Human Impact Project

U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted a multi-day enforcement operation in Kern County that resulted in 78 arrests, including farmworkers in the Central Valley. The operation, called Operation Return to Sender, resulted in widespread fear among immigrant families and workers, with many staying home from work and struggling to locate detained relatives. Border Patrol officials stated the operation targeted transnational criminal organizations. Community advocates and elected officials raised concerns about potential racial profiling and the impact on the agricultural industry.

Maria Trinidad Loya Medina, a 44-year-old Albany mother from Mexico who has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years, was detained by ICE agents on January 10 after being apprehended at a Big 5 Sporting Goods parking lot. She has been held at an immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington for two months. Attorneys filed a second petition seeking her release, claiming one federal judge ruled her detention violates federal law, though an immigration judge deemed her a flight risk.

Minnesota resident Nicole Cleland, who was observing ICE and CBP activity as a legal observer, was stopped by federal agents on January 10 after following their vehicle. An agent told her they used facial recognition technology to identify her. Three days later, her Global Entry and TSA PreCheck privileges were revoked, which Cleland believes was retaliation for her observation activities.

Ana Canedo Luna, co-owner of Don Chingonas food truck and Club Elite nightclub in Rock Springs, was detained by ICE on January 9 following a routine traffic stop. The stop was initiated due to a license plate registration discrepancy later confirmed as a clerical error by county staff. Luna presented employment authorization documents valid through May 2030, and her wife provided additional legal documentation disputing ICE's claims that she lacked legal status. Despite the valid work authorization documentation, ICE proceeded with Luna's detention after a records check flagged her in their system.

Pablo Nieves, a Venezuelan asylum seeker who legally entered the U.S. on a nonimmigrant visa in 2018 and had pending asylum applications, was detained by ICE outside a Home Depot in Minnesota in January 2025 and transported to a Texas detention center. He was released after two weeks following a successful legal argument by his lawyer that he posed no flight risk or danger to the public.

Federal immigration officers detained a contractor at General Mills' Chanhassen manufacturing facility in mid-January. Video of the incident circulated on social media. The detention occurred as part of increased ICE enforcement activity at Minnesota workplaces, affecting major companies.

ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old queer mother of three, through her car windshield in Minneapolis on January 7. Good appeared to have four gunshot wounds according to a Minneapolis Fire Department report. Bystander and leaked cell phone footage showed Good attempting to drive away when the shots were fired, contradicting claims by government officials that she had used her vehicle as a weapon.

Juan Manuel Arellano Zepeda, a 48-year-old Mexican national and owner of El Fresco restaurant in Bloomington, was detained by ICE on January 6 and held in El Paso, Texas. Arellano Zepeda, who has lived in the U.S. for 25 years and has a pending Visa T application, was arrested during Operation Metro Surge. His family reports he has no criminal record and was not given a court hearing as of the article's publication.

Marvin Hernandez Lopez, who entered the U.S. in 2013 and has been living here with family and a business, was detained by ICE while traveling to work last month. He argues ICE is wrongfully holding him under a statute requiring mandatory detention instead of one allowing bond hearings. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his transfer outside Florida's Middle District while his habeas petition is pending, but denied his request for immediate release or bond hearing.

Immigration agents raided a family home in rural Donna, Texas, in January, arresting Julio Orosco and Lucero Garza, who had been living in the country without authorization. Garza was deported to Mexico while Orosco remains in custody. Their children, ages 11 through 22, have had to assume caretaking responsibilities and have become withdrawn and isolated.

Abel Orozco, a 47-year-old Mexican immigrant, was detained by ICE agents outside his home in suburban Lyons without a federal warrant and remains in detention nearly six months later. Immigration and civil rights attorneys state the arrest violated constitutional rights and the 2022 Castañon Nava settlement agreement, which requires probable cause and documentation of flight risk for warrantless arrests. Orozco is named in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE involving at least 25 other people allegedly arrested during enforcement operations in January 2025.

