Human Impact Project

Steven Davis, an observer with Tucson Rapid Response, was pepper-sprayed by a masked, plain-clothed ICE officer while documenting an immigration enforcement operation at a Walgreens in South Tucson on April 6. Davis said he was non-violently exercising his rights to record and observe when he was sprayed without warning or identification from the officer, causing him to fall to the ground. ICE stated officers deployed pepper spray because protesters were impeding their exit from the parking lot, though Davis said he had been following officers' instructions about where to move and film. On May 19, the South Tucson City Council, with support from the Pima County Attorney, unanimously voted to investigate the incident, with Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela saying the officer must be held accountable.

On April 2, 2026, ICE officers in Baltimore, Maryland attempted to arrest Ever Omar Alvarenga-Rios, a Honduran national with a final order of removal. During the enforcement action, Alvarenga drove recklessly through city streets, causing a multi-car pileup, then fled on foot. The arrest resulted in injuries to two ICE officers and Alvarenga, all of whom were hospitalized. Alvarenga remained hospitalized on April 5, and his attorney reported being denied access to him while in custody.

Ever Alvarenga Rios, a 32-year-old Honduran immigrant represented for eight years by attorney Adam Crandell in his bid for citizenship, was injured when an ICE vehicle allegedly rear-ended his van Thursday morning in Baltimore as he drove to his flooring job. He suffered a concussion, an arm injury requiring a cast, and other injuries to his head, chest, back, and hands, and was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. His wife, Lurbin Vasquez, said he has no criminal record and runs his own flooring business, and that she has not spoken with him since Thursday. Crandell said he was denied access to his client on both Thursday and Friday, and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Sen. Chris Van Hollen have both publicly criticized the incident, which followed a separate ICE-involved crash in Annapolis earlier the same week.

A Government Accountability Office report found that Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention center in El Paso, Texas, wasted $11.5 million on meals when no detainees were present and suffered performance issues due to a rushed opening. The watchdog's findings follow an earlier ICE inspection on April 2, 2026, that identified 49 deficiencies, including inadequate suicide prevention measures, unsecured equipment, staffing shortages, and failure to isolate a detainee with tuberculosis symptoms, which the GAO confirmed led to a tuberculosis outbreak. The facility, which has housed nearly 3,000 detainees daily since opening in summer 2025 and has recorded at least three deaths, received an acceptable rating despite the violations. The GAO recommended changes to ICE, the Army, and the Department of Homeland Security to prevent further issues.

In December 2025, Axel Sanchez Toledo called 911 in Palm Beach County, Florida requesting a welfare check on his daughter. A sheriff's deputy who was part of the county's 287(g) Task Force with ICE accused Toledo of being undocumented, detained him, and used physical force when he attempted to flee. Toledo, who had a pending asylum case, was arrested and held in jail for four months on resisting arrest charges before being transferred to ICE custody facing deportation.

ICE agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. was charged by Hennepin County prosecutors with felony first- and second-degree assault after allegedly pointing a gun at people in another vehicle on Highway 62 in Minneapolis in February 2026 during Operation Metro Surge. Morgan turned himself in, posted bond, and made his first court appearance on May 24, 2026. His attorney argued Morgan feared for his safety when the other vehicle swerved near him.

Utah Highway Patrol stopped a car speeding at 90 mph on I-15 near 5600 South in Weber County after occupants could not produce standard identification; a federal detainer was found for two of the three people inside. When ICE agents and a sheriff's deputy arrived, a passenger fled on foot and was pursued, while the driver refused to exit and barricaded himself inside, leading an ICE agent to break the car window to make the arrest. Both the driver and the man who fled had active ICE detainers, and the person filming the encounter was arrested for interfering. An 18-year-old passenger had called his mother during the incident, telling her an agent was pointing a gun at them.

On March 30, 2026, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper conducted a traffic stop on I-15 in Weber County for speeding. The driver refused to cooperate and could not provide valid identification despite claiming to be a U.S. citizen. With assistance from Weber County Sheriff's Office and ICE agents, the driver was forcibly removed from the vehicle due to noncompliance. Both the driver and a passenger were found to have active ICE detainers and were arrested and booked into Weber County Jail on charges including speeding, resisting arrest, and driving without a license.

Edgar Gomez-Ramirez, 41, of Vineland, New Jersey, was detained by ICE officers on March 28, 2026, after leaving the Cumberland County Courthouse in Bridgeton. According to ICE, Gomez-Ramirez is a Mexican national who entered the United States without authorization three times and was previously offered voluntary return to Mexico on two occasions. Video recorded by his wife, Deborah, who was in the car, showed a masked agent breaking the car window with a baton. Gomez-Ramirez's wife said officers provided no explanation for the detention and did not show a warrant. ICE stated that agents identified themselves, gave multiple warnings that windows could be broken if occupants did not comply with orders to exit the vehicle, and used what the agency characterized as minimum force necessary to complete the arrest. Gomez-Ramirez is currently in ICE custody awaiting immigration court proceedings.

ICE agents detained Edgar Gomez in Bridgeton, New Jersey, after he left a court appearance where all charges against him had been dropped. Agents smashed the window of an immigration lawyer's vehicle and removed Gomez without producing a warrant despite requests from his attorney. Gomez was one step away from obtaining lawful permanent residency. The detention occurred one day after New Jersey passed a law requiring ICE agents to produce warrants.

A 17-year-old attending a protest against ICE was detained and beaten repeatedly with a baton by officers, resulting in a broken femur that required emergency surgery. According to witnesses, the beating occurred while the minor was already surrounded by officers and detained. He is reportedly being denied visitors while hospitalized.

