Human Impact Project

Leonardo 'Leo' Garcia Venegas, a 25-year-old U.S.-born citizen of Mexican descent working construction in Baldwin County, Alabama, was detained by immigration agents multiple times beginning in May 2025 despite presenting a valid Alabama REAL ID. In the first incident, armed agents raided a Foley construction site, tackled his undocumented brother, and held Garcia Venegas handcuffed for over an hour after he began filming and asserted his citizenship; his brother was later deported. Weeks later, agents detained him again at another job site, again dismissing his ID as fake despite him also providing his Social Security card. In a third encounter, officers followed him home, pulled him from his vehicle, tackled him, and shackled him. Never charged with a crime, Garcia Venegas testified before Congress saying 'I don't feel free,' and filed a federal lawsuit with the Institute for Justice against DHS officials, including Tom Homan and Kristi Noem, alleging Fourth Amendment violations, assault, battery, and false arrest. A federal judge in the Southern District of Alabama denied the government's motion to dismiss and temporarily halted warrantless construction-site raids, a ruling Garcia Venegas called 'a huge blow to lawless enforcement practices.'

An Afghan man who worked as a U.S. military interpreter and cultural adviser during Operation Enduring Freedom was detained by ICE and FBI agents outside his St. Louis County home as he left for a morning run. He entered the U.S. legally in 2014 through the Special Immigrant Visa program and is a green card holder who built a life with his wife, Cata Estrada, and their children, including one born weeks before his arrest. A scientist with multiple degrees who hoped to become a doctor, he is also a plaintiff in a 2023 federal lawsuit over being placed on terrorist watchlists. ICE alleges he provided material support to a terrorist organization, citing a 2021 FBI search warrant linking him to a group associated with al-Qaida, and claims he lied on his 2019 naturalization application. He denies the allegations, says his rights as a permanent resident have been violated, and is seeking a jury trial. He is being held at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center in Missouri, with an immigration court hearing scheduled for Sept. 14 in Kansas City.

Jose Mejia Hernandez, a 45-year-old Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 18 years, was walking to work along Columbia Pike in Arlington, Virginia on August 11 when plainclothes ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle approached him without identifying themselves. He fled, was struck by a vehicle, and was shocked with a stun gun before losing consciousness, waking hours later at George Washington University Hospital with two black eyes, facial lacerations, brain swelling, and a subarachnoid brain bleed. He was hospitalized for several days with ICE officers stationed in his room, returned for an MRI on August 14 due to worsening symptoms, and was later fitted with an ankle monitor he says delayed further medical testing. His attorneys, Denisse Gastélum, Carlos Jurado and Margaret Hellerstein, say he now struggles to eat, sleep, speak normally, or work, and have filed a police report seeking criminal charges against the officers and driver, notified federal agencies of intent to sue under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and are pursuing a U visa on his behalf. DHS disputes his account, saying officers used necessary force after he attempted to flee, and cites a prior voluntary return to Mexico and a 2020 public intoxication conviction. He has been placed in deportation proceedings with a hearing scheduled for September 14. Virginia officials including Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Reps. Don Beyer, Suhas Subramanyam and James Walkinshaw have criticized the circumstances of his arrest, and Arlington County Police have opened an investigation. Separately, the Arlington County Board approved $50,000 in emergency grants, distributed through Arlington Thrive, to support families whose primary wage earner was detained during a broader ICE enforcement surge that led to roughly 1,300 arrests across the D.C. area in August.

Maria Rosales, a 32-year-old DACA recipient who came to the U.S. from Colombia as a young child and has lived in Florida for nearly three decades, was detained without warrant by ICE agents at Logan Airport on July 10, 2026, while returning home after a trip to Boston. She works as a dermatologist's assistant treating skin cancer patients and founded a nonprofit color guard organization that provides performing arts opportunities to young people in the Orlando area, with friends and colleagues describing her as a dedicated community leader. ICE cited a 2017 removal order from a New Mexico immigration checkpoint stop that Rosales says she was never properly informed of, and her attorney contends the warrant used to justify her detention may have been fabricated after she was already in custody. She was held for 10 days at ICE's Burlington, Massachusetts facility, where she reported inconsistent access to showers, food, water, and medication, and rooms holding as many as eight women at a time. A federal judge ordered her release after finding ICE failed to comply with statutory detention procedures, and she subsequently filed a lawsuit against the agency, which a judge refused to dismiss in September.

Linda Wolff, a 72-year-old fashion stylist and longtime immigrant rights supporter from Manhattan, was pepper-sprayed in the face by a masked ICE agent while filming federal officers near Inwood Hill Park during what officials referred to as 'Operation Rotten Apple.' Wolff said she had learned of ICE's presence via social media and was recording from a distance, never touching or acting aggressively toward officers, when an agent approached and sprayed her without provocation. She said her eyes and skin burned afterward but continued documenting ICE activity in the neighborhood and said she would not be deterred from doing so again. DHS said agents used pepper spray to control an 'unruly, combative' crowd while recovering a vandalized government van, describing their response as appropriate and within training. Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the incident as part of a pattern of aggressive federal immigration enforcement tactics against New Yorkers, and Wolff's attorney filed a claim against ICE under New York's newly enacted Bivens Act, calling it one of the first tests of the statute and describing the pepper-spraying as 'purely punitive.'

