Human Impact Project

On October 19, 2025, more than 200 officers from roughly 14 federal and local agencies raided La Catedral Arena, a horse track in Wilder, Idaho, under a warrant covering only five gambling suspects. About 400 attendees, including children as young as 7, were zip-tied and detained for hours; 105 people were taken into ICE custody and five were arrested on gambling charges. Lead plaintiff Juana Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, said she was restrained for nearly four hours while holding her 3-year-old son. Anabel Romero said her children, among more than a dozen American minors detained, remain deeply shaken, with her 7-year-old son later warning his older sister ahead of another race, 'Watch out for ICE, make sure you have your phone to film — I'll come save you.' A lawsuit alleges officers used racial epithets and denied food, water, and medical care; four protesters were also arrested, with most charges later dropped. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered 15-16 detainees released, ruling mandatory detention violated due process, and awarded about $87,000 in attorneys' fees.

In 2025, immigration agents handcuffed a 15-year-old U.S. citizen with disabilities outside a school in Los Angeles, saying they had mistaken the teen for an alleged gang member. The Department of Homeland Security has stated that ICE does not restrain or zip-tie children, but this incident is among dozens documented cases of American children being detained, some of them handcuffed, during immigration enforcement operations. The case is cited as part of a broader pattern of more than 500 U.S. citizens who have been arrested or detained by ICE.

Last summer, three siblings in Brownsville, Texas, stopped to film an immigration arrest and were themselves detained after agents tried to seize their phones. One sibling, a young teenager, said agents tackled him to the ground, causing sharp knee pain, and separated him from his mother, a green card holder, amid fear she would be taken away. The siblings have filed claims for damages against the government.

Jeyli Salguero, 20, said armed federal agents broke through her family's front door in Minnesota without a judicial warrant while searching for her brother, who did not live there. Salguero said she told agents she was a U.S. citizen with the right to record, after which agents took her phone. Agents released Salguero and her mother after about half an hour but detained her father, who had temporary protected status, and her undocumented sister, who was later deported to El Salvador; her father was later released from detention. Salguero is one of several plaintiffs suing the government over warrantless home entries.

In May, a teenager in New York was thrown to the ground by immigration agents, left bloodied, and then dumped in an unfamiliar neighborhood. "He just grabbed me and threw me on the floor," the teen recalled.

In April, agents stopped a man in Texas who told them, "I'm a citizen, it's fine." He was deported four days later.

In January, hours after Renee Good's killing, immigration agents tackled and handcuffed a school staff member in Minneapolis. "I feel lucky to be alive," he recalled, describing the encounter as terrifying.

In December, a U.S. citizen in Baltimore was detained by immigration agents and held for 25 days, preventing her from seeing her 5-year-old son over Christmas.

In November, immigration agents took an 18-year-old U.S. citizen off the street and eventually left him in the woods.

In April, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen was held in a Florida jail for more than 24 hours despite having proof of his citizenship.

Maria Susana Esquivel Huezo, a Salvadoran woman married to U.S. citizen Rodney Brown, was arrested by Everett police during an August domestic dispute and taken to the Everett jail, where she was told she could be picked up the next morning. Instead, ICE took her into custody within hours and transferred her to a facility in Burlington, Massachusetts, then to a detention center in Louisiana the next day, and to Arizona a week later. Brown said his wife has lived in the U.S. for nearly 10 years, holds a valid work authorization card and Social Security number, has a pending asylum claim, and has regularly checked in with ICE. A source familiar with the investigation said ICE may have been alerted after her fingerprints were entered into the system following her local arrest. ICE said she was ordered removed by an immigration judge on October 2, 2026, and disputed Brown's characterization of her immigration status, while an immigration attorney not involved in the case noted that holding a work permit indicates she had already undergone a background check as part of a lawful asylum process. Brown has spent thousands of dollars on attorneys trying to keep his family together.

