Human Impact Project

A high school graduate was detained during an ICE raid while working.

Arlit Martinez-Carrada's 15-year-old son, Kevin Mendoza Martinez, died of cancer two days after she was arrested by ICE agents outside her workplace in Maryland. Martinez was denied release to be with her son during his final days and learned of his death while in ICE custody at the Baltimore federal building. She was later released on $12,000 bond and attended her son's funeral. Martinez has now decided to self-deport, with her attorneys working on the voluntary departure process.

Jorge Elieser Gonzalez Ochoa, a 27-year-old Colombian national seeking asylum, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents at Bread Garden Market in Iowa City on September 25, 2025, while working and wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor. Agents charged him with document fraud and misuse of immigration documents. A federal judge ruled the DHS actions "indefensible" and found Gonzalez Ochoa was illegally detained, noting agents attempted to circumvent a court order and violated procedural requirements. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served plus one day. After several months in federal immigration detention, Gonzalez Ochoa was released following sustained community organizing and protests by groups including the Iowa City Catholic Worker and Escucha Mi Voz Iowa.

Jonathan Aguilar Garcia, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen and Target store employee in Richfield, Minnesota, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on January 8, 2026, along with coworker Christian Miranda Romano. Despite repeatedly asserting their U.S. citizenship and presenting identification including a passport, both teenagers were physically apprehended and removed from the store. Garcia was later released at a Walmart parking lot with injuries after his citizenship was verified.

On January 8, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents led by Chief Greg Bovino detained two U.S. citizen teenagers, Jonathan Aguilar Garcia and Christian Miranda Romano, while they were working at a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota. Both were apprehended based on their appearance during an immigration enforcement operation. Garcia presented a U.S. passport asserting his citizenship but was initially detained anyway; after verification, agents released him at a Walmart parking lot without charges or transportation assistance. Both individuals were injured during the detention. Miranda Romano, a minor with no criminal history, remained in detention at Fort Snelling despite his family's contact with ICE. State Representative Michael Howard criticized the incident, describing it as "pure madness."

Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with temporary protected status and a valid work permit, was arrested by Border Patrol agents at a Dania Beach station on January 6, 2025, despite being cleared and approved to perform IT work there. Camacho is married to a U.S. citizen, has American-born children, and was in the process of applying for permanent residency at the time of his detention. He spent 30 days detained at an Everglades detention facility before being released on bond.

Maria Cristina Tapia Cornejo, a 71-year-old undocumented immigrant, has been held at Eloy Detention Center for over 10 months following an ICE raid on Colt Grill restaurants in July 2025. Despite multiple requests for humanitarian release citing her age, hearing impairment, lack of criminal record, and deep family ties in Arizona, ICE has kept her detained. The restaurant owners who were arrested on charges of hiring undocumented workers were released and granted court-approved travel out of state while awaiting trial. An immigration judge ordered Tapia Cornejo's deportation in January 2026, and she is appealing while remaining in custody, citing safety concerns related to cartel violence in her hometown.

Fatima Issela Velazquez-Antonio, 23, was detained by Customs and Border Patrol agents at her job site in Raleigh in November and transferred to a Georgia federal detention facility. She was released from ICE custody and returned to North Carolina on December 23, 2025. Velazquez-Antonio, who has lived legally in the U.S. since age 14 fleeing gang violence in Honduras, has valid work authorization and no criminal record, and her case remains pending.

Families of immigrants arrested in a federal ICE surge in Maine are struggling to find basic information about their detained relatives as the government rapidly transfers them to detention facilities across multiple states. Erik Orellana-Mejia was arrested at his worksite on January 20 and has since been transferred to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Missouri. ICE has been building out detention and deportation infrastructure in New England and across the country to support intensified enforcement operations.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Border Patrol and Florida Highway Patrol, conducted immigration enforcement operations in central Palm Beach County on December 8, 2025, including roadblocks and an attempted raid on a residential construction site. Activists estimate at least 50 people were detained during the sweeps, with children separated from apprehended parents. A 19-year-old U.S. citizen was wrongly detained but later released. Local officials stated the operations disrupted the community and economy.

Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona stated she was pepper-sprayed and pushed by ICE agents during a raid at a Tucson restaurant on Friday. The congresswoman identified herself as a member of Congress and stated she witnessed others being sprayed, including press and staff members. The Department of Homeland Security stated she was in the vicinity of another person being pepper-sprayed.

Don Lupe, who had lived in the U.S. for 27 years after migrating from Puebla, Mexico, was detained by ICE agents during a worksite raid in New Jersey. He described detention center conditions as isolating and abusive, designed to encourage self-deportation. His family mobilized support and with legal assistance, Don Lupe received a hearing where a judge granted bail and set bond at $7,500.

Immigration agents took a cash box from a taco stand in La Puente after arresting four people at the location, according to a witness account. The incident involved the confiscation of the business's cash box during the enforcement action.

In Denham Springs, Louisiana, more than a dozen schoolchildren were lined up waiting for the school bus at Plantation Oaks Trailer Park when masked Border Patrol agents in multiple cars sped along the highway in front of their neighborhood with sirens blaring. Agents were pursuing an air-conditioning work truck. Terrified and crying, children ran when they saw a man pulled from his truck and slammed face-first into the ground. A witness reported that around eight of the schoolchildren actually made it onto the school bus.

A 32-year-old Turkish man was detained and transferred to ICE custody while working as a driver, before he could receive follow-up medical care despite blood tests indicating he needed prompt treatment. He has rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic autoimmune disease causing intense pain in his neck and ankles. His family attempted to deliver medication to Otay Mesa but was turned away. His sister, brother-in-law, cousin, uncle and a family friend submitted court declarations supporting his release and attesting to his community standing. A judge granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered a bond hearing within seven days, considering his documented medical conditions.

Mark, a U.S. citizen, received his high school diploma in May 2026 while his father Marco watched remotely from Mexico, nearly 2,000 miles away. Marco was arrested by ICE in December 2025 and deported to El Salvador in March despite 40 years in the country and owning a contracting business in Maryland. Mark struggled academically during his senior year following his father's deportation but completed his education. A Guardian investigation found that during the first seven months of the Trump administration, approximately 27,000 children—including 12,000 U.S. citizens—were separated from their parents through immigration enforcement.

A dairy farm worker in New York's North Country was detained by Border Patrol. His girlfriend, Myrna Romero, spoke about the impact of the detention on their family, expressing concerns about freedom and safety in the country.

Fernando Vazquez, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen and landscaper born in Raleigh, North Carolina, was detained by immigration enforcement agents at a construction site in Cary during large-scale enforcement operations in the Triangle area. Despite showing his North Carolina Real ID and telling agents he was an American citizen, Vazquez was handcuffed and placed in an SUV. After agents confirmed his citizenship, Vazquez alleges they threw away his wallet and abandoned him injured in the woods, dropping him off a half mile away from the site. He subsequently filed a legal challenge with ACLU representation, alleging racial profiling and seeking damages for the wrongful arrest and mistreatment.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted enforcement operations in Long Beach on Thursday, resulting in at least nine detentions at workplaces. Mayor Rex Richardson and Supervisor Janice Hahn commented on the operations, with Richardson referencing a violent incident involving a gardener at a restaurant. DHS stated six people in the country without authorization from Mexico were arrested who had prior criminal histories.

Emmanuel Gonzalez-Garcia, a 16-year-old with autism, was separated from his mother Maria Garcia on October 4-5, 2025, while they were selling fruit as street vendors in Houston. After going missing, he was located by firefighters during a welfare check and told police he was homeless, providing a different name. Houston police turned him over to ICE, and he was placed in federal custody with the Office of Refugee Resettlement as an unaccompanied immigrant minor. After approximately 48-50 days in detention, a federal judge ruled that authorities lacked legal authority to detain him since he was not truly unaccompanied. He was reunited with his mother, though their immigration court cases remain pending.

