Human Impact Project

Alfredo A. Aljorna was detained by ICE agents at a Minneapolis home on January 14, 2026, and initially charged after agents claimed he and his cousin attacked an officer with a shovel and broom. Video evidence contradicted ICE's account, leading the Justice Department to drop charges in February. U.S. authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether two ICE officers lied under oath about the shooting; the officers have been placed on administrative leave and may face termination and criminal prosecution.

Christina Rank, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen classroom assistant, was arrested by ICE agents outside Concord Education Center in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota on Monday, January 12, 2026, around 7:30 a.m. ICE agents claimed Rank rammed an agent's vehicle, but witnesses disputed this account, stating the agent ran into her white Honda and broke her window. Rank was held in custody at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling for almost 12 hours before being released. As of Monday afternoon, no charges had been filed against her. Her mother, Sarah Rank, questioned the purpose of ICE agents at the school and the use of force employed during the arrest.

Gage Diego Garcia, a U.S. citizen, was held for six hours on Monday after ICE officers approached him in an alleyway and demanded identification. When Garcia refused and began to blow a whistle, officers pushed him against a car, pointed a Taser at him, and accused him of assault by spitting. Video recorded by a friend documents the physical altercation. Officers told Garcia he was picked up because he "looked like someone who committed a crime" and said "we'll figure it out" when asked what crime. Officers later referenced a fatal shooting by another agent, saying "things could have gone really south for you like those agents did to Renee Good." The incident occurred as ICE has deployed approximately 3,000 officers to Minneapolis.

Ryan Ecklund, a U.S. citizen and Twin Cities realtor, was detained by ICE agents for approximately 10 hours on Monday after following and recording their movements from his vehicle in Woodbury. According to Ecklund, five agents boxed in his vehicle, forcibly removed him, threw him to the ground, and one agent placed him in a chokehold. He was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling and released without charges.

Shovgi Huseynov, a UB medical researcher from Azerbaijan, was detained by ICE after making a wrong turn onto the Peace Bridge on January 7 and crossing into Canada. Upon his return to the United States, border agents arrested him. ICE claims he was in the country illegally on an expired visa, but his attorney states he applied for permanent legal status while his visa was active, which provides authorized stay, and he has valid work authorization through 2029. Multiple state and local officials, including Rep. Tim Kennedy, have condemned his detention and called for his immediate release.

ICE agents surrounded a family's home with weapons drawn and pointed guns at an unarmed mother and her children. Agents briefly detained a U.S. citizen teenager without a warrant before releasing him after realizing they lacked authority to arrest him. The incident involved armed agents at an unarmed family inside their own home.

Two Minneapolis residents who monitor immigration officers' activities were detained by ICE for several hours without being charged. During their detention, they were held without access to phone calls and were pressured to provide information about protest organizers and undocumented immigrants.

Jonathan Aguilar Garcia, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen working at a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota, was tackled to the ground, handcuffed, and forced into a van by federal immigration agents on January 8, 2026, after being asked if he was a citizen. Video captured by Bring Me The News shows Garcia repeatedly shouting, "I'm literally a U.S. citizen," as he presented identification including a passport while being restrained. His sister said on Facebook that he hit his head during the confrontation but was otherwise safe. Garcia was released hours later with injuries at a Walmart parking lot after agents verified his citizenship. A coworker, Christian Miranda Romano, was also detained in the same incident and later released. The Department of Homeland Security said one of the two employees was arrested for assaulting a federal officer, though no charges have been filed. The detention occurred during Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota that began December 1, 2025, and is among more than 500 cases ProPublica has documented of U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents under the Trump administration.

A Navajo man named Peter Yazzie was detained by ICE agents at a gas station in Peoria on January 12th despite presenting multiple forms of identification including a Certificate of Indian Blood, driver's license, and birth certificate. Yazzie, a U.S. citizen under the Citizenship Act of 1924, was detained for four hours. Tribal leaders stated that federally recognized tribal IDs are needed and questioned whether ICE operated within its legal jurisdiction regarding Native Americans.

Brandon Sigüenza, a volunteer legal observer, was arrested and detained for eight hours by ICE agents while documenting enforcement activity near the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis. He and fellow observer Patty O'Keefe had followed agents' vehicles after learning ICE had pepper-sprayed another observer nearby; agents then surrounded their car, sprayed pepper spray into its air intake, shattered the windows, and handcuffed Sigüenza without identifying themselves or giving instructions. He was released without charges. Sigüenza said immigration enforcement in the area had already affected his students, his father, and his neighbors, and his detention occurred amid broader coordinated community efforts to document and warn residents about ICE activity in Minnesota.