Following Operation Metro Surge beginning in December, ICE agents have detained and deported thousands of immigrants across Minnesota. Multiple families experienced detention and deportation, including Mercedes whose husband Paco was detained for 41 days before deportation, and Brenda whose husband Osmin was deported to El Salvador. Families reported managing rent, utilities, and childcare following the detention and deportation of family members.

Luis Fernandez Escalante, a Venezuelan with a pending asylum claim, was detained in October 2024 when he accompanied his wife to an immigration check-in during Operation Midway Blitz. He has been held at North Lakes Processing Center, a for-profit ICE detention facility in Michigan, for months without bond. He and seven other detained immigrants reported being denied bond without justification, separated from family, having difficulty accessing legal representation, and facing deportation despite pending cases.

Seven people were arrested during a U.S. Border Patrol immigration enforcement operation at Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on Saturday. The individuals arrested were from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. About 10 unmarked cars blocked the car wash exit during the raid, which resulted in the arrest of several employees. The chief of the Glassport Borough Police Department reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 17 arrests in the borough over a two-week period.

ICE agents shot Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernández through a car window during a traffic stop near Patterson, California on April 7. An eyewitness with dashboard camera video now corroborates the victim's account that at least one agent opened fire unprovoked before Mendoza Hernández attempted to drive away, contradicting ICE Director Todd Lyons's statement that agents fired because Mendoza Hernández 'weaponized his vehicle' to run them over.

ICE detained a father on March 18, leaving his high school-aged son Kevin to search for him while managing the emotional impact on his family. The incident occurred in Carpinteria, and the family is seeking community support.

Adrian Sotelo Guzman, a mental health patient hospitalized at M Health Fairview Southdale in Edina, was allegedly given powerful sedatives by medical staff under ICE pressure to facilitate his removal from the hospital. Despite a federal judge's order to keep him in Minnesota, ICE agents transferred him to Texas where his attorneys claim he is not receiving adequate psychiatric care or medication. His lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition arguing the detention and forced transfer were unlawful.

Alexander Jesus Vidaurreta Nieves, a foreign national residing in the U.S. for 25 months, was placed in removal proceedings in February 2024 for entering without inspection. He was initially released from ICE custody on an Order of Recognizance but was subsequently re-detained at Desert View Annex in Adelanto. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release, finding his re-detention violated due process.

Federal authorities arrested anti-ICE protester Isai Carrillo and nine other suspects accused of attacking law enforcement officers during immigration enforcement operations near Los Angeles over the summer. Carrillo was specifically charged with damaging a vehicle belonging to immigration agents during a pot farm raid in Camarillo, California in July. Two members of the activist group VC Defensa were also charged with conspiring to impede federal law enforcement.

Alejandra Juarez, who lived in Florida for 20 years and is married to a former Marine, was deported to Mexico after exhausting legal options to stop her removal. Her deportation was initiated following a 2013 traffic stop that exposed her legal status and was pursued under the Trump administration's enforcement policy. She left behind her 16-year-old U.S. citizen daughter Pamela and 8-year-old daughter Estela, who planned to join her later in Mexico.

ICE detained approximately 100 Cambodian nationals in October 2017 raids, most of whom had been living in the U.S. for decades after fleeing the Khmer Rouge as children. The detainees had old removal orders but were previously released because Cambodia wouldn't accept them back. A federal court granted a preliminary injunction halting their deportations, finding they were denied due process and adequate opportunity to challenge their removal orders through motions to reopen.

A mother and farmworker resident of Oregon was arrested by DHS agents who smashed the window of a passenger van she was riding in to work. According to the case, she was detained to fulfill a detention quota despite years of compliance with release conditions and DHS having ceased removal proceedings. She was transported to an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington and is now challenging her detention as unconstitutional.

A New Jersey pastor who was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in March was released from an ICE detention center after approximately 3 weeks in custody.

Two demonstrators were arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and conspiracy to commit a crime after police say they painted "ICE Out" on a Modesto street during a protest outside Doctors Medical Center hospital on Tuesday evening. The protest was organized in response to an ICE shooting incident in nearby Patterson.

