Human Impact Project

Fernando Vazquez, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a commercial landscaper, was detained by masked Border Patrol agents at a construction site in Cary during a large-scale immigration enforcement sweep that detained over 250 people in the Charlotte area. Agents pinned him against a gate and questioned him about his birthplace despite his showing a North Carolina Real ID, then handcuffed him and separated him from his brother. He says agents drove him around for about two miles before releasing him in an isolated wooded area, throwing his wallet, IDs, and AirPods on the ground rather than returning them. Vazquez recorded video of the encounter that was viewed millions of times online, and said the experience left him 'feeling powerless, frightened, humiliated, and deeply shaken.' In July 2026, he filed a federal damages claim with ACLU of North Carolina representation alleging wrist injuries and emotional trauma, part of more than 500 cases ProPublica documented of U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents during the Trump administration.

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.

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.

Two more immigrant truck drivers detained by Iowa State Patrol and ICE along Interstate 80 have filed federal lawsuits, joining earlier cases from the same enforcement effort known as 'Operation ICE Wall.' One driver, from Pakistan, was stopped in Dallas County in March 2026 after a coworker failed to stop at a weigh station; he was not driving but was detained anyway and transferred to the Polk County Jail despite having work authorization and a pending asylum case, with an immigration court hearing set for April 9. The other driver, from India, was stopped near Mitchellville in February 2026 after allegedly bypassing a weigh station; he had previously been released on a $25,000 bond, obtained work authorization, and also has a pending asylum application. Both men's attorneys argue federal officials violated their due process rights by detaining them without notice, a hearing, or individualized justification.

Patience Gore, a 44-year-old Zimbabwean national who has lived in the U.S. for about 24 years, was seized by undercover plainclothes ICE agents at a United Airlines gate at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after a gate agent repeatedly called her name over the loudspeaker. Gore, who held a withholding of removal order, has sole custody of her 11-year-old U.S. citizen daughter and is married to U.S. citizen Olaoluwa Omotosho; she had been traveling home to Maryland with her partner after attending a friend's wedding. She was held for nearly two weeks across three Arizona detention facilities in what her lawsuit describes as degrading, squalid conditions, including sleeping on a mattress on the floor, being denied a change of clothes, and being denied sunglasses despite light sensitivity. The detention disrupted a time-sensitive IVF cycle, and a subsequent replacement cycle did not result in pregnancy. A federal judge granted her habeas petition and ordered her release on March 27, and she and her husband are now suing United Airlines, alleging it colluded with ICE to lure her to the gate.

Syed Abbas, an Indian national from New York, was detained by Iowa State Patrol and ICE officers on March 4, 2026, while traveling through Iowa as a commercial truck driver. Abbas had been granted work authorization in 2024 and had a pending asylum application at the time of his arrest. State troopers pulled over his vehicle after the driver failed to stop at a weigh station, checked Abbas's immigration status despite him not being the driver, and concluded he was in the U.S. without authorization, then transferred him to Polk County Jail. Abbas's attorney has filed a federal lawsuit against ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and Polk County, arguing his due process rights were violated when he was deprived of liberty without notice, hearing, or individualized justification.

Haruna, a 39-year-old Ghanaian man with hepatitis B, was detained at Delaney Hall ICE detention center and taken to the hospital twice—last year and in March 2026—requiring a blood transfusion and surgery after his requests for medical help were answered late or not at all. A doctor who reviewed his medical records found that Delaney Hall staff failed to provide him with needed outpatient medical care and identified a pattern of insufficient ongoing care leading to health deterioration followed by emergency treatment only when his life was in danger. His case is among over 70 lawsuits filed by Delaney Hall detainees alleging medical neglect and deficiencies.

Willy Wender Aceituno, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Honduran descent who has lived in Charlotte, North Carolina for over 25 years, was arrested by ICE and DHS agents in November 2025 without a warrant. During the encounter, agents smashed his truck window with a baton and forcibly removed him from the vehicle despite him showing them his REAL ID confirming his citizenship. When Aceituno began filming the agents on his phone, they threw him onto the broken glass, handcuffed him, and transported him approximately two miles away before releasing him bleeding on the side of the road. The incident triggered childhood trauma from witnessing his father's arrest and disappearance by the Honduran military. In February 2026, Aceituno filed a $1.25 million lawsuit against federal immigration authorities alleging violations of constitutional amendments and claims of assault, battery, false imprisonment, and negligent supervision. Aceituno is the lead plaintiff in a federal class-action lawsuit with the ACLU alleging that ICE and CBP agents made warrantless arrests without probable cause across North Carolina.

Ramon Checo Hilario, a Providence Uber driver, was arrested by Cranston police on Feb. 26, 2026, after being wrongly identified as the suspect in a Jan. 27 theft of about $3,300 worth of sunglasses from a Cranston Sunglass Hut. Police linked the crime to Hilario through his car's registration despite differences between him and the surveillance footage, and ICE then detained him for 56 days, from Feb. 26 to April 23, before his release on bond. The shoplifting charge was later dismissed, and on May 27 Hilario filed suit in U.S. District Court in Providence against Cranston police, the city, an unnamed officer, Sunglass Hut, and a store employee, seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages for false arrest, malicious prosecution, negligence, and emotional distress.

