Human Impact Project

Marina Ortiz, a fifth-grade teacher at Global Village Academy in Douglas County, was detained by ICE on October 24 during a routine immigration appointment at an ICE field office in Centennial. Despite possessing valid legal work authorization documentation through spring 2029, Ortiz was classified as an "undocumented immigrant from Peru" and transferred to a detention facility in Texas. School officials confirmed her legitimate employment status.

ICE agents attempted to arrest 21-year-old undocumented Honduran immigrant Willian Castillo-Hernandez on October 24, 2025, despite not having a warrant for him. After he fled to his home, a multi-hour standoff ensued involving the FBI. Video evidence suggests ICE rammed his truck, contradicting ICE's claim that he rammed them. Castillo-Hernandez was ultimately arrested after negotiators convinced him to leave the house.

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen and sophomore football player at Alief Hastings High School, was detained for several hours on October 23 when ICE agents stopped a vehicle carrying him and his father, Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo. Bazan alleged he was beaten and choked by masked officers who did not identify themselves, but ICE denied the allegations and stated Bazan elbowed a federal agent in the face during the encounter. Bazan was released after ICE verified his U.S. citizenship.

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 federal immigration enforcement operations in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on October 23, 2025, federal agents led by U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino detained at least five people, including two Benito Juarez Community Academy high school students and at least one U.S. citizen. A 16-year-old junior was detained and later released; video showed federal agents grabbing a teenage boy from a sidewalk and forcibly handcuffing him. When dozens of residents and protesters gathered near a discount mall at 27th and Whipple streets to oppose the enforcement action, federal agents wearing military-style camouflage and gas masks deployed tear gas and pepper spray into the crowd. Video evidence shows Bovino himself tossing a tear gas canister into the crowd after being told not to do so by Little Village Community Council President Baltazar Enriquez. A 24-year-old U.S. citizen woman protesting was also detained and placed in a van; her sister reported not hearing from her as of Thursday afternoon. Attorneys filed a federal complaint alleging agents violated a court order prohibiting riot control weapons without imminent threat and requiring prior warnings. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordered Bovino to testify for five hours and appear in person for a status hearing.

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.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from about 10 agencies swept La Catedral Arena horse track in Wilder, Idaho, in October, zip-tying roughly 400 attendees, including children, during what the FBI called an illegal gambling investigation covered by a warrant for only five suspects. Ultimately 105 undocumented immigrants were taken into ICE custody, while a group of Idahoans, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, sued alleging officers used racial epithets and withheld water, food, bathroom access and medical care; lead plaintiff Juana Rodriguez said she was zip-tied for nearly four hours and unable to hold her 3-year-old son. Records show the Nampa Police Department spent about $24,000 and the Caldwell Police Department spent $11,300 in officer wages that day, with Caldwell's chief saying he felt 'very bad' that children were separated from parents. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill later ordered 16 detainees released after rejecting the government's bid to expand mandatory detention and awarded roughly $87,000 in attorneys' fees to two law firms suing over the raid. Four protesters arrested at the scene were charged with misdemeanor resisting and obstructing officers, with most charges later dropped; ICE, the FBI and local agencies have since filed motions seeking dismissal of the lawsuit. Attorney Nikki Ramirez-Smith said, 'If the government's going to illegally detain them, and we have to fight that ... we're all going to pay for it.'

David Huerta, president of SEIU California, was arrested while protesting a federal immigration raid at an apparel business in downtown Los Angeles. Federal agents pushed him to the ground, causing his head to hit the curb, then sprayed him with a chemical irritant, handcuffed him, and took him to a hospital before transferring him to a federal detention center. Prosecutors initially charged him with felony conspiracy to impede a federal officer. The charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor, and the case was ultimately dismissed with prejudice in July. Huerta said the 15-month legal ordeal caused him significant psychological stress, strained his marriage, and led him to begin therapy.

Maricruz Andres, 24, and her 3-month-old baby were inside a Gresham apartment when ICE agents repeatedly shouted a name from outside for over an hour. When the family did not come out, armed officers forced their way in, drew rifles as they entered the bedroom where Andres and others had taken refuge, and arrested two men. Andres said the agents displayed no warrant. The incident occurred as ICE enforcement in Oregon has intensified, with reports of agents pulling Latino high school students from a car at gunpoint twice in one day in Hillsboro, arresting construction workers at job sites, and conducting operations in public spaces and businesses.

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.