Federal immigration agents conducted enforcement operations at multiple locations in Long Beach on November 20, 2025, including at Polly's Pies restaurant where agents chased and tackled a gardener in front of Long Beach Police Department officers. Agents also arrested three people outside Cherry Donuts and were spotted at four additional locations throughout the morning.

On November 18, a 23-year-old asylum seeker named Fatima Issela Velasquez-Antonio was detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a construction site in Cary, North Carolina, and held at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia for over a month. A federal immigration judge ordered her release in late December, ruling that her detention violated a juvenile-arrival settlement agreement since she had entered the United States unaccompanied as a minor nine years prior and held a valid work permit. The detention was part of Operation Charlotte's Web, a federal enforcement operation that resulted in at least 370 arrests in North Carolina.

Border Patrol detained Moises Benitez Diaz, a 27-year-old Raleigh construction contractor, on November 18 during Operation Charlotte's Web. His wife Esmeralda Escobar, who is 8 months pregnant, is now managing the family business while he is held at a Georgia facility. Despite DHS claiming he was a criminal convicted of felony larceny, court records show his charges were dismissed and he completed a misdemeanor diversion agreement.

In September 2025, federal agents from ICE, Border Patrol, FBI, DEA, IRS, and ATF conducted the largest single-site DHS enforcement operation in history at a Hyundai-LG joint venture battery manufacturing facility near Savannah, Georgia, detaining approximately 450-475 workers. Approximately 300 of those arrested were South Korean nationals; roughly 250 worked for HL-GA Battery Company LLC and about 50 for LG Energy Solutions. ICE alleged many had overstayed visa waiver permits (ESTAs) or held B-1 business visas that did not permit manual labor, though at least one worker with valid documentation was arrested. South Korea's president and foreign minister expressed concern and launched an investigation into whether detained workers were read their rights and reported inappropriate conduct by ICE agents. By November 2025, some workers had been released and returned to their jobs, with HL-GA Battery Co. resuming construction using a mix of new and returning workers, and the facility's opening delayed by two to three months.

An Indian American employee of the Illinois Department of Transportation who is a U.S. citizen was questioned by three masked federal agents on November 7 while working at a Busse Highway resurfacing project in Park Ridge. The agents asked whether the employee had traveled to New York and if he was aware of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who is also Indian. Governor JB Pritzker's office condemned the stop as a targeted questioning of a state employee with no legitimate reason.

Federal agents arrested a teacher at a Chicago daycare in front of parents and children; the educator had a work permit and can be heard telling authorities she had papers. In a separate incident in Los Angeles, federal immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen during a Home Depot raid and drove away with his 1-year-old daughter still in the vehicle; the child and her grandmother are both U.S. citizens.

A 32-year-old U.S. citizen was detained by federal agents during an immigration raid at a Home Depot in Cypress Park, Los Angeles. According to witnesses, agents allegedly drove off in his car with his 1-year-old daughter in the backseat after detaining him for allegedly throwing rocks at agents. The child was later released to her family with a bruised cheek but was otherwise unharmed. The father was released after two days in custody.

Nine employees at Allston Car Wash in Boston—Hector Valladares, Felicita Valladares, Vanessa Vasquez Valladares, Clarisa Aguilon, Heidy Aguilon, Yuli Magali Mendez Luarca, Pablo Oseas Lopez, Dairo Preciado, and Jose P. Enriquez Sagastume—were detained by more than 22 ICE agents on November 4, 2025. All nine workers held valid work permits at the time of their arrest. According to business manager Jose Barrera, agents arrived with subpoenas and detained the workers before allowing them to retrieve their work permits from their lockers. Attorney Todd Pomerleau reported that detainees held at ICE's Boston field office in Burlington experienced mistreatment, including being denied food and shower access for several days, and that one detainee was allegedly transferred to Texas in violation of a court order. Seven of the detained workers subsequently filed a federal tort claim through Boston Lawyers for Civil Rights alleging unlawful arrest, racial profiling based on their Latino and Spanish-speaking status, and mistreatment in custody including shackling, transport to multiple detention facilities, and denial of access to phones, legal counsel, and medications. The complaint seeks $1 million in compensation per worker plus legal fees.