During a government shutdown, ICE officers were deployed to 13 airports nationwide, causing long lines and prompting protests. Immigration officials are facing allegations of inhumane detention conditions, including forcing sedation of a hospital patient and violating guidelines for pregnant women. Multiple investigations and court filings document poor conditions at detention centers in San Francisco, Minnesota, Texas, San Diego, and Colorado.

Women detained at Baker County Detention Center in Florida have shared a video describing poor living conditions while awaiting immigration processing. They allege inadequate access to hygiene supplies, broken clothing, moldy food, and substandard bedding including mattresses made of insulation. One woman claims to have been transferred through over 30 facilities in a month and often slept on floors.

The Trump administration's crackdown on student visas has resulted in cancellations affecting some of Africa's best and brightest students. The policy has separated at least one Iranian couple, with the wife on a student visa unable to reunite with her husband due to the travel ban.

Six Guatemalan workers were detained by ICE agents at a home in Cambridge, Maryland, after the homeowner allegedly called immigration authorities on them while they were fixing her roof. The incident was livestreamed by coworker Bryan Polanco, a Dominican national with permanent residency, who accused the homeowner of calling ICE and handing agents a ladder to reach the workers. According to reports, the homeowner owed the workers $10,000 and allegedly threatened to call ICE again if they returned to finish the job.

ICE agents in San Diego arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, a MS-13 gang member wanted in El Salvador for murder. Perez was first arrested in Monterey, California in 2023 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly swinging a machete at a man, but was released under California's sanctuary law. He is being held pending removal to El Salvador.

In early 2025, the second Trump administration began detaining immigrant families and children. By April 2025, the Dilley Immigration Processing Center became the sole active family detention center in the United States. More than 5,600 people, including parents, children, toddlers, and newborn babies, have been imprisoned at Dilley between April 2025 and February 2026.

A 25-year-old man jumped a fence at Santa Barbara Main Jail to evade ICE agents who were attempting to apprehend him. He was injured during the fence jump and was found hiding between storage containers in the jail's secured perimeter. He was transported to a hospital and cited for trespassing.

Andrea Pedro-Francisco was detained by ICE and transported to a facility in Texas, where she is being held in overcrowded conditions with 60 other people. She requires surgery for a tennis-ball-sized ovary cyst but ICE is refusing to provide appropriate medical care, offering only Tylenol instead of prescribed opioids. She has been living in the U.S. for years while legally seeking political asylum and has no criminal record.

A pregnant woman identified as Marie was detained at an ICE facility and told officials of her pregnancy, but was placed in solitary confinement for days and denied medical care despite repeated requests. She was denied translation services at a medical center and was not informed about medical procedures performed. While detained, she witnessed another woman miscarry and deliver a stillborn baby alone in a facility bathroom.

An undocumented individual with a felony conviction has been sentenced to more than 15 years. No additional details about the nature of the conviction, jurisdiction, or circumstances are provided in the available text.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger ruled that ICE unlawfully detained asylum seeker Andrei Bankevich from Belarus in Muscatine County Jail for over a year and that federal officials violated his due process rights by refusing to release him without a court order.

A federal jury returned a mixed verdict against nine defendants accused of domestic terrorism stemming from a July 4 noise demonstration outside the Prairieland immigrant detention center in Alvarado, Texas. Prosecutors argued the defendants constituted a "North Texas Antifa cell" and all played a role in a nonfatal shooting of a police officer during the protest. The defendants stated the protest was intended to show solidarity with migrants in detention and involved fireworks and vandalism. Eight defendants were convicted on felony charges including providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to use explosives.

Ludovic Mbock, a gay professional gamer living in Maryland, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a compliance appointment. He faces potential deportation to Cameroon, where same-sex relationships are criminalized.

An Emanuel County Commissioners' Office employee was arrested after an internal audit discovered unauthorized use of a county credit card for personal purchases. Risa K. Fortner, 48, of Kite, Georgia, was charged with theft by taking after receipts showed items were delivered to her home address. She was booked into the Emanuel County Detention Center.