On October 16, 2025, a collision occurred between an ICE vehicle and a truck driven by Leo Martinez, a volunteer with immigrant rights group VC Defensa, during an enforcement operation near 8th and A streets in Oxnard. ICE agents initially told police that Martinez's truck rammed their vehicle, but video footage released by VC Defensa showed an ICE Jeep striking Martinez's Nissan truck. Martinez was arrested by federal agents at the scene and taken to a federal facility in Los Angeles, where he was released the same day. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to pursue charges.

A 72-year-old man was removed from his apartment and marched outside while wearing only his robe and underwear as a result of mistaken identity during Memphis Safe Task Force operations. He was among residents harassed during the task force surge authorized by President Trump.

Juan Barbosa Gomez, a 60-year-old Mexican national with a valid work visa and clean criminal record, was arrested by ICE officers on October 15 in Portland, Oregon. His family claims the arrest was wrongful and says he has lived and worked legally in the U.S. for over 30 years. Since his arrest, Barbosa has been transferred between multiple detention facilities across three states and does not appear on ICE's online detainee locator, leaving his family unable to locate him or mount a legal defense.

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."

Victor Cruz-Gamez, a 55-year-old Hillsboro business owner, was arrested by ICE on October 14 after agents pulled him over in downtown Hillsboro, apparently searching for another person named Victor Cruz. Cruz-Gamez had recently received work authorization and visa eligibility from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and has no Oregon criminal history except a dismissed 2008 traffic ticket. Despite these factors, he has remained in ICE custody at the Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington since his arrest, facing deportation because he unlawfully crossed the border as a teenager.

Victor Cruz, a Hillsboro resident with legal work authorization and temporary protected status, was arrested by ICE on October 14 after agents pulled him over, claiming he was wanted on DUI and hit-and-run charges. ICE agents allegedly confused him with another man bearing the same name despite recognizing the photo mismatch. After ICE confirmed at the Portland facility that Cruz had no criminal record, he was transferred to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, where he remained for over three weeks. An immigration judge initially denied bail, but a federal district court judge released Cruz on bond on November 7. Democratic political leaders, including Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, and his family and attorney protested the detention as unlawful.

ICE arrested a U.S. citizen in Oregon. An attorney stated the arrest was illegal and characterized it as an abduction. Limited details about the arrested individual's identity and circumstances are available in the report.

Chicago TV producer for WGN-TV, Debbie Brockman, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on Friday in a residential area during immigration enforcement operations. A federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting DHS agents from arresting journalists without probable cause. Brockman was released from federal custody the same day with no charges filed against her.

Guilherme Lemes Cardoso E Silva, a 35-year-old Brazilian visual artist and former attorney based in Sausalito, was detained by ICE agents on July 11, 2025, while driving on San Juan Island, Washington, to pick up his 4-year-old daughter. His wife, Rachel Leidig, who is an American makeup artist 7 months pregnant with their first child due in October, says ICE agents surrounded Silva's car with approximately six unmarked vehicles, refused to show a warrant, confiscated his phone while he was recording, and used physical force during the arrest, pushing him against the car and handcuffing him. Silva, who entered the U.S. on a valid six-month visa eight years ago and overstayed his status, had no criminal record and was in the final stages of applying for a green card through an I-130 petition filed by his wife after they married in April 2025. ICE agents claimed to have found illicit images on Silva's phone and charged him with possessing depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Silva was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where according to Leidig he was subjected to invasive searches, made to sleep on the floor with 35 other detainees, and shackled during transport. On July 29, a judge ordered Silva's release on bond, which Leidig paid in full, but ICE transferred him to Whatcom County without explanation, complicating his legal representation. On September 12, after 63 days in custody, Silva was released on personal recognizance. On October 6, a judge dismissed the criminal charges against him without prejudice, four days before the birth of his newborn son, Isidore. The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney indicated charges could be refiled pending investigation completion. Leidig speculated that the detention may have been related to a custody battle Silva was involved in.

Sunny Naqvi, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Skokie, was detained at O'Hare Airport after returning from a work trip to Turkey and held for nearly 30 hours at ICE facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin before being released. Federal agencies provided conflicting accounts of her detention, with CBP claiming she was released within 90 minutes while her family and elected officials reported she was transferred to multiple detention centers. Her case is part of a broader pattern, with ProPublica documenting over 170 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents in recent years and advocacy groups reporting increased airport encounters in 2026.

ICE agents conducted an enforcement action at West Loop Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois during afternoon school pickup. Thirteen masked agents surrounded a car and removed two sisters who were DACA recipients and were eventually released after proving their legal status. One sister, Jocelyn, stated the agents did not have a warrant. The driver of the vehicle was also the other sister. A teacher exiting an Uber at the time recorded video of the incident after hearing children screaming.