Rachel Dionne-Thunder, a Plains Cree woman and co-founder of the Indigenous Peoples' Movement (also referred to as the Indigenous Protectors Movement), was stopped and detained by ICE agents while sitting in her car near the Powwow Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis. Agents did not give her a reason for the stop, and she locked her vehicle doors and refused to show identification or exit the car, citing Know Your Rights training. She livestreamed the encounter on Facebook. Coffee shop workers and other community members intervened, and the agents ultimately left without detaining her further. Dionne-Thunder is a U.S. citizen.

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.

Border Patrol agents, operating under 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. Agents reportedly targeted them based on their appearance during an immigration enforcement operation. Garcia presented a U.S. passport asserting his citizenship but was still detained; he was injured during the encounter and later released without charges in a Walmart parking lot without transportation assistance. Miranda Romano, a minor with no criminal history, remained in custody at Fort Snelling despite his family's efforts to contact ICE. State Representative Michael Howard criticized the incident as 'pure madness,' and the detentions prompted protests calling for accountability and restrictions on agents entering businesses without warrants.

Jose Roberto Ramirez, a 20-year-old member of the Red Lake Nation, was forcibly removed from his aunt's car by ICE agents in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and struck during the encounter. He was detained for approximately 10 hours. Tribal leaders and members of the Minnesota state legislature's Native American Caucus reported that federal agents were racially profiling Native Americans—U.S. citizens with dual tribal and federal citizenship—mistaking them for immigrants based on skin color. The incident was recorded on camera.

Alberto C.M., a Mexican citizen who entered the country legally on a temporary H2B worker visa in 2022, was arrested by ICE agents in St. Paul during Operation Metro Surge and suffered life-threatening skull fractures and brain hemorrhages. A federal judge ordered his immediate release after 15 days of hospitalization, finding his detention unlawful as he was arrested without a warrant. Hospital records indicate C.M. reported being dragged and mistreated by federal agents, though ICE has refused to provide details about the cause of his injuries, only stating he "got his s*** rocked."

According to an Instagram post, two individuals (described as a father and son) were detained by ICE agents who arrived in unmarked cars without a warrant. The post alleges the agents blocked in the vehicle, broke a window, and used force during the detention, including choking one individual with a jacket.

Jose 'Joey' Martinez, a U.S. citizen and Coast Guard veteran, was detained by CBP officers aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship in Miami after his name matched that of someone with outstanding warrants, despite other identifying information not aligning. He was forcefully removed from his stateroom while sleeping, handcuffed, and held in an immigration cell until he could verify his identity with official documents. His wife, Tamara Verhas, was tackled by agents who confiscated her phone to stop her from recording, and the couple was later forced to delete photos and video of the incident. Martinez was eventually released without charges, compensation, or an apology. Carnival Cruise Lines reportedly knew of the name issue but did not inform him before the ship's arrival.

Rev. Kenny Callaghan, senior pastor at All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis, was detained by ICE agents on January 7 while standing in solidarity with a Hispanic woman during a protest on Portland Avenue. Callaghan said agents pointed a gun at his face after he told them he was not afraid and offered himself instead of the woman they were approaching. He was handcuffed and placed in an unmarked vehicle for approximately 30 minutes. According to Callaghan, ICE agents then released him, saying "you're White. You wouldn't be fun anyway." Callaghan said the incident revealed to him that ICE raids are "really about fear and intimidation" and made him reflect on how such treatment is "some people's reality every single day of their lives."

ICE agents arrested Mubashir Hussen, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen of Somali descent, in Minneapolis's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood during Operation Metro Surge in December 2025. Video footage documented agents slamming him against a door, placing him in a chokehold, and handcuffing him despite his repeated statements and multiple displays of his U.S. passport and identification. He was released after approximately two hours once agents confirmed his citizenship status. Hussen subsequently became the lead plaintiff in a class-action ACLU lawsuit, Hussen v. Noem, which documents a broader pattern of ICE and CBP detaining U.S. citizens, legal residents, and individuals with pending legal status across Minnesota. The lawsuit, supported by 29 sworn declarations, found that 100% of documented cases involved individuals with legal status, with Somali and Latino communities apparently systematically targeted based on appearance during Operation Metro Surge.

Willy Wender Aceituno, a U.S. citizen, has filed a $1.25 million damages claim against the federal government after ICE agents allegedly smashed his truck window, forcibly removed him, and left him bleeding from the head, chest and shoulders during a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 15, 2025. Agents had confirmed his citizenship during an earlier stop just minutes before returning and detaining him again. Bystanders recorded parts of the encounter, and the lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of North Carolina, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and a law firm, alleges Fourth and Fifth Amendment violations including excessive force and false imprisonment. A DHS spokesperson said no constitutional rights were violated.