Julio Vargas, a 66-year-old Guatemalan, was detained by U.S. Border Patrol during an immigration raid at El Corredor Salvadoreño in Los Angeles on Sunday. He is being held at Adelanto Detention Center and has reported breathing problems and cramps due to cold conditions, worsened by his existing health conditions and lack of medication. His family is seeking legal assistance but faces financial and resource barriers.

A 16-year-old boy named Diego had both parents taken in separate ICE raids. After being released from ICE custody, Diego's mother Yolanda shared her account of the experience. The incident was originally covered in November of the previous year.

Lonardo Garcia Venegas, 25, was at a construction site in coastal Alabama when immigration agents arrived. Garcia Venegas began filming after his undocumented brother requested a warrant from agents. Agents removed his brother to the ground during the encounter. Garcia Venegas was also taken into custody. Agents checked his REAL ID, which Alabama issues to those legally in the U.S. Garcia Venegas was held handcuffed for more than an hour. His brother was later deported. Garcia Venegas returned to work two weeks later. On a subsequent occasion, an immigration agent encountered Garcia Venegas at a construction site and checked his REAL ID. Agents also held two other workers who had legal status during immigration enforcement activities.

MJMA, a 45-year-old farm worker and lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit, was detained in a van stop by ICE agents who smashed the vehicle's windows without waiting for occupants to comply with commands. Body-camera footage shows MJMA asserting her right to remain silent and requesting a lawyer in Spanish, while an officer broke her phone as she called 911. Agents used facial recognition software to scan her face multiple times, obtaining inaccurate matches—one incorrectly identifying her as "Maria"—and falsely claiming she entered the country unlawfully when she had actually arrived with a valid temporary visa. A federal judge ruled the arrests unlawful and unjustified, finding officers engaged in misconduct, made inaccurate statements in reports, and improperly used facial recognition technology without warrants. MJMA has an ongoing asylum case.

A 45-year-old Mexican citizen who entered legally in January 2025 and overstayed her visa was arrested on her way to work. At the Portland ICE facility, an officer forced her to sign a rights waiver form in Spanish without allowing her to consult a lawyer, telling her that refusing voluntary removal would take a very long time. The form waived her right to an immigration court hearing despite her intention to seek asylum. Within hours, ICE shackled her and transferred her to Tacoma, Washington, before her attorneys could properly advise her.

M-J-M-A, a 45-year-old Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. legally in January 2025 and overstayed her visa, was arrested on October 30, 2025 on her way to work. An ICE officer pressured her to sign a document she did not understand, in Spanish, that waived her right to an immigration court hearing and requested voluntary removal. The officer told her that refusing would delay her departure. When her attorney met with her approximately three hours later, they had only about 10 minutes before the meeting was ended. She was then transferred to Tacoma, Washington and shackled on a bus, with no attorneys able to meet with her for approximately two days afterward.

Five plainclothes federal agents arrested a 26-year-old barber from Venezuela at Rockstar Fadez barbershop in Brighton Park. One agent had posed as a construction worker and customer earlier that morning without identifying himself as law enforcement. The agents threw the barber to the ground and carried him away in a pickup truck while threatening to detain anyone who intervened, and no warrant was presented before the arrest.