Daniel Greer and David Eichler, U.S. citizen cemetery workers at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, say they were pepper-sprayed and arrested by ICE agents on Tuesday afternoon while attempting to help an unidentified man struggling in the Des Plaines River. According to the workers, ICE agents breached the cemetery gate onto private property, immediately pepper-sprayed them with guns drawn, and tackled them to the ground after they questioned the agents' authority and noted the man was on the riverbank outside the cemetery property.

Federal immigration officers entered the Brooklyn home of Hayk Safaryan, a 44-year-old Armenian immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for over two decades, without a judicial warrant or consent and detained him while seizing his personal documents. According to court testimony from his wife, officers conducted a warrantless search after Safaryan answered the door. A federal habeas lawsuit challenges the arrest's legality under Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, part of broader litigation challenging ICE enforcement practices across the country.

U.S. citizens, including Latinos, were detained during Trump's immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area. Detainees reported being assaulted by officers who questioned them about their birthplace. The incident occurred when Diego Rosales was stopped by ICE agents while waiting for a school bus in Waukegan.

Aurelio was arrested on October 5, 2025, after a woman accused him of assaulting a child without providing evidence. Local police took him to the woman's house for identification, then booked him on assault charges and transferred custody to ICE the next day under a 287(g) cooperation agreement. The case was dismissed on March 26, 2026, after prosecutors could not obtain evidence from the arresting officer. Aurelio spent two months in ICE detention before posting bond in December 2025 and now wears an electronic ankle monitor while awaiting an asylum hearing.

Debbie Brockman, a WGN News creative services employee, was detained by Border Patrol agents near Lincoln and Foster avenues on Chicago's North Side. Federal agents rammed their van into her car before detaining her. According to Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, agents claimed Brockman threw an object at them during enforcement duties. She was subsequently released with no charges filed.

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.

Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara was arrested by police on June 14, 2025, while covering a protest in DeKalb County, Georgia, and charged with obstructing police, unlawful assembly, and improperly entering a roadway. After a judge granted him bond, ICE placed a 48-hour hold on him despite his work authorization and pending green card application. Guevara spent 110 days in ICE custody, including 22 hours daily in solitary confinement, before being deported to El Salvador. A federal judge questioned the legality of his detention. His attorneys argued it violated his constitutional rights to free speech and due process. The government claimed broad discretion to detain him as a deportable immigrant. Guevara stated he was targeted for his journalistic work documenting immigration raids rather than for any criminal activity.

On Friday, October 2, 2025, federal immigration agents handcuffed Alderman Jessie Fuentes of the 26th Ward at Humboldt Park Hospital while she was confronting them about an arrest. Fuentes asked agents if they had a signed warrant before being handcuffed and led outside the hospital. Agents were at the hospital pursuing a person who had been injured and brought for medical care. The incident occurred during broader immigration enforcement operations across Chicago that included tear gas deployment and multiple arrests, including at least one U.S. citizen. Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that elected officials have a First Amendment right to document ICE actions and inform constituents of their rights. Governor Pritzker called for an investigation into treatment of children during a separate federal raid in South Shore.

Juan Munoz, an Oak Park Township trustee, was arrested outside the Broadview ICE facility on October 3 while protesting in a designated protest-free zone. Federal agents pulled him to the ground, zip-tied him with plastic handcuffs, and detained him for approximately eight hours without being told why or what he was accused of. Munoz was forced to stand along a guardrail for 40 minutes while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and photographers passed by, which he described as political theater and being used as a prop. He was then locked in a filthy cell with a shared toilet and soiled waste before being released without documentation or charges. Munoz is pursuing legal action and stated that federal agents violated the rights of community members without due process.

Cole Sheridan, a 27-year-old hospitality worker, was arrested during a pro-immigrant protest at the Broadview immigration enforcement facility on October 3 while demonstrating against a deportation blitz. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino accused Sheridan of pushing and swinging at him, resulting in federal charges for assaulting, resisting, and interfering with a federal officer. Sheridan was detained for three days at the Broadview facility and the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Downtown Chicago. After a friend discovered video footage from an October 31 news report showing Sheridan being pushed down—not in front of Bovino—prosecutors dropped all charges the next business day. Sheridan said the incident cost him four days of work and a month of anxiety over potential imprisonment.

Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed and threatened with arrest by federal immigration agents at Humboldt Park Health on Friday after she questioned them about their authority to conduct enforcement at the medical facility. Fuentes said agents shoved her when she asked if they had a warrant to make arrests in the hospital, and later restrained her while claiming she was impeding their work. She reported that agents were attempting to detain a person with a broken leg at the hospital, and noted that federal agents have brought multiple injured people to local hospitals following arrests.