On March 22, 2026, ICE agents in plainclothes detained Angelina Lopez-Jimenez, 41, a Guatemalan national, and her 9-year-old daughter at San Francisco International Airport after TSA alerted ICE to their presence on a passenger list. Lopez-Jimenez was handcuffed and placed in a wheelchair at Terminal 3 after resisting the agents. She had a final removal order issued by an immigration judge in 2019. Both mother and daughter were transferred to Texas and deported to Guatemala within approximately 36 hours. The detention prompted Democratic lawmakers to condemn the action and community groups to protest, with some alleging San Francisco police illegally assisted ICE in violation of the city's sanctuary policies.

A U.S. lawmaker confronted the Border Patrol commissioner during a Congressional hearing about an incident where Border Patrol agents allegedly pepper sprayed a U.S. citizen family—including a baby—through their vehicle window as they attempted to leave a parking lot. The commissioner acknowledged that pepper spraying into a moving vehicle window is not proper procedure and said he would follow up on whether any agents were investigated or disciplined.

On March 25, 2026, ICE agents conducted a targeted vehicle stop to arrest Xa Lee, an undocumented individual from Laos with prior criminal convictions. During the stop, Lee attempted to flee and struck an ICE officer with his vehicle. The officer was not injured. Lee fled the scene and remained at large at the time of the announcement. Xa Lee, a Laotian citizen with a criminal history and a 2010 deportation order, attempted to strike an ICE officer with his vehicle during a traffic stop in Sacramento on March 25. Lee fled the scene and remains at large. The ICE officer was not injured during the incident.

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen and student at Alief Hastings High School in Houston, was beaten and choked by masked ICE agents on October 23, 2025, when they stopped his father, Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo, during a drive to school near Gessner Road and Beechnut Street. Bystander video showed agents restraining Arnoldo with an arm around his neck while he told them he was a minor and a citizen; he was also subjected to racial slurs and later treated for bruises and welts consistent with choking. He was held for several hours before ICE confirmed his citizenship and released him. His father, an immigrant from Michoacán with a prior deportation and a misdemeanor DWI conviction, was arrested and, according to immigrant rights group FIEL, intimidated into signing a voluntary departure before being deported to Reynosa, Mexico. ICE disputed the abuse allegations, claiming Arnoldo elbowed an agent and that Arnulfo rammed a federal vehicle and fled. Arnoldo later testified before Congress about the incident.

On March 11, 2026, ICE agents conducted a raid in South Burlington, Vermont, after a vehicle stop on Dorset Street. Court filings later revealed that agents misidentified and arrested Cristian Jerez-Andrade, a Honduran man, after chasing him into a home—they had been seeking Mexican national Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, who was not present. Hundreds of community members and activists, alerted by Migrant Justice, rapidly assembled at the scene and formed a human barrier to prevent ICE from entering the house and detaining residents. As the standoff continued into the evening, heavily armed ICE agents and Vermont State Police officers in tactical gear forcibly pushed through the crowd, deploying flash-bang devices and shooting pepper balls at protesters. At least one protester was injured and taken away by ambulance, several were arrested, and many others suffered pepper spray exposure.

ICE raided a South Burlington, Vermont home on March 11, 2026, searching for Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez after a car chase, but instead arrested three residents: Ecuadorian sisters Jisella Johana Patin Patin and Daysi Camila Patin Patin, and Honduran national Christian Humberto Jerez Andrade. The operation sparked a daylong standoff as hundreds of protesters surrounded the building and federal agents used flash bangs and tear gas to clear the crowd, prompting friction between ICE and local police. Judges later ordered the release of all three, finding their detentions unlawful, and their attorneys say ICE violated their civil rights. In a revised court filing, ICE now says it no longer believes Corona-Sanchez was driving the car during the chase, after Jerez Andrade told the FBI he was the driver and that his 18-year-old nephew was a passenger.

Raúl Tapia, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in the United States for about 25 years, was detained by ICE agents while driving to work with his son near their home in Georgetown, Delaware. According to his family, three unmarked black trucks surrounded their van at a stop sign, and six masked agents broke the van's windows and forcibly removed Raúl without presenting a warrant. His son Dante said agents questioned him about his birthplace before releasing him and detaining his father. Delaware court records show Raúl has no criminal history, and his wife Beth said the family had recently begun working with a new attorney to resolve his immigration status. He is being held in a detention center in Philadelphia and is expected to be transferred to Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, with an immigration hearing scheduled. Community organizations including La Esperanza and the ACLU of Delaware raised concerns about the warrantless stop and tactics used.

A 23-year-old woman was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint on State Route 94 after agents suspected her of smuggling undocumented migrants but found no evidence of a crime. An agent falsely told her he found "deleted evidence" on her phone; when she grabbed it back, agents twisted her arm and wrestled the phone from her. As she turned to walk into a holding cell, an agent Tasered her, striking her breast. She was pregnant with a 2-month-old baby at the time and was hospitalized to have the Taser prong removed; her breastmilk was bloody for weeks. Federal prosecutors charged her with assaulting a federal officer but dismissed the charge in August after body camera footage contradicted agents' allegations and her attorney argued agents violated her constitutional rights by arresting her without probable cause and using excessive force.

A federal jury returned a mixed verdict against nine defendants accused of domestic terrorism stemming from a July 4 noise demonstration outside the Prairieland immigrant detention center in Alvarado, Texas. Prosecutors argued the defendants constituted a "North Texas Antifa cell" and all played a role in a nonfatal shooting of a police officer during the protest. The defendants stated the protest was intended to show solidarity with migrants in detention and involved fireworks and vandalism. Eight defendants were convicted on felony charges including providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to use explosives.