Human Impact Project

Leticia Jacobo, a 24-year-old Native American woman, was jailed in Iowa for a traffic infraction and faced potential transfer to an ICE Detention Center for deportation. Indigenous rights groups intervened to prevent her deportation.

ICE agents approached the vehicle of Edith, an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Edith reported being subjected to physical violence during the encounter and was subsequently released. Edith sustained injuries including a torn rotator cuff, fractured shoulder, three herniated disks, and a ruptured eye requiring surgery.

A 24-year-old Native American woman from Arizona, Leticia Jacobo, was subject to an ICE detainer issued by Polk County Jail in Des Moines. The detainer was intended for a different person booked at the same time but was erroneously placed on Jacobo's file. Her family provided tribal identification documents, and she was released before being transferred to federal custody.

U.S. citizens, including Native Americans and a military veteran, have been detained and questioned during Trump administration immigration raids. Witnesses report that those caught in ICE operations are being targeted based on race or skin color, with Navajo Nation citizens experiencing particularly problematic encounters. Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said he has received accounts of "negative and sometimes traumatizing" encounters and advised tribal members to carry identification and their Certificate of Indian Blood. The seafood wholesaler owner in Newark reported that ICE targeted certain types of people while ignoring white and Portuguese workers, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka denounced the raid, saying the detained veteran "suffered the indignity" of the encounter.