Kyle Frankovich, a protester, was arrested outside the Broadview ICE facility on October 3 while demonstrating in a designated protest zone. Federal agents grabbed and threw him to the ground, zip-tied him, and detained him for approximately eight hours without explanation or charges. Frankovich was made to stand along a guardrail for 40 minutes while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem walked past with cameras and photographers. He was then locked in a filthy cell and later released without documentation or charges. The following week, his fiancée Leigh Kunkle was shot in the face with pepper balls by federal agents during another protest at the same facility. Frankovich and his fiancée are planning legal action, with their attorney filing federal claims alleging wrongful detention and violation of rights.

On October 3, 2025, 26th Ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was shoved and handcuffed by masked ICE agents at Humboldt Park Health Hospital while advocating for a detained constituent during Operation Midway Blitz. Fuentes filed a federal tort claims lawsuit in October 2025, and formally sued the federal government in May 2026 after the Department of Homeland Security failed to respond within the required timeframe. The lawsuit alleges battery, assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming Fuentes suffered shoulder pain, anxiety, nightmares, and emotional distress from the encounter.

Catalina 'Xóchitl' Santiago, a 28-year-old DACA recipient and community organizer from El Paso, was detained by Border Patrol agents on August 3, 2025, at El Paso International Airport while traveling for work with her wife, Desiree Miller, a U.S. citizen whom Santiago married earlier in 2025. Despite holding valid DACA status since 2012—renewed seven times with her current renewal expiring in April 2026—Santiago was subjected to deportation proceedings. Originally from Mexico, Santiago has lived in the U.S. since age 8. On October 1, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Santiago's arrest and detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and ordered her release from the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Judge Cardone found that the government presented no evidence that Santiago endangered anyone during her twenty years at liberty, including her thirteen years under DACA, and failed to articulate any individualized reason for her detention. Santiago's brother Jose said the family was deeply affected by her detention and expressed relief at her release.

On September 30, 2025, ICE and FBI agents conducted an operation at an apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago as part of Operation Midway Blitz, detaining approximately 37 people including Venezuelan migrants and at least one U.S. citizen. The operation involved helicopters, snipers, flash-bangs, and agents breaking down doors and zip-tying residents. The federal government has provided no public accounting of how many remain in custody, what happened to children present in the building, or whether any criminal charges were filed related to the raid.

Monica, an Ecuadorian child care worker seeking asylum, was pushed to the ground and shoved into a wall by an ICE agent outside an immigration court in New York City on September 25, 2025, during her husband Ruben's arrest. The incident was captured on video and spread on social media. Monica feared Ruben's deportation would be a death sentence. The ICE officer was temporarily removed from duty following the video evidence, but was reinstated days later despite DHS condemnation of the conduct as unacceptable and political calls for felony charges. The officer has a history of aggressive behavior at the same location. In late October, a federal court ordered Ruben's release, finding he had been detained without explanation while his partner and two young children were present. The family of four has since been reunited, though their asylum cases remain pending.

Hilda Ramirez Sanan, 50, a legal permanent resident, was violently arrested by ICE on September 26 while accompanying a family member to a court hearing in Chelsea with her 13-year-old son in the car. According to a federal complaint filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights, eight armed and masked officers surrounded her vehicle, smashed the car glass, and forcibly restrained her, kicking her and slamming her face on the ground while twisting her arms to handcuff her. Her son, who has autism, was also removed from the car and questioned by agents about his legal status while being held against a fence. When local police arrived and verified her valid green card, ICE released her. Ramirez Sanan and her children were taken to a hospital emergency room for medical evaluation. The complaint alleges violations of Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and ICE protocol violations.

Paramjit Singh, a lawful permanent resident who arrived in the U.S. 30 years ago, was detained at Chicago O'Hare Airport on July 30, 2025, based on a 25-year-old theft conviction. DHS subsequently filed for his removal citing an alleged 2008 forgery conviction that appears not to exist; an immigration judge ordered his release on a $10,000 bond in August, but DHS filed an automatic stay to keep him detained. Singh, who is suffering from a progressive brain tumor causing vision loss, remains in a Kentucky county jail awaiting removal proceedings scheduled for September 29.

The National Immigrant Justice Center and ACLU of Illinois filed a federal court notice on behalf of 27 people arrested without warrants or probable cause by Department of Homeland Security officers since May 2025, with at least 20 arrested in September. The filing challenges violations of a consent decree that prohibits racial profiling and warrantless arrests, documenting incidents where people were arrested while walking in neighborhoods, at parking lots, during traffic stops, and at their homes.

