Human Impact Project

Juan Carlos Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed, slammed onto vehicle hoods, punched and kneed by armed immigration agents who raided his father's auto body shop in Oxnard on June 16, 2025. Ventura-based attorney Vanessa Valdez, who had publicly criticized Ramirez's arrest, says she was later shot six times with rubber bullets and hit with tear gas while identifying herself as a legal observer during a raid at Glass House Farms, leaving her unable to see and needing to crawl away; she has since incurred hospital costs, lost wages, and ongoing therapy. Ramirez, Valdez and dozens of other U.S. citizens and immigrants are seeking financial compensation through tort claims against the federal government for injuries, trauma, and deaths sustained during recent immigration enforcement operations, with claimants seeking at least $260 million collectively. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said immigration officers receive regular training and are held to a high professional standard, acting to protect themselves and the public when facing danger.

Heidi Plummer, a U.S. citizen and Orange County attorney, was arrested by federal agents at Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana on June 14 while taking a walk. Plummer was detained, handcuffed, and transported to an ICE detention facility in Santa Ana, where she was held for approximately an hour and a half before being released. ICE denied the incident occurred, stating they were not at the park that day and made no arrests there.

Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho, a 27-year-old identified by family as a U.S. citizen, was violently arrested by federal agents in Boyle Heights after they rammed his white Mercedes sedan with multiple vehicles near Whittier Boulevard and Calzona Street, close to a school. His partner, a toddler, and an infant were inside the car at the time; the baby was seated near where one vehicle struck the car but was not injured. Agents emerged with weapons drawn, fired what appeared to be chemical or tear gas rounds at the vehicle, and forcibly extracted Cerno-Camacho, leaving the woman and children inside the car. The woman and children later fled to a nearby grocery store and were reunited with family about three hours later. Family members said Cerno-Camacho was detained in connection with his participation in recent protests, while the Department of Homeland Security said he was wanted for an alleged assault against a CBP officer and had attempted to flee arrest. LAPD opened an investigation into the incident.

Christian Cerna, a 28-year-old US citizen and carpenter from Paramount, California, was arrested by ICE on June 11, 2025, after participating in an anti-ICE protest near a Home Depot on June 7. Officers used aggressive tactics including ramming his vehicle, detonating flash-bang grenades, and pointing assault rifles at his car while his partner and two young children were inside; court records show the arrest operation involved a drone, four vehicles, and a filming crew. Cerna, whose father was deported when he was 12, was charged with felony assault after border agent Eduardo Mejorado alleged Cerna struck him during the protest, though Cerna and his lawyers say he swung his hand without making contact; he was also struck in the face by pepper balls during the demonstration. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple assault in December 2025 and was sentenced in March 2026; a federal judge later criticized the case as a "vindictive effort" to impose extrajudicial punishment, and DHS filmed the arrest and posted footage on social media labeling Cerna a "violent rioter."

Luis Mejía, a 20-year-old Nebraska native raised in South Omaha, was at work at Glenn Valley Foods when ICE conducted a raid on June 10, 2025. Immigration officers asked him to prove U.S. citizenship; after looking him up in their system, they cleared him to leave. Mejía's undocumented mother was among those detained and taken to Lincoln County Detention Center four hours away. Mejía and his older brother were forced to provide for their two younger siblings while their mother was detained for an unknown duration, unable to contact her for several days.

Osmar Lorenzo-Genchi, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and employee at Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, Nebraska, was arrested during an ICE raid on June 10, 2025. After ICE officers confirmed his citizenship and released him, he joined protesters blocking law enforcement vehicles from leaving the scene. He struck a vehicle's mirror with his fists, bent a windshield wiper, and shattered a passenger-side window with a rock. He was convicted and sentenced to 22 months in prison for assaulting and impeding federal officers with a dangerous weapon. His mother, also a Glenn Valley Foods employee, was detained during the same raid and remained in custody at Lincoln County Jail. The raid resulted in the detention of 76 employees at the meatpacking plant.

Douglas Menjivar, a 50-year-old Salvadoran immigrant and activist who exposed sexual assault in immigration detention, was arrested by ICE in June 2025 during a routine check-in despite being married to a U.S. citizen and having a reopened legal case. After being detained at Montgomery County ICE facility and struggling with mental health issues, Menjivar and his wife decided he would voluntarily depart to Spain rather than face deportation, leaving behind his wife who had lived in the U.S. her entire life.

CNN reporter Jason Carroll and his crew were escorted away from a protest zone in downtown Los Angeles and briefly detained by LAPD while covering the anti-ICE demonstrations. An officer instructed Carroll to place his hands behind his back and told him "You are being detained while you are leaving this area," though Carroll was not placed in restraints. The officer clarified Carroll was "not under arrest because you're press" and took down details from all crew members before releasing them.

Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was shot by a rubber bullet while reporting on the LA protests in Downtown Los Angeles. She was clearly identified as press and was speaking on camera when she was hit, yelling in pain from the impact. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later confirmed she was sore but otherwise unharmed.

