Human Impact Project

Waukegan Alderman Juan Martinez was briefly detained by U.S. immigration enforcement agents on Baldwin Avenue while stuck in traffic on November 7, 2025. Four federal agents drew guns on Martinez while he sat in his car with his hands raised, with one agent threatening to shoot him. The agents eventually left after community members identified Martinez as a city alderman, and he filed a police report with the Waukegan Police Department.

Jose Garcia-Sorto was shot by a federal ICE agent during a 4 a.m. traffic stop on Interstate 17 near Dove Valley Road in north Phoenix, after allegedly attempting to drive away. DHS said the agent fired twice because he was in the vehicle's path, but the Phoenix New Times reported photos showing damage to the driver's side window rather than the windshield, contradicting that account. Garcia-Sorto's wife said she has been unable to obtain information from authorities about his condition and that he is hospitalized under a different name.

Fernando Jaramillo Solano, a 45-year-old Colombian national seeking asylum, and his two children, Jana Michel Jaramillo Patiño (12) and Kewin Daniel Patiño Bustamante (15), were detained by ICE agents on October 27, 2025, while being driven to school near a mobile home park in Durango, Colorado. The family had lived in Colorado for over 18 months, held valid documentation showing an active asylum process since December 2024, a pending work permit request, and no criminal record. ICE officials later stated in federal court that Jaramillo Solano was not their intended target. Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Durango ICE field office, where agents in tactical gear pepper-sprayed and fired rubber bullets at demonstrators; one protester was allegedly pushed and another, 57-year-old Franci Stagi, was knocked down and put in a chokehold, while 22-year-old Drew Collie was sprayed and struck by rubber bullets. Local police attempting a welfare check on the children were denied entry by federal agents. The father was transferred to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas, and the children were held at a facility in southern Texas before immigration officials granted the family voluntary departure, with ICE stating it would facilitate their return to Colombia. The City of Durango requested an investigation into agent conduct from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which declined the request.

Luisa Rodriguez, a Mexican national who immigrated to the U.S. over 30 years ago and worked in courts, was detained by ICE agents on September 28, 2025, at Camp Pendleton's gate while visiting her pregnant daughter, a newly enlisted U.S. Marine. Rodriguez and her husband Esteban Rios were initially released with ankle monitors but were taken back into custody at a subsequent ICE check-in appointment. Rodriguez was held at Otay Mesa Detention Center for nearly three weeks before being released on October 30. Her husband was deported to Tijuana on October 31. The family has pending green card applications and no criminal history.

A Mexican mother of a 10-month-old was arrested by ICE agents while driving her taxi near O'Hare International Airport and detained at the Broadview facility. She lacked access to a lactation room to pump breast milk for her daughter. A federal judge ordered her release on October 31, the day after her habeas case was filed.

Federal authorities arrested 10 anti-ICE activists, including Isai Carrillo, and charged them with violence and property damage during immigration enforcement operations in Southern California between June and July 2025. The charges stem from three separate incidents: a June 6 incident in the Fashion District where a protester allegedly used pepper spray against federal agents; a June 8 downtown Los Angeles protest at Civic Center where demonstrators allegedly threw objects at officers; and a July 10 protest at a federal operation in Camarillo where protesters allegedly blocked vehicles, threw rocks, and damaged federal property. Two members of VC Defensa, an organization prosecutors said operates a rapid response network to impede immigration agents, were among those charged. Federal authorities arrested the suspects on October 29, 2025, with charges including conspiring to obstruct federal law enforcement.