Erick Lopez, a 29-year-old Honduran citizen with no criminal record, was stopped by Houston police for a traffic violation on June 17, 2026. According to his lawsuit, officers detained him for more than two hours after the traffic stop, prolonging it until ICE agents arrived to take him into custody. Lopez, who worked in tile and flooring and was supporting a girlfriend and her two children, was deported to Honduras on June 27. He has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the City of Houston alleging that police violated his constitutional rights by unlawfully extending the traffic stop solely to facilitate his arrest by federal immigration agents, and seeking damages and an injunction against the practice.

Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, mother of three, poet, and legal observer, was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7, 2026, while monitoring an immigration enforcement operation on Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis. Good had blocked the street with her Honda Pilot to warn neighbors of ICE's presence when Ross fired three shots at eye level as her car turned away from officers. Her wife, Becca, said they were simply warning neighbors. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump claimed Good tried to run over agents and called her actions 'domestic terrorism,' but video evidence, a New York Times analysis, Human Rights Watch, and an independent autopsy found she posed no imminent threat and was shot in the head, arm, and breast. Protesters gathered at the ICE Field Office in St. Paul the following day, where agents responded with pepper balls, mace, and tear gas. The administration blocked a federal criminal investigation, instead launching 'Operation Puppet Master' targeting progressive groups. Good's family later filed a federal tort claim, hundreds of federal agents were withdrawn from Minnesota, and her case was presented at an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing.

The ACLU filed 54 legal claims against ICE across 17 states, alleging federal agents engaged in wrongful conduct including unlawful arrests, racial profiling, and excessive force. One claim involves a woman who alleges ICE agents threw her into the air and slammed her head onto the ground outside Delaney Hall in New Jersey, seeking $500,000 in damages. The claims accuse ICE of negligence and civil rights violations during immigration enforcement actions.

The ACLU of Ohio filed a federal lawsuit alleging that ICE agents repeatedly violated federal law by making warrantless arrests without determining flight risk, detained individuals for weeks or months, and mistreated detainees. The lawsuit details cases involving people with valid visas, work permits, and U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico, suggesting possible racial profiling. The plaintiffs seek class action status and want courts to stop warrantless arrests and require compensation for those improperly detained.

Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and Columbia University graduate student of Syrian-Palestinian descent, was arrested by ICE without a warrant at his apartment building on March 8, 2025, following his pro-Palestinian activism and organizing campus protests. The Trump administration pursued deportation based on allegations he concealed prior employment with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and the British Embassy on his visa application. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used immigration provision claiming his activism threatens U.S. foreign policy. Khalil was held for 104 days at LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana before a federal judge released him on bail in June 2025. In July 2026, he filed a lawsuit against Trump administration officials and pro-Israel groups, alleging they conspired to target him and others for supporting Palestinian rights, claiming the administration coordinated with surveillance groups Betar and Canary Mission using a document called "Project Esther" as a blueprint.

Jaime Alanis Garcia, a 57-year-old farmworker at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, died from injuries sustained during a federal immigration raid in July 2025. While fleeing federal immigration agents who deployed rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun guns, Garcia fell approximately 30 feet from a greenhouse roof, sustaining a broken neck and skull fractures. He was placed on life support before his family decided to discontinue his care. Garcia's wife and daughter filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Glass House Farms and the federal government, alleging that federal agents' use of excessive force caused Garcia to seek shelter on the roof. The raid resulted in more than 360 arrests of undocumented workers across Camarillo and Carpinteria locations. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Alanis was never in custody and was not being chased by federal agents. Community members later marched through Carpinteria to commemorate Garcia's death and demand accountability.

Arturo Ruvalcaba, a 38-year-old deaf man with a green card, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against ICE agents and federal officials after an encounter on September 29 outside Salt Lake Community College's Taylorsville campus. According to the lawsuit, three white Ford SUVs pulled up to a bus stop where Ruvalcaba was waiting, and agents in military-style uniforms approached him shouting commands without providing a sign language interpreter or accommodating his deafness. When Ruvalcaba attempted to communicate through gestures and sign language and retrieve his documentation, an agent pushed him down by his shoulders and another pulled forcefully on his arm, injuring his elbow. After presenting his legal status documents, he was released. Ruvalcaba subsequently experienced pain and swelling, required multiple medical treatments, and missed several weeks of work. His wife reported that the encounter affected the emotional well-being of their three adopted sons. On July 8, 2026, the parties filed a stipulated motion to dismiss the case without prejudice, and the court terminated the civil case on July 9, 2026.