Valentina Galvis, a Colombian asylum seeker, went to Chicago Immigration Court on June 5, 2025, expecting a hearing after her husband Camilo had been granted asylum in the same court two weeks earlier; the couple had fled far-right paramilitary violence in Colombia in 2022, and Galvis had survived a brutal assault by the group. Instead, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss her case, and plainclothes agents detained her immediately after she left the courtroom. Galvis and her seven-month-old son Naythan, a U.S. citizen, were taken by ICE contractor MVM Inc. to a Sonesta hotel near O'Hare Airport, where they were confined to a two-room suite for five days under constant guard, with the phone removed and no information given about their whereabouts. ICE's online locator falsely showed Galvis being held more than 700 miles away in Washington, D.C. Her attorney filed a habeas corpus petition, and a judge ordered she not be removed from Illinois, but ICE did not inform her of this. She was released on the fifth day to ICE's Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office and fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet; her asylum case dismissal is now on appeal with a new case pending.

Cary López Alvarado, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen nine months pregnant, was detained by immigration agents in Hawthorne, California on Sunday. López Alvarado said agents shoved her during the arrest, causing her to lose her balance as she tried to protect her stomach. After her release, she experienced sharp stomach pains and was hospitalized for one day for monitoring. López Alvarado and her cousin Alberto Sandoval, also a U.S. citizen, were doing maintenance work when agents in Border Patrol uniforms arrived in marked CBP vehicles following a white pickup truck carrying two undocumented workers, including her partner Brian Nájera.

Angel Piña, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by ICE and Border Patrol agents in June or July and filed a federal tort claim on August 20 alleging racial profiling and wrongful arrest. Charges against him have been dismissed. He is one of six claimants represented by the Carrillo Law Firm alleging racial profiling by ICE and Border Patrol in Southern California.

Robert Rosado, 54, was charged with robbery, impersonating a public servant, and other offenses after entering an auto repair shop on June 8, 2025, wearing tactical gear and a fake ICE badge, claiming he would take undocumented employees into custody. He zip-tied a woman employee and stole approximately $1,000 before fleeing in an unmarked van. Investigators identified Rosado through license plate readers and surveillance footage, discovering a fake badge, airsoft gun, and other items at his residence. He is being held on $800,000 bail with a preliminary hearing scheduled for July 8, 2025.

A U.S. deputy marshal was briefly detained by ICE agents in the lobby of a federal building in Tucson, Arizona because he matched the general description of a person ICE was seeking. The deputy marshal's identity was quickly confirmed by other law enforcement officers, and he was released without incident.

ICE agents conducted a raid in Norristown, Pennsylvania, targeting a family who claim to be U.S. citizens. According to the family's statement, agents rammed into a family member's car, threatened them with a loaded gun, and attempted to take someone without a warrant, despite the person living in the residence and no warrant being presented.

In Oceanside, California, the Robles Ortega family was woken up by armed agents breaking their windows, deploying flashbangs, and sending a drone inside. Both parents were detained and the 17-year-old U.S. citizen son and 14-year-old daughter were taken out in handcuffs and only released after neighbors intervened in the driveway to remind agents they were minors and verify their citizenship.

In Huntington Park, California, federal agents set off an explosive device outside Jenny Ramirez's home, blowing off the front door and shattering a window while she and her 1-year-old and 6-year-old children were inside. Ramirez said agents gave no warning, that everyone who lived in the home was a U.S. citizen, and that she told them: 'You guys didn't have to do this, you scared my son, my baby.'

Sergio Cerdio Gomez, a 42-year-old Pasco food truck owner and father of three, was detained by ICE agents on April 24, 2025, during a scheduled immigration interview in Yakima. Gomez was attending the interview with his U.S. citizen wife, Gabrielle Cerdio, regarding his pending green card and citizenship application, which they had filed in 2022. He was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant. Gomez co-owns the Kennewick food truck Hibachi Explosion with his wife. He was subsequently deported to Chiapas, Mexico in June 2025.

Christian Cerna, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Paramount, California, was arrested by ICE on June 11, 2025, in an operation involving agents ramming his vehicle, detonating flash-bang grenades, and pointing assault rifles at the car while his partner and two young children were inside. The arrest came after Cerna attended a June 7 protest against ICE near a Home Depot in Paramount, where agent Eduardo Mejorado alleged Cerna struck him; Cerna and his lawyers say he swung his hand without making contact, and no injury to the agent was alleged. ICE/DHS filmed the arrest and posted the footage to social media, labeling Cerna a 'violent rioter'; Cerna later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. A federal judge later described the arrest operation as part of a 'vindictive effort' by officials to 'impose extrajudicial punishment.'

Dong Van Nguyen, a 64-year-old Vietnamese refugee who fled to the U.S. in 1980, was detained by ICE on May 21, 2025 during a scheduled check-in appointment at the Burlington ICE office. He was enrolled in the alternatives to detention program. Greater Boston Legal Services filed a habeas corpus motion to challenge his detention. Nguyen now faces deportation to Vietnam after 45 years in the United States.