A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Paulo Cesar Gamez Lira, a 27-year-old DACA recipient and father of four U.S. citizen children who was detained by ICE for 42 days. Gamez Lira was detained on August 13 when federal agents surrounded his vehicle in Horizon City, Texas, with two of his young children present. He was held at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico, separated from his family including a three-month-old infant with serious medical conditions. The federal government declined to oppose his release.

Wesley Powers, a U.S. Navy veteran and U.S. citizen, was shot with chemical agent by ICE agents while protesting at Minnesota's Whipple Detention Center in January 2026. He was detained for 9 hours in an overcrowded cell, had his lawyer calls monitored, and was photographed by agents using personal phones before being released without charges. Powers reports subsequent incidents including vehicles at his home and lost work income.

Joe Botello, a U.S. citizen born in Texas, was handcuffed and detained by federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Elgin on September 16, 2025. Agents forcibly entered his home, breaking down doors, and placed him in a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle before releasing him after scanning his driver's license. The operation, part of a larger immigration enforcement blitz in the Chicago area, also resulted in the detention of his roommates.

On the morning of September 16, 2025, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem led a military-style raid on an Elgin home, with camouflage-uniformed agents and helicopters breaking down the front door at approximately 5:30 a.m. Four people were taken into custody, but two of them were apparent U.S. citizens who were released shortly afterward. One released man stated he was relieved he had his wallet and ID and that he cooperated with agents. ICE claimed the detainees were violent criminals wanted for crimes including assault and DUI, though the accuracy of these characterizations was disputed by community members.

ICE agents raided the Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on Saturday, detaining seven workers (four women and three men). The workers, from Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico, had various forms of legal status according to the manager, but agents allegedly confiscated or dismissed their immigration documents. The detained workers have been processed at facilities in Santa Ana, Adelanto, and Los Angeles.

José Daniel López Peña, a 26-year-old from Honduras who came to the U.S. in 2020, was detained by ICE agents on Churn Creek Road while dropping off his girlfriend for work. According to his sister, agents showed no warrants and the family still does not know why he was detained. López Peña has never been arrested and has no deportation order but lacks legal status, and organizers say he is the sole caregiver for his 6 young siblings. He was transported to Mesa Verde Detention Facility. Hundreds of people gathered in Redding to protest his detention, and local officials said they had no information about the incident and directed questions to ICE.

Two 17-year-old U.S. citizens, including Luis Ochoa, were detained by ICE agents in Alamo, Texas, after stopping to record an immigration enforcement operation on their way to a Marine Corps recruitment office. Video showed an agent repeatedly hitting one teen and agents using pepper spray while pulling him from his car and handcuffing him; Ochoa said his wrist was broken and he told agents he was a U.S. citizen, to which an agent allegedly replied, "I don't give a damn. Your parents can't help you now." The teens were held for eight hours before being released. Ochoa's mother, Teresa Ochoa, said the experience was traumatic and that officials refused to provide information about her son's whereabouts, while DHS described the teens as "anti-ICE agitators" who obstructed and assaulted officers.

Pedro Rojas, a U.S. citizen born in Puerto Rico, was working at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory when armed federal agents raided the site. After identifying himself as a citizen, he was still required to show ID and give his contact information before he was allowed to leave. Rojas is now a plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging the raid targeted Latinx workers based on ethnicity, saying "once they hear you speaking Spanish, they're discriminating against you and mistreating you."

On September 4, 2025, roughly 60 armed and masked federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, CBP and local sheriff's offices raided the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato, New York. Officers broke down a locked bathroom door on female employees, herded over 100 workers into a break room, and separated them by citizenship status without individualized suspicion, questioning pregnant employees and parents worried about children waiting at home. At least 57 workers were arrested, more than 20 were separated from their children, and some were denied access to attorneys or family before being sent to out-of-state detention facilities. Pedro Rojas, a U.S. citizen who was seized and interrogated, said agents targeted him and his coworkers because they are Latino. Only five of those arrested faced criminal charges, the most serious being unlawful reentry, and two plaintiffs were deported, though one has since been allowed to reenter the country. The NYCLU and the Worker Justice Center of New York filed a class action lawsuit against DHS alleging officers exceeded their search warrants and violated workers' Fourth Amendment rights.

Ernesto Diaz, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, was walking down Archer Avenue on Chicago's Southwest Side in late September when masked federal agents grabbed him, slammed him against a vehicle, and handcuffed him. Agents ripped out his earbuds and threatened to tase him when he moved. After about five minutes of questioning and inspecting his ID and Social Security card, agents threw his wallet on the ground and drove away. Diaz believes he was targeted based on his race and ethnicity during Operation Midway Blitz.