Ulises Peña López, a 30-year-old Mexican carpenter and father living in Sunnyvale, California, with pre-existing conditions including a mini-stroke, blood clot, heart condition, and spinal and knee injuries, was surrounded by armed ICE agents outside his home in late February 2025. Agents smashed his truck window, pulled him out at gunpoint, and beat him unconscious in an alleyway while his wife Aby and young daughter watched, according to a federal lawsuit filed by his family with Disability Law United and Pangea Legal Services. He was hospitalized in Mountain View and allegedly shackled to his bed, with nurses passing him written notes to avoid ICE surveillance; his wife said he lost feeling in half his face and parts of his right side. During months in detention at Golden State Annex, California City Detention Facility, and other GEO Group and CoreCivic-run facilities, staff allegedly denied him a cane, hearing aids, medication, and other disability accommodations, and mocked him when he filed grievances. He was deported to Mexico in October 2025, where he says he is living in hiding, while his wife has been diagnosed with PTSD and their daughter has shown developmental regression. The family's lawsuit against DHS, ICE, GEO Group, and CoreCivic alleges civil rights, due process, and disability rights violations.

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.

Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen from San Antonio, was fatally shot by Homeland Security Investigations Agent Jack Stevens on South Padre Island while traveling with his best friend, Joshua Orta, to celebrate his birthday. Federal officials claimed Martinez struck an agent with his car after refusing orders, but bodycam footage obtained through public records requests and a FOIA lawsuit showed his vehicle stationary or barely moving, with brake lights on, when he was shot three times; he was then pulled from the car, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed before receiving medical care. Orta, the only civilian witness, told investigators Martinez was 'hesitant' and 'scared'; Orta died in a car crash less than a year later. Martinez's mother, Rachel Reyes, said Texas Rangers investigators told her the footage contradicted the agents' account, and her attorneys say no one was near the car when Martinez was shot. A Texas grand jury declined to indict Stevens, and the family filed a tort claim against the federal government.

In March 2025, ICE agent fatally shot 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez on South Padre Island, Texas. Bodycam footage shows the vehicle with brake lights engaged when three shots were fired through the window. Martinez was removed from the car and restrained before receiving medical care, but died at a Brownsville hospital. The agency's involvement was not publicly revealed until nearly eleven months later. A grand jury declined to indict the agent, and ICE stated the shooting was justified. Martinez's family is pursuing a tort claim for wrongful death.

Marimar Martínez, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen and teaching assistant, was shot by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum on October 4, 2025, in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood during Operation Midway Blitz, sustaining seven wounds from five shots. Federal prosecutors alleged she and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz followed agents' vehicles and that she rammed an agent's car, leading to felony assault charges and the government labeling her a 'domestic terrorist.' Martínez's attorney disputed the account, citing body camera footage of an agent telling her to 'do something' before shooting, and arguing agents themselves caused the collision. She and Ruiz were released pending trial, and prosecutors later dismissed all charges after text messages surfaced showing Exum bragging, 'I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes.' A federal judge ruled that agents' use of force against citizens in the incident 'shocks the conscience.' Martínez has since filed a tort claim against the federal government seeking damages.

On October 1, 2025, federal agents from Border Patrol, FBI, and ATF conducted a predawn military-style raid on a five-story apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood around 1 a.m. as part of "Operation Midway Blitz." Agents rappelled from helicopters, kicked down doors, and threw flash bang grenades, resulting in 37 arrests and the detention of dozens of people, including children placed in zip-ties and without clothing. Four of the detained children are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents, and U.S. citizens were also detained for hours during the operation. Residents reported missing belongings and property damage throughout the building. By May 2026, seventeen of those detained filed tort claims collectively seeking approximately $85 million in damages for their treatment during the raid.

Luis Tenelanda, an Ecuadoran construction worker who lived in the United States for over 30 years, was detained by ICE and held at Butler County Jail in Ohio in June 2025. On June 8, 2025, Sgt. Corneal Rowe allegedly punched Tenelanda in the stomach after he joined other inmates in requesting their scheduled daily break, causing him to lose consciousness and sustain injuries to his stomach and arm. Witnesses report Rowe also used racial slurs against Tenelanda and other detainees. Jail staff allegedly failed to provide proper medical care following the assault. Tenelanda was deported to Ecuador in August 2025 and filed a federal civil lawsuit in May 2026 against Sheriff Richard Jones, Sgt. Corneal Rowe, and Butler County, alleging assault, civil rights violations, failure to train staff, and patterns of excessive force. An internal affairs investigation found Rowe used only "minimal force" but violated policy by not filing an incident report.

Miguel Lopez, who lived in the U.S. for over 27 years, was deported to Mexico in 2025 after appearing at a San Francisco courthouse for a routine immigration check-in. A federal judge dismissed his civil case on April 3, 2026, finding it time-barred under the six-year statute of limitations, but Lopez's attorney plans to appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Judge Trina Thompson acknowledged in her decision the "bureaucratic labyrinth" of immigration law and the "generational trauma" the ruling will cause Lopez's family. The appeal represents his remaining legal pathway to return to his wife and three children.