Fernando Jaramillo Solano, a Colombian asylum-seeker, was detained by ICE agents on October 27, 2025 while driving his two children—ages 11/12 and 14/15—to school near a mobile home park in Durango, Colorado. The family had lived in Colorado for more than 18 months with an active asylum case and no criminal record. Immigration officials later admitted in federal court that Jaramillo Solano was not their intended target. The father was sent to a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, while the children were held separately at an ICE facility in southern Texas, apart from their mother, Estela Patiño, who remained in Durango. Local police tried multiple times to secure the children's release but were denied entry by federal agents, and Colorado Governor Jared Polis said ICE had not notified the state in advance. On October 28, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the ICE field office demanding the family's release; agents in tactical gear used pepper spray and rubber bullets, breaking through a human chain formed by demonstrators. The family was subsequently granted voluntary departure, with ICE facilitating their return to Colombia.

Illinois State Representative Hoan Huynh, a Vietnamese refugee and congressional candidate, said he was surrounded by Customs and Border Patrol agents near Montrose and Kimball avenues in Albany Park on Chicago's Northwest Side while conducting community outreach to inform residents of their rights amid ICE enforcement activity. Huynh said six agents surrounded his vehicle and one pointed a gun at him, threatening to break his car windows, before lowering the weapon once he began recording. A DHS official said Huynh was stopped twice for stalking law enforcement and attempting to interfere with operations. The encounter occurred around the same time federal agents reportedly detained a vendor employee outside a school in Rogers Park.

In Berwyn, Illinois, Lesly Guevara, who is pregnant, honked her car horn to warn community members of nearby ICE agents conducting an enforcement operation. She was driving with her fiancé and their 10-month-old son to pick up groceries when she said a Jeep blocked her vehicle. An agent approached her car with his gun raised, and she said she believed she was about to be killed, asking him, 'You're really gonna shoot a pregnant woman?' A DHS spokesperson said video showed her 'aggressively barreling toward law enforcement while speeding and honking her horn,' calling it a 'threatening and aggressive act,' and said the agent acted to protect himself with restraint. Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez said the confrontation could have ended badly, noting officers are trained to view being boxed in as life-threatening.

ICE agents were conducting operations in Santa Ana near Birch Street and Andrew Place early in the morning. Community watchers and legal observers responded to monitor the incident. An ICE agent pepper sprayed the area despite no one being near, and later remotely disabled a legal observer's vehicle engine while stopped at a red light on Main Street and Edinger Avenue.

Miguel Barreno López, a 39-year-old Spanish citizen, was arrested by ICE on October 18, 2025, during a traffic stop near Chicago after his tourist visa expired. An immigration judge approved his voluntary departure to Spain on November 17, 2025. Despite this approval, Barreno remained detained at Kenton County Detention Center in Kentucky for six months with no communication from ICE regarding his departure status or case updates. He was eventually deported to Spain in May 2026 and banned from re-entering the U.S. for ten years.

An 18-year-old U.S. citizen was pulled from a vehicle and thrown to the ground by agents believed to be from ICE during a weekend enforcement operation in Hoffman Estates. She and two friends were detained for several hours before being released without charges. Video footage captured the agents restraining the teen on the ground. Her parents are demanding accountability and pursuing legal action, and there has been confusion over which federal agency was responsible for the arrest. The incident has prompted an investigation.

Rev. ELaura James Reid, a 49-year-old pastor of Coleman Chapel CME Church and lifelong Memphian, was pulled over on October 10, 2025, by a man in camouflage fatigues driving an unmarked SUV with a matte army green finish as she left a church unity summit at an East Memphis hotel. The officer claimed she looked lost or was "driving unsure," though she had properly stopped at a stop sign and signaled her turn. When Reid questioned whether it was normal for National Guard members to ask for licenses, the officer told her to have a nice day and let her go. She was not arrested or ticketed.

