. During detention, the children experienced deteriorating conditions including worms found in food and inadequate medical care. Their 12-year-old daughter Kamilla developed partial hearing loss in one ear after a poorly treated infection; their 13-year-old son Kirill suffers from anxiety and panic attacks; and their 4-year-old son Konstantin became frightened by guards. During release, facility staff told the family they could leave and they purchased plane tickets to California for $1,500, but were then told they could not depart and received no explanation. The 14-year-old became suicidal. Within a day, with help from friends, they purchased new tickets and were released.
An Angolan woman with an active immigration case pending in court was arrested while taking her 6-year-old daughter to school and detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Upon release in mid-February 2026, she was given a court summons to appear near her original arrest location but was transported to Laredo, Texas—over 2,200 miles away from her home in Maine. The family faced difficulties accessing transportation to return home.
During ICE's Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, Isabel, a 41-year-old Honduran woman with a pending asylum case and valid five-year work permit, was arrested at her monthly immigration check-in in Bloomington and detained for four days across three locations. After a federal judge ordered her release, she was given back a mostly empty bag missing her work permit, state ID, daughter's passport, and two uncashed checks worth over $700. Immigration lawyers report this is a widespread pattern: one attorney estimates 35 of her clients lost documents in detention, with another describing it as "more the rule than the exception" that people are not returned their belongings. A federal judge found a Trump administration attorney in civil contempt of court for failing to return documents to another detainee, Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, and imposed daily fines until documents were returned via overnight mail. The seizure and non-return of documents from people not in removal proceedings affects immigrants with work permits, pending visas, U-visas, and refugees with legal entry status.
Linet Vartanniavartanians, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and her husband Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand, an undocumented Iranian national, were arrested in June 2025 when HSI agents executed a warrant at their Tempe, Arizona home. Vartanniavartanians called 911 and threatened to shoot the agents if they entered; Eidivand possessed firearms as an undocumented immigrant. Both pleaded guilty and were released with time served and two years' probation in late November 2025. However, Eidivand was immediately re-detained by ICE and held at Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico for three months. His attorney reports ICE has pressured him to sign a deportation order to Iran without legal representation, despite him facing an execution order there due to his opposition to Iran's Islamist regime. The attorney believes ICE is retaliating against the family over his brother's hunger strike in immigration detention.
Roberto, a Cuban man, was deported to Mexico in mid-February 2026 after being detained at an immigration appointment where he was informed his I-220A form was invalid. He was held for three weeks before being transferred to Tapachula without money, identification, or communication access. His U.S. citizen fiancée in Michigan eventually reconnected with him and traveled to deliver documents so they could marry. Roberto now works as a barber in Cancún while awaiting a spousal visa determination.
Osmary Garcia, who entered the U.S. legally through the CBP One app during the Biden administration, was arrested by immigration officers in February 2026 and detained at North Lake Processing Center in Michigan. After the Trump administration revoked legal status for CBP One entrants and terminated the asylum program under which the family had been admitted, her husband Hector Marin and their six children decided to self-deport to Venezuela to reunite with her. With help from a Detroit Public Schools staff member, the family arranged their voluntary departure and travel in April 2026.
Prince Sita Armel Paterne, a priest from the Congo, was detained by ICE in February 2026 after mistakenly taking the wrong exit while driving to work, which led him to the Canada border where he was arrested. An immigration judge set a $10,000 bond for his release on May 19, 2026. His family was unable to assist financially, prompting a fundraiser to prevent his deportation.
An Iranian couple seeking asylum was detained and interrogated by DHS agents less than a week after U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran in late February 2026. The husband, who arrived on a tourist visa in November 2024 and filed for asylum after his visa expired, was held for three weeks at an ICE detention facility in California City before an immigration judge granted his release on bond. His pregnant wife was questioned but not arrested. Immigration attorneys report the incident reflects a broader pattern of heightened scrutiny of Iranians following the strikes.
Andy Merlin Siregar, an Indonesian citizen with withholding of removal status, was detained at an airport and transferred to Adelanto Detention Facility in February 2026 after almost 18 years of compliance with his Order of Supervision. He was not told why his supervision was being revoked or given an opportunity to address allegations. The court granted his TRO application and ordered his immediate release.