Joel Angel-Becerril, a 27-year-old DACA recipient from Omaha, was released from Sarpy County Jail on February 20, 2026, after nearly three months in ICE custody. His release followed a federal judge's mid-February order declaring his detention without a bond hearing unlawful. An Omaha Immigration Court judge subsequently dismissed his removal proceedings on Friday, February 24, 2026, finding that his DACA status provided protection against deportation. Angel-Becerril had filed a civil rights lawsuit with the ACLU of Nebraska, which intervened in the case.

George Retes, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran, was detained by ICE agents on July 10, 2025, during a workplace raid at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, Ventura County, California. Despite repeatedly identifying himself as a U.S. citizen, he was pulled from his car, tear-gassed, and arrested without being told why he was detained. He was taken to a Navy base for DNA collection, then held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles for three days without access to phone calls, legal representation, a shower, or a judge appearance before being released without charges. Retes filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, challenging the Trump administration's claimed absolute immunity for immigration enforcement officers. In February 2026, he attended the State of the Union as a guest of Rep. Mark Takano.

Angie Rodriguez, a Colombian asylum seeker, was detained by ICE following a routine immigration check-in in July 2025 and discovered she was pregnant while in custody at Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California. While detained, she experienced food insecurity, struggling to eat facility meals due to their appearance and smell, with limited alternatives beyond processed foods like instant noodles and chips. She received no adequate prenatal health care or education for weeks after her pregnancy was confirmed. Rodriguez experienced brown discharge and was transported to an off-site hospital where she miscarried. Upon hospital release, she was placed in medical isolation at the ICE detention center before being released. Her case is among more than a dozen documented by the ACLU of pregnant women held without proper medical care at immigration facilities. Rodriguez filed a lawsuit claiming unconstitutional detention, arguing that the stress of sudden arrest, coupled with inadequate food options and lack of prenatal care, may have contributed to the loss of her pregnancy.

On October 4, 2025, Marimar Martinez was shot five times by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Charles Exum during an immigration enforcement encounter in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood. Federal agents claimed Martinez chased and rammed her car into an agent's vehicle. Martinez was initially charged with assault on federal law enforcement, but the government dropped the charges nearly two months later, and a judge dismissed them with prejudice. Body camera footage and text messages released by the U.S. attorney's office provided details of the incident, though Exum was not wearing his body camera during the shooting. Martinez testified before Congress in February 2026 about the incident and filed a tort claim seeking damages for her injuries.

Bob Peck, a U.S. citizen, filed a notice of claim seeking $7.5 million in damages against ICE after agents threatened to arrest him for observing and filming their enforcement activities. The filing documents an incident on January 22 where masked agents confronted Peck while he was following their vehicle and told him he would be arrested if he continued. The case is among multiple reports of ICE agents intimidating observers, including threats to add them to watchlists and agents driving to observers' homes.

Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz, a Colombian civil engineer with a master's degree from the University of Maine and a valid H-1B work visa, was violently detained by ICE agents while driving to work in Portland, Maine. Masked agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded his car, smashed his driver's side window with a crowbar, pointed a Taser at him, and dragged him out despite his attempts to show proof of lawful status, leaving his car running in the street. He was placed in full-body shackles and transported across state lines to an ICE facility in Massachusetts, where he was held for hours in a windowless cell before being released without charges roughly 105 miles from his home. Carvajal-Muñoz, who has no criminal record despite the operation reportedly targeting immigrants with criminal histories, said he continues to fear being detained again. With assistance from the ACLU of Maine, he filed a federal lawsuit against ICE agent Jack Cory Ravencamp and two unidentified agents, alleging excessive force, warrantless arrest, unlawful detention, racial discrimination, and violations of his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

Andranik Grigoryan, a New York resident detained at Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana, suffered a severe seizure on January 22—his first in nearly a year—after correctional medical staff failed to provide his prescribed anti-seizure medication (Keppra), which he had relied on for years to control epilepsy. He hit his head during the seizure and was left lying in a pool of blood before being taken to a local hospital for treatment. Upon returning to the facility the same day, officers pepper-sprayed him through a cell port while he was still recovering from the seizure and had difficulty standing, causing intense burning and respiratory distress, then moved him to another cell without letting him wash off the spray. The ACLU of Indiana filed lawsuits on his behalf on July 27 against Centurion Health of Indiana and unidentified correctional officers, alleging 14th Amendment violations; the Indiana Department of Correction said it had no statement, and Centurion did not respond to a request for comment.

A lawsuit alleges that an ICE detainee was repeatedly denied his antipsychotic medication while in custody. The denial of medication allegedly resulted in cascading symptoms that caused the detainee to harm himself and lose vision in one eye.

Three siblings driving in Texas were detained after stopping to film an immigration arrest last summer. One sibling, a young teen, said agents "tackled me down" with an agent's knee behind his knee, causing sharp pain, and he was separated from his mother, a green card holder, fearing agents would take her away too. The siblings have filed claims for damages with the government.