On October 10, 2025, Tontitown police pulled over a work van and, after issuing only a traffic warning to the driver, called ICE to the scene; officers fingerprinted and detained the van's occupants roadside for about an hour awaiting ICE's arrival. Five of the six passengers, including 18-year-old Guatemalan woman Vicky Ramirez, were booked into Washington County Detention Center and transferred to federal custody; Ramirez was later sent to a detention facility in Louisiana and deported to Guatemala. Bodycam footage obtained via a public records request showed Officer Darrin Bentley telling a colleague "we're going to ID everybody" before opening the van's sliding door and asking all passengers for identification, then telling another officer he had "a truck full" before calling ICE. The stop was one of at least 13 identified traffic stops—ten ending in warnings and three in citations, mostly involving work vans or trucks—that led to the federal detention of 20 people in Washington County before Tontitown Police Department formally signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE in June 2026.

Guilherme Lemes Cardoso E Silva, a 35-year-old Brazilian visual artist and former attorney based in Sausalito, was detained by ICE agents on July 11, 2025, while driving on San Juan Island, Washington, to pick up his 4-year-old daughter. His wife, Rachel Leidig, who is an American makeup artist 7 months pregnant with their first child due in October, says ICE agents surrounded Silva's car with approximately six unmarked vehicles, refused to show a warrant, confiscated his phone while he was recording, and used physical force during the arrest, pushing him against the car and handcuffing him. Silva, who entered the U.S. on a valid six-month visa eight years ago and overstayed his status, had no criminal record and was in the final stages of applying for a green card through an I-130 petition filed by his wife after they married in April 2025. ICE agents claimed to have found illicit images on Silva's phone and charged him with possessing depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Silva was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where according to Leidig he was subjected to invasive searches, made to sleep on the floor with 35 other detainees, and shackled during transport. On July 29, a judge ordered Silva's release on bond, which Leidig paid in full, but ICE transferred him to Whatcom County without explanation, complicating his legal representation. On September 12, after 63 days in custody, Silva was released on personal recognizance. On October 6, a judge dismissed the criminal charges against him without prejudice, four days before the birth of his newborn son, Isidore. The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney indicated charges could be refiled pending investigation completion. Leidig speculated that the detention may have been related to a custody battle Silva was involved in.

Alandria London, a Black ride-share driver, was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper on October 8, 2025, while taking a passenger to the airport. The officer claimed he did not see her seat belt, though she was wearing one. After the officer said he needed to "call it in," an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van pulled up behind the motorcycle. London believes she was profiled as Hispanic and stopped as a pretext for an immigration check. She was not cited or arrested but posted about the incident on Facebook with a photo showing herself wearing the seat belt.

Gustavo Santiago, a 13-year-old from Tamaulipas, Mexico, living in San Antonio, Texas, was detained with his mother on October 5, 2025, at a Border Patrol checkpoint. He has been sick multiple times in detention. When he had a fever, medical staff told his mother he was old enough to fight it off without medication. He was treated for a skin rash believed caused by poor water quality and suffered stomach pain and nausea attributed to unsanitary food preparation. He expressed fear of deportation and uncertainty about what he did wrong to be detained.

A Benton, Arkansas man was arrested in May after police mistakenly believed a bottle of his cologne contained liquid opium. The arrest led to the discovery that his visa had expired, and he was subsequently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for about 30 days at a facility in Louisiana. He has since been released but remains unable to work as his immigration case remains unresolved. His wife said the ordeal has caused significant emotional and financial strain on the family, including their daughter.

In Bowie, Maryland, federal agents arrested a father after he had just left home to drive his children to school in the family minivan. His three children — ages 6, 7, and 8 — were in the backseat as masked agents smashed his window, pulled him from the car, pinned him to the ground, pressed a hand on his neck, and pointed a Taser at him while he was pinned. The children later told their mother they saw agents point a gun at their father. He was detained one day after his wife said he had checked in for immigration supervision.

Miguel García-Hernández, an undocumented immigrant awaiting intake at an ICE facility in Dallas, was shot on September 24, 2025, when a gunman opened fire outside the facility. He died from his injuries on September 29, leaving behind his wife Stephany Gauffeny and three children. García-Hernández had been in ICE custody following a DUI arrest and was working toward legal status through a Biden administration initiative when the shooting occurred.