An Iranian man seeking asylum was detained by ICE agents at his apartment less than a week after U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran in late February 2026. The couple had entered the U.S. legally on tourist visas in November 2024, filed for asylum after receiving threats from the Iranian government, and held pending asylum applications with work permits. The husband spent three weeks at the ICE detention facility in California City before an immigration judge granted his release on bond. His pregnant wife was questioned for hours but not arrested due to her pregnancy.
An ICE enforcement action resulted in the detention of a father in Hopkins, Minnesota, in front of his three children at their apartment building. The incident disrupted the family, with his wife Estefany Escobar going to work at a Minnesota hospital an hour after the arrest.
Nearly 50 Democratic members of Congress are demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over allegations that the federal government is placing all pregnant unaccompanied migrant girls at a single San Benito, Texas shelter operated by Urban Strategies, where they lack adequate reproductive health care. The placement contradicts agency guidance requiring pregnant minors be placed in states where they can access full reproductive healthcare options, and has drawn objections from health and child welfare officials citing inadequate specialized care for high-risk pregnancies.
Steve Gaines, an English teacher at Harmony School of Innovation in Waco, Texas, was fired in early 2026 after allowing students to use class time to make signs for an ICE protest walkout in February. Anti-ICE advocates held a rally in March calling for his reinstatement, though the school district has not responded to requests for his rehiring.
Farah, a 21-year-old gay woman from Morocco, fled her country in early 2025 after her family attacked her for her sexual orientation and sought asylum in the United States. She was detained for nearly a year while her asylum claim was processed. In August 2025, an immigration judge issued a federal protection order prohibiting her deportation to Morocco due to danger to her life. However, three days before a scheduled hearing on her release, ICE agents detained her and placed her on a flight to Cameroon—a country where homosexuality is criminalized and where she had never lived. After she refused to remain in Cameroon, she was flown to Morocco, where she is now in hiding. She is among dozens of migrants reportedly deported to third countries by the Trump administration despite holding judicial protection orders.
Maria Santay, a U.S. citizen and community observer, livestreamed her detainment by federal immigration agents at an El Monte gas station on February 1, 2026. Agents surrounded her vehicle and broke her car window with a hammer while she recorded on Instagram. She was detained and released Friday evening with charges including resisting arrest.
Anti-ICE protesters held demonstrations across Southern California on January 30-31, 2026, including marches through Los Angeles, rallies at City Hall, and actions outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. Clashes erupted when protesters blocked access points and threw objects at federal agents. Authorities deployed chemical irritants and issued dispersal orders. Eight people were arrested Friday and dozens more on Saturday on charges including assault on officers, vandalism, and failure to disperse. The protests were part of a nationwide action following fatal shootings by federal officers in Minneapolis.
A three-year-old girl named Lily was separated from her family at the border and detained in an immigrant children's shelter in South Texas for over five months. Her father, a legal permanent resident, attempted to reunify with her during her detention. After her attorney at ProBAR filed a habeas petition in federal district court on February 18, she was released two days later and reunified with her father on February 21.
CNN correspondent Veronica Miracle was struck with pepper spray while reporting live on a protest at an ICE facility in Los Angeles. Protesters overtook the property and pushed Department of Homeland Security officers back inside the building. Miracle choked and coughed on camera due to the chemical irritant but continued reporting on the incident.
Thousands of protesters marched to an ICE facility in South Portland on Saturday as part of a "Labor Against ICE" rally organized by local unions. Federal agents deployed tear gas, pepper balls, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades after some protesters approached the building's security gate. The protest coincided with a march honoring Alex Pretti, an intensive-care nurse fatally shot by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis.
Olga Perez, a 47-year-old Mayan language translator, was deported to Guatemala in July 2026 following a June 3 immigration court ruling, separating her from her four U.S.-born children in Florida. Perez had been detained since November 2025 after a traffic stop and had no criminal record. Her deportation leaves a gap in language services across Florida courts, schools, and hospitals, while her eldest daughter has taken over the family landscaping business to support her three younger siblings.
Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan man and father of two, was arrested by ICE in Minneapolis on January 6, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge and transferred to Camp East Montana detention facility in El Paso, Texas. He died by suicide on January 14, 2026, by hanging with a bed sheet, eight days after his arrest. Diaz had entered the U.S. illegally in 2024, was released on parole, and was working at a Twin Cities restaurant when detained. Staff placed him in a medical holding room instead of a suicide-resistant cell and left him unattended for intervals exceeding the required 15-minute checks. Vision panels that had been requested months earlier were not installed, preventing staff from observing the room. A GAO report released in June 2026 found the facility lacked adequate supervision and monitoring systems, with over 1,600 detainees housed in steel-framed tent-like structures, insufficient surveillance cameras, and inadequate medical care. Diaz was at least the third death at Camp East Montana. His family attorney is considering a wrongful death claim.
On January 23, 2026, ICE agents conducted traffic stops in Eagle County, Colorado, detaining nine people. After the vehicles were abandoned, family members retrieved them and discovered ace of spades cards printed with ICE Denver Field Office contact information left inside at least two vehicles. Immigrant rights groups, including Voices Unidas, characterized the cards as referencing a Vietnam War-era racist practice. Federal officials offered an alternative explanation that the cards may reference the ace of spades as the trump card in the card game Spades. The Department of Homeland Security announced an investigation into the ICE agents' conduct.
Wilfredo Romero Urbana, who entered the United States in 2004 and has continuously resided here since, was detained by ICE on January 30, 2026. The petitioner has no criminal record. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding he could not be detained under section 1225(b) but only under section 1226(a), and enjoined ICE from re-detaining him without a pre-detention hearing.
Yoandry Rafael Garcia Gali was re-detained on January 30, 2026, after previously being released on bond or conditional parole. The court found that the government violated due process by failing to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter when re-detaining someone who had been previously released. The court ordered Garcia Gali's immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.
Anti-ICE demonstrations at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles turned confrontational on January 30, 2026, with protesters throwing objects at federal agents. Dozens of arrests were made over the weekend as demonstrations expanded to City Hall. The protests were part of a nationwide call to end funding for ICE.
Jose Flores, 47, was arrested during an ICE operation in Oakmont. The arrest occurred while Flores was preparing for work with his wife Harriett and their 8-year-old daughter Lily. The operation disrupted the family's morning routine.
The police chief of St. Peter intervened with federal agents to prevent the detention of a local resident who was observing ICE enforcement actions. This intervention by local police in Minnesota occurred during ICE and border patrol operations in the state.
Wilmer Menjivar, an employee at Viper Auto Body with no criminal record, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in West Valley City, Utah. Menjivar believed he was being followed by unmarked vehicles as he arrived at work and ran into the locked auto body shop. CBP agents then broke through the glass door, entered the business, and detained him. His wife, Lilly, said Menjivar believes he may have been profiled based on his appearance, his low-rider truck, and skin color. Menjivar plans to return to El Salvador, and his wife and three U.S. citizen children plan to move with him to keep the family together.
A nationwide protest called "National Shutdown" took place on January 30, 2026, with participants staying home from work and school to protest ICE immigration enforcement activities. The protest was organized in response to deaths resulting from immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, including an ICU nurse and a mother of three. Students at the University of Minnesota coordinated the effort with hundreds of organizations across 46 states.
Maryna Ishchenko, a Ukrainian asylum seeker from eastern Ukraine, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in appointment at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. She had previously been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border when she and her U.S. citizen husband, Asael Ramirez, presented her asylum case, but was released after he agreed to sponsor her. Despite being married to a U.S. citizen and complying with all required check-ins, she was detained again. She is experiencing abdominal medical issues exacerbated by anxiety and fear while in detention. Her husband has spent $15,000 on her case and is seeking a habeas corpus petition for her release.
Elena, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a pending case and work authorization, gave birth prematurely in early January and was forced to remain at her infant daughter's hospital bedside for 13 days due to fear of encountering ICE agents during travel to and from the facility. While recovering from a C-section, she had little rest, coordinated rides from trusted community members for frequent follow-up appointments, and moved her own care to telehealth. Her husband was unable to work during this period; he later traveled to Wisconsin for two weeks to work as a rideshare driver to pay rent and afford groceries. The family continues to shelter in place and lives in fear of detention despite Elena's open asylum case and work authorization, having witnessed others with similar immigration status being detained.
Michael P.R., a non-citizen who entered the U.S. without lawful admission in December 2021, was detained by ICE on January 30, 2026 after appearing at a scheduled appointment in Los Angeles. He had previously missed an immigration court hearing on January 12, 2026, resulting in a removal order. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered he receive a bond hearing within seven days or be released.
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