George Retes, a disabled American combat veteran, was detained for three days without access to a lawyer or ability to contact family during a massive immigration raid on a marijuana farm where he worked as a security guard. His family could not locate him until they recognized his car in a TikTok video from the scene; agents broke his car window, pepper sprayed him, and tackled him. Retes suffered injuries including a cut leg from broken glass and burns from lingering pepper spray. Despite DHS later claiming he was arrested for assault, he was released without charges and was never told why he was arrested. Retes missed his daughter's third birthday and told ProPublica that agents knew he was a citizen but did not care.

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.

Alexa Ramírez, 38, a Mexican national who had been living and working in Chicago, was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz at the Swap-O-Rama market in October 2025, just eight days after marrying her husband Alexander Villeda. She was held for four days at the Broadview federal immigration processing center, where she signed a form agreeing to self-deport. She was deported to Mexico two days later and is now living on her parents' farm in Oaxaca, unable to reunite with her husband who remains detained in Michigan.

On October 15, 2025, ICE agents conducted a raid at a car wash in Hamden, Connecticut, detaining between seven and eight people. Among those detained were parents of school-age children. Witnesses reported seeing masked agents in tactical gear and unmarked vehicles; one person was slammed to the ground and another was placed in an unmarked van. An agent allegedly threatened a witness who inquired about detainees. Hamden's mayor, town council president, state legislators, and immigrant rights advocates held a press conference that afternoon to express concern about the raid and family separations.

A long-time employee of Hojas Tea House was detained Tuesday morning while taking out the trash at its Wilmington location, according to a post the concept shared on its Instagram account. According to the post, Eloy was part of Hojas Tea House for 12 years.

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."

Five people were detained during a raid on September 13, 2025 at 9:55 AM in Long Beach at 577 E Wardlow Rd. The detained individuals included migrants, citizens, and legal residents. Carwash owners and construction site operators were advised to install protective fencing around their work sites and properties.

Drumgoon Dairy, a 6,500-cow operation owned by Rodney and Dorothy Elliott, experienced a federal Department of Homeland Security audit that resulted in the immediate termination of 38 employees in spring 2025. The audit found several workers had inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete documentation regarding citizenship status or work permits. The farm was left with 16 workers after the operation, losing years of accumulated experience and team knowledge built over a decade.

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.

Panchos Tacos in Mount Vernon, Ohio closed in early October 2025 after an ICE operation resulted in the arrest of five undocumented immigrants who were employees at the restaurant. After five months of closure, the restaurant reopened on March 3, 2026, with support from the local community.

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.

Francisco Miranda, a U.S. citizen born in California, was arrested by ICE agents outside his workplace in Milwaukie, Oregon. While being detained, Miranda repeatedly told agents he was born in California, but they questioned his claim and took him into custody. Miranda recorded part of his arrest before agents confiscated his cellphone. His attorney, Michael Fuller, characterized the arrest as an illegal abduction. Miranda appears to be the first known U.S. citizen arrested by ICE in Oregon this year.

Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a U.S.-born citizen, was detained by ICE agents on two separate occasions at construction sites in recent months. His attorney disputes the government's claim that he interfered with agents, stating he was violently tackled and detained despite showing his Real ID both times. The lawsuit alleges ICE violated Fourth Amendment protections and that officers targeted Latino workers based on racial assumptions.

At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, ride-share drivers — including, in one sweep, a nursing mother — were blocked in and questioned about their status by federal immigration agents. In a separate incident, a ride-share driver who produced an Illinois ID and work authorization had his car boxed in, window broken, was fired on with a Taser twice after the first attempt failed, and then tased again after being pulled from the vehicle.

Giovanni, a 48-year-old car wash worker in the San Fernando Valley, was detained in October 2025 along with three coworkers during a federal immigration raid. Unlike his coworkers who were deported to Mexico within 24 hours, Giovanni refused to sign voluntary departure documents and was held at Adelanto ICE Processing Center for six months rather than return to El Salvador. His detention left his wife Maria and school-age children without his primary income.