Human Impact Project

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.

A ProPublica investigation identified over 40 cases in which immigration agents used chokeholds and other neck restraints on civilians, citizens, and protesters during deportation enforcement operations, and found that at least 170 U.S. citizens have been arrested by immigration agents. Former police officers and law enforcement experts who reviewed the footage said the tactics resulted in apparent seizures, loss of consciousness, and serious injuries. In one case, plainclothes agents in Los Angeles pinned an ICU nurse, Amanda Trebach, to the pavement and knelt on her back and head while she was filming an ICE operation; she was held in federal custody without being told her rights or destination before her release. The Department of Homeland Security has not publicly reported any disciplinary action against agents despite a federal ban on such tactics since 2023.

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.

A U.S. citizen was arrested during an immigration enforcement crackdown. The family disputes the arrest and claims their relative should not have been taken into custody.

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.

ICE agents rammed into Christian Molina's car in south Minneapolis on January 12, 2026, then questioned him about his immigration status. Molina, a U.S. citizen, refused to comply and was not detained. The incident occurred two blocks from where an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good on January 7.

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.

Nimco Omar, a Somali-American U.S. citizen, was stopped by multiple masked ICE officers while walking in her Minneapolis neighborhood. The officers demanded identification and proof of citizenship status. Omar refused to provide ID and asserted she was a U.S. citizen, but an officer threatened to place her in a vehicle and warned of federal charges if she was lying. Omar recorded the encounter on her phone out of fear. Legal experts noted that U.S. citizens have no legal obligation to provide identification while walking or standing in public. The encounter occurred as part of ICE's expanded enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

On January 12, 2026, federal immigration agents stopped Christian Molina, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis. As agents questioned Molina, residents emerged onto snow-lined streets to protest, filming the encounter. When someone threw a snowball toward the agents, federal officers responded by deploying tear gas into the crowd, pepper-spraying protesters and news photographers at close range, and firing pepper balls that struck journalist A.C. Thompson three times, including above the right eye. Additional team members from FRONTLINE and ProPublica, including director Gabrielle Schonder and director of photography Tim Grucza, were pepper-sprayed as agents departed. A former Department of Justice official later characterized the response as "use of excessive force after use of excess force."

ICE agents rammed the car of Christian Molina, 40, as he drove to meet his wife at a mechanic's shop in south Minneapolis on Jan. 12. Agents questioned his immigration status and asked for ID, but released him after he said he was a U.S. citizen. The incident occurred two blocks from where an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good on Jan. 7, and a crowd that gathered at the scene was met with chemical irritants deployed by agents. Molina and his wife live in Coon Rapids but had lived in south Minneapolis for years.

Jose Roberto Ramirez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and Red Lake Nation descendant from Crystal, Minnesota, was pulled from his aunt's car by ICE agents on January 8, 2026, outside a Hy-Vee in Robbinsdale after agents said he matched the description of an Ecuadoran national with a criminal history. His aunt, Shawntia Sosa-Clara, filmed the encounter, repeatedly telling agents they were citizens and calling police for help, while bystanders reacted on video. Family photos showed bruising on Ramirez's wrists, neck and face, which they said resulted from agents striking him during the roughly 10-hour detention. Ramirez is not enrolled in the Red Lake Nation due to blood quantum requirements and had no tribal ID, but was released after his mother provided his birth certificate, with the tribe's legal department assisting with documentation. ICE said Ramirez struck an agent after his phone was knocked from his hand and he now faces a federal charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer, which he denies. Tribal leaders and members of Minnesota's Native American legislative caucus said the incident reflected racial profiling of Native Americans based on skin color.

Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos, a 5-year-old U.S. citizen from Austin, Texas, who misses her cousins, classmates and kindergarten teachers, was deported to Honduras alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos. The removal stemmed from an administrative deportation order issued against the mother in 2019, before Génesis was born. According to advocacy group Grassroots Leadership, Austin police responding to an early-morning disturbance call found no incident but identified the ICE warrant, leading to the arrest of both mother and daughter. They were held incommunicado for nearly a week at a San Antonio hotel without access to legal representation or a judge, with authorities allegedly pressuring them not to disclose their location, preventing attorneys from intervening before deportation. The mother briefly reached her brother by phone to say they were about to be removed, and later called from Honduras to confirm the deportation. She has said she plans to send her daughter back to the U.S. with another relative, since Génesis is a U.S. citizen.

Border Patrol agents smashed a car window and dragged a Honduran man from a vehicle during an immigration enforcement operation at a gas station in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 11, 2026. Video posted by Ford Fischer of News2Share shows agents surrounding the parked vehicle, breaking the window, pulling the man out, forcing him to the ground, and taking him into custody as a crowd gathered. DHS said the man had a final order of removal issued in 2020 and refused to obey orders. After multiple warnings, agents broke the window and arrested him. During the arrest, bystanders surrounded the agents, who fired pepper balls toward the crowd. A U.S. citizen who hit an officer was also arrested. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino was present at the scene and was heard ordering bystanders to move back. A second individual was also detained during the incident.

ICE officers in Minneapolis conducted multiple "show me your papers" encounters with residents in public spaces. In one incident last weekend, officers approached a man pumping gas and demanded to see documentation of U.S. citizenship. The man refused initially but eventually provided a driver's license; officers continued questioning whether he was naturalized and when. In another incident, officers questioned a man at a vehicle charging station about his citizenship. These encounters were recorded on video and shared on social media, prompting criticism from public figures. The Department of Homeland Security did not provide information on the citizenship status of the people approached or details about these specific incidents.

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.

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.

Alejandro Perez, a Ballwin resident, pleaded guilty to unlawful re-entry into the United States in federal court and was sentenced to deportation to Mexico with a 20-year bar on re-entry. His U.S. citizen wife, Janie Perez, and their two daughters plan to relocate to Mexico to remain together as a family following his deportation, which is expected to occur within three to ten days after his sentencing in March.

On Wednesday morning, ICE agents attempted to enter Little Earth, the first Native American community housing project in the United States, located on Minneapolis's southside. Property managers turned the agents away. Later that same morning, community members reported and documented video evidence of ICE agents removing at least three individuals from the facility. According to one community member, agents appeared to be targeting maintenance workers and parents dropping children off at the Little Earth Daycare center.