ICE states that video footage from Broadview Detention Center was lost in a system crash on October 31, one day after the facility was sued on October 30 for allegedly abusing detainees. Two weeks of surveillance footage was reportedly destroyed. Government lawyers stated they lack resources to preserve surveillance footage.

Estela Ramos Baten was detained during a mandatory immigration check-in and deported to Guatemala with her teenage daughter Nory Sontay Ramos on July 4. Ramos Baten had lived in Los Angeles since 2016 and suffered from liver cirrhosis and high blood pressure. She died nine weeks after deportation from complications of liver cirrhosis. Her teenage daughter remained in Guatemala.

ICE agents apprehended several individuals outside a Phoenix immigration court on Tuesday, including at least two documented cases of people arrested immediately after court hearings. An attorney noted that individuals whose cases appeared to be dismissed were taken into custody. The arrests followed a January DHS directive reversing protections for courthouse arrests, a policy that previously restricted ICE enforcement in sensitive locations.

A plainclothes federal law enforcement officer drew a weapon on a man attempting to photograph his vehicle's license plate at a stoplight in Pasadena. The incident occurred Wednesday morning around the same time federal immigration agents conducted enforcement operations at a nearby bus stop, detaining multiple day laborers. Masked plainclothes agents arrested at least two men and several other day laborers, transporting them in an unmarked minivan.

ICE arrested a U.S. citizen in Oregon. An attorney stated the arrest was illegal. Details regarding the circumstances and identity of the arrested individual are limited in this report. Mayra Bonilla Garcia, a Dallas mother, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in in October after fleeing Honduras in 2023 due to domestic violence. Despite having a valid work permit and pending asylum case, her asylum request was denied and a removal order was issued. Her elderly mother is now caring for her two young sons. The family has plans to file an appeal.

A 19-year-old anti-ICE protester was sprayed with chemical agent by a federal officer during a protest in Portland. The protester was vocal but nonviolent and standing still when sprayed. Video evidence documents the incident.

Tear gas was deployed into a home during an ICE arrest operation Friday night in the Berclair area of Memphis involving a family, ICE agents, and the Memphis Safe Task Force. Children were exposed to tear gas during the operation, though they were sheltered in a closet.

Christina Rank, a U.S. citizen classroom assistant, was arrested by ICE agents outside Concord Education Center in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota on Monday morning. Witnesses disputed ICE's claim that she rammed an agent's vehicle, with evidence suggesting the agent rammed her car and broke her window. As of Monday afternoon, Rank remained in custody with no information on charges, and her mother questioned the purpose of ICE agents at the school and the use of force against her daughter.

An ICE enforcement action in Minneapolis resulted in tear gas being released near a family vehicle containing six children. A local couple reported the incident, including concerns about officer conduct and the presence of minors during the enforcement operation.

A U.S. District Judge in West Virginia issued a final notice to the federal government regarding continued unlawful detention of immigrants without individualized custody determinations. Judge Joseph R. Goodwin ruled that the government has repeatedly violated the Fifth Amendment by detaining immigrants without proper legal procedures. The judge warned of legal consequences for state and federal officials if the unlawful detention practices continue.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened an internal investigation into whether Gregory Bovino, a U.S. Border Patrol commander and architect of Trump's immigration enforcement policies, made disparaging comments about the Jewish faith of U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel N. Rosen. The alleged remarks were made during a January 12 phone call coordinating immigration enforcement operations, where Bovino allegedly complained about Rosen's unavailability due to the Sabbath and made sarcastic comments about Orthodox Jewish people. A Minneapolis pastor was detained by ICE after joining a protest. During his release, officers made remarks about his race, telling him 'You're White' and 'Wouldn't Be Any Fun Anyway.'

Heidy Sánchez was separated from her one-year-old daughter while breastfeeding during an immigration appointment with ICE agents. ICE took custody of her infant daughter during the enforcement action. She was subsequently deported to Cuba and has remained separated from her child and American husband for eight months.