Eber, a two-year-old U.S. citizen, remains in Mexico in the care of María Estela Díaz and Miguel Maldonado Mendoza after his father was deported to Venezuela in early 2024 and his mother that February. The couple took him in because he needed surgery to remove half of his left lung due to a cyst and could not travel with his seven-year-old brother Isaac, who joined their parents months later. The surgery was successful and Eber has recovered well, though Díaz and Maldonado have faced financial strain covering his care and have turned to GoFundMe campaigns for support. His mother has registered the case with Venezuela's 'Gran Misión Vuelta a la Patria' program to speed up consular processing, but the family still has no confirmed date for the visa Eber needs as a U.S. citizen to enter Venezuela. Díaz said Eber no longer recognizes his biological mother and now calls her and Maldonado 'mama' and 'papa.'

Martin Soto, a Peruvian immigrant and father of two, was arrested by ICE agents in February 2026 while buying diapers in Kearny, New Jersey, and detained at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark. He helped lead a hunger and labor strike protesting poor food and inadequate medical care, and in late May agents broke through a protester blockade to transfer him overnight to solitary confinement at the Elizabeth Detention Center, where his lawyer said he was held for months in what she called retaliation for his activism. His wife, Gabriela Soto, a U.S. citizen, organized rallies outside the facility and said she lost her pregnancy in July after an emergency C-section, delivering the news to her husband while he was in solitary; his lawyer said he had suicidal thoughts during this period. After roughly nine months in custody, a federal judge cited the conditions of his detention and lack of justification for continued confinement, and Soto was released and reunited with his family, though fitted with an ankle monitor despite having no criminal record. ICE data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit showed more than 700 detainees were transferred out of Delaney Hall, which advocates said was an attempt to break the strike; a Homeland Security spokesperson disputed the data's accuracy.

Armelle Bondonga, a 21-year-old who came to the U.S. as a child from the Democratic Republic of Congo under her father's asylum case, was detained by ICE agents on August 12 during her marriage-based green card interview at the USCIS field office in Louisville. Her husband, U.S. citizen Terrance Bradshaw, and their 19-month-old U.S. citizen son were present when agents separated the couple; Bradshaw left with their son. Bondonga had a final removal order from November 2025 but was pursuing residency through marriage, with Bradshaw's I-130 petition still pending. Her attorneys argued agents lacked a warrant and unlawfully detained her, while federal officials called the arrest a lawful targeted operation. She was held for eight weeks at the Clark County jail in Jeffersonville, Indiana, after an immigration judge denied bond in September. Community members, including Sadiqa Reynolds, rallied on her behalf, and more than 1,300 people signed an open letter supporting her. A federal judge later granted her habeas corpus petition, finding her continued detention unauthorized since the 90-day removal period had expired, and ordered her immediate release.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who has lived in Maryland for years with his U.S. citizen wife and young son, who has autism, was arrested in Baltimore in March 2025 and mistakenly deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison despite a 2019 court order protecting him, an error ICE later admitted. Following public pressure and a Supreme Court order, he was returned to the U.S. in June 2025, after which federal prosecutors indicted him on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. Costa Rica offered him refugee status in August 2025, but the administration instead pursued deporting him to Liberia. A judge ordered his release from ICE custody in December 2025 after finding government lawyers misled the court, and later blocked his re-detention and deportation to Liberia. A federal judge dismissed the smuggling charges in May 2026, finding them a vindictive response to his legal challenges, a ruling the government is appealing to the Sixth Circuit. A federal court hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, meant to determine whether he would be deported to Liberia was abruptly canceled, as his legal team seeks a permanent injunction and argues he should instead be sent to Costa Rica.

Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen and teaching assistant, was shot seven times by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum on October 4, 2025, in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood during Operation Midway Blitz. Prosecutors initially alleged Martinez and co-defendant Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz rammed an agent's vehicle, charging her with assaulting a federal officer and calling her a 'domestic terrorist.' Martinez's attorneys disputed the account, citing body camera footage of an agent telling her to 'do something' before shooting and a bullet trajectory analysis showing Exum fired from behind her vehicle. She was arrested by the FBI while still bleeding in the hospital, and a judge ordered her release two days later. Federal prosecutors dismissed all charges in November after text messages surfaced showing Exum bragging, 'I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes,' and a federal judge ruled the agents' use of force 'shocks the conscience.' The dismissal is among at least nine protest-related cases tied to the operation that prosecutors have dropped. Martinez has since filed a Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit against the federal government seeking damages.

Jeury Concepcion, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from the Bronx, was tackled by ICE agents near East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue after being mistaken for a man with a removal order. Cellphone video showed masked agents with guns drawn forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him outside a barber shop while a bystander yelled 'Why you kidnapping?!' Witnesses said Concepcion repeatedly told agents he was a U.S. citizen as he was restrained and left bleeding from a head wound. Agents later checked his ID, realized they had the wrong person, apologized, and dropped him off bloodied at an unfamiliar park, where his mother and grandmother, Ivelisse Garcia Santana, eventually found him and took him for treatment; he received a concussion diagnosis and seven stitches. A DHS spokesperson said ICE did not arrest him, claiming he was briefly detained for matching a description and refusing to identify himself. Judge Gary R. Brown later reviewed video of the incident, calling it 'extremely violent' and ruling the arrest illegal, citing 'significant injury to a U.S. citizen.' Concepcion's case is among more than 500 U.S. citizens ProPublica identified as having been detained by immigration agents during the Trump administration.

A man walking to a pharmacy in Evanston, Illinois, to fill a prescription was tackled and detained by federal agents believed to be ICE after being mistaken for a fugitive near Dodge Avenue and Howard Street. Witnesses, including Miguel Angel Olivares, recorded video showing agents using force, pinning him down and appearing to strike him as he repeatedly stated he was a U.S. citizen. He suffered injuries to his head, neck and teeth, bled at the scene, and was taken by Evanston Fire Department ambulance to St. Francis hospital for treatment. A paramedic and police officer at the scene expressed shock that agents drove away while he lay in the street. DHS said the man was uncooperative and declined assistance, while an ICE supervisor told Evanston police agents left because protesters began gathering. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss confirmed the detention and release, while local police, eyewitnesses, and the group Sanctuary Evanston disputed DHS's account, calling it a violent assault. Evanston police, Illinois authorities, and the FBI are investigating, with body camera footage and 911 audio being reviewed.

Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen from San Antonio, was fatally shot three times 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 initially claimed Martinez struck an agent with his car after refusing orders, but bodycam footage obtained through a FOIA lawsuit showed his vehicle stationary or barely moving, with brake lights on, when he was shot; 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'; he later died in a car crash less than a year after the shooting. Martinez's mother, Rachel Reyes, said Texas Rangers investigators told her the footage contradicted the agents' account. The government did not disclose the shooting for nearly a year, until the nonprofit American Oversight obtained the incident report. A Texas grand jury declined to indict Stevens, and the family has filed a tort claim against the federal government.

Michael "Sandy" Sims, 42, a Philadelphia lighting technician born in Ireland and raised in London, was detained by ICE agents at the San Jose airport on September 2 as he returned from a business trip. Sims, married to U.S. citizen Jennifer Sims since 2017 and the subject of an approved I-130 family petition toward a green card, had worked in entertainment lighting since 2002, including tours for Metallica, Usher, and Florence + the Machine. He was held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. DHS claimed Sims faced a domestic battery charge in Nevada, but his wife, his immigration lawyer, and a search of Nevada court records found no record of any such case. Sims was deported to the United Kingdom days before an October 8 bond hearing he and his wife had hoped would lead to his release. Friends and family started a GoFundMe campaign that had raised nearly $21,000 toward legal expenses.