Human Impact Project

At least 15 people were detained this week through targeted arrests conducted by ICE agents in Southern California. The post credits advocacy organizations for their continued support of reporting on immigration enforcement activities.

On March 19, ICE and Border Patrol agents conducted a multi-person enforcement operation in the parking lot of a market in Christiansted, St. Croix. Video footage showed agents subduing a man on the pavement with one agent appearing to have his knee on the man's head and neck. Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett commented on the enforcement action and the manner in which it was carried out.

Frontline Dignity documented two ICE detentions in Cranberry Township on the morning of March 17, with the Butler County Sheriff's Office assisting. The first occurred around 9 a.m. in a parking lot near Cranberry Square, outside the Walmart Supercenter and Harbor Freight, where a man was arrested and placed into a van. The second took place around 10 a.m. outside Felson Apartments on Brandt Drive, near Costco, where a man was detained as sheriff's vehicles were present. The incidents are part of a monthslong partnership between ICE and the sheriff's office, which a recent news release said has resulted in 36 arrests since November.

A federal judge ruled that the February 2025 arrests of 12 employees at El Potro Mexican Restaurant in Liberty, Missouri by armed Department of Homeland Security agents were unlawful. According to court documents, ICE officers came looking for one person believed to have a felony narcotics conviction, then had the restaurant owner bring employees in one at a time without informing them they could decline to speak with agents. The judge found 11 of the 12 arrests lacked probable cause, ruling only one lawful due to prior removal history, and found agents had prepared forms justifying the arrests that did not include facts supporting probable cause.

Yolanda Perez-Magallón, a 50-year-old undocumented immigrant and caregiver for her 21-year-old daughter with cancer, was detained by ICE agents on February 24 as a collateral arrest during an immigration sweep targeting her son Jonathan. She was held for nearly two weeks before being released on a $1,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 10.

ICE agents detained an employee at a Minneapolis business owned by Nesta Rodriguez. Rodriguez spoke to Sky News about the incident.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations Kalispell, with support from Spokane Border Patrol, conducted a worksite operation at a construction site in Bigfork on March 4, 2025. Acting on a tip, agents served a notice of inspection and encountered 17 undocumented immigrants. All 17 were taken into custody and found ineligible to remain in the United States. The investigation remains ongoing.

The Trump Administration has reopened family detention centers in Texas and is detaining immigrant families, including some who have been living in the United States for years. Legal advocates report that children in these facilities are experiencing hunger, sleep deprivation, and psychological distress. The government is potentially planning to detain thousands more at military bases like Fort Bliss.

ICE agents detained Francisco Andrade-Berrera, a 37-year-old Mexican citizen, outside Soto High School in Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood on Wednesday morning while he was dropping off children. Two students were in the vehicle at the time; school staff escorted them into the building. Andrade-Berrera had prior convictions and had been deported twice previously.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Emine and Celal Emanet, owners of Jersey Kebab restaurant in Haddon Township, New Jersey on February 25, 2025. The couple, who came from Turkey nearly two decades ago on visas, had fallen out of legal status and were being detained by ICE. Celal Emanet was released with an ankle monitor, while his wife remains in ICE custody awaiting a bond hearing scheduled for mid-March.

As a result of the Trump administration's zero tolerance family separation policy announced in May, numerous infants and toddlers as young as 1 year old are being placed in immigration court deportation proceedings without access to court-appointed lawyers. Children are expected to navigate complex legal processes despite their age and developmental inability to understand proceedings. Non-profit organizations and pro bono lawyers attempt to fill the representation gap, but minors are not entitled to government-funded counsel. The administration has refused to disclose the exact number of children separated from their parents since June 26, when an initial estimate of 2,047 separated children was provided.

Undocumented day laborers in Los Angeles are preparing to help clear debris and rebuild homes after wildfires. ICE has conducted multiple raids across major U.S. cities and is planning large-scale enforcement operations. Workers like Luis and Jonathan are volunteering to help their communities rebuild while facing potential deportation.

Maria Gonzalez, a 32-year-old Venezuelan mother, and her two children (ages 7 and 9) were deported to Mexico within hours of being stopped for a traffic violation in Tucson, Arizona, on February 15, 2025. Tucson Police conducted an SB-1070 immigration check during the stop, leading to expedited deportation by U.S. Border Patrol without court hearings or a chance to seek asylum. The family had fled Venezuela in 2022, crossing the Darién Gap jungle before reuniting in Tucson, where they had found support through a local church congregation. Gonzalez's husband and two older sons, ages 12 and 14, remained in Tucson, separated from her and the two younger children after the deportation.

ICE, DEA, and FBI conducted a raid on Cedar Run Apartments on February 5, 2025, using battering rams and flashbangs to breach units while searching for drug traffickers and targeting migrant families from Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, and Central America. The operation relied on approximately two dozen administrative warrants and two judicial warrants, but residents reported not being shown or given copies of warrants, raising Fourth Amendment questions about forced entry procedures. Legal experts disputed whether administrative warrants authorize forced entry, while some officials defended the federal agencies' actions as lawful.

Juan, a Mexican national who entered the U.S. legally on a work visa in 2018 and overstayed, was detained by ICE on February 5, 2025, during a raid at Cedar Run Apartments in Denver. He has been held at the Aurora ICE detention facility for over a year. His wife, Lucie Donovan, a U.S. citizen and Denver teacher, married him while detained in September 2025 and has pursued legal avenues including habeas corpus petitions to fight his deportation and obtain a green card, though immigration judges have repeatedly denied bond requests.

Alfonso Garcia Vega, a 61-year-old man with health issues including a possible brain tumor, was arrested by ICE agents in a Sunnyslope neighborhood raid on Sunday. ICE deployed an armored truck with a battering ram, at least 12 unmarked vehicles, flash-bang grenades, and dozens of armed agents to arrest him. His son Marco Garcia stated that ICE officers showed his father a picture of a man named Alfonso, but it was not him, and that his father called from an ICE detention center saying the photo did not match his identity. Garcia said his father has multiple health issues and is seeking a diagnosis for a possible tumor. Neighbors described the operation as overly aggressive for a single elderly man.

In Coral Springs, Florida, an armed federal agent was recorded at a neighborhood playground while heavily armed agents, some carrying shields, raided a home down the street.

A 36-year-old asylum seeker identified as J.S.T. was arrested during a February 2025 raid at an Aurora apartment complex while leaving to head to work. He was detained for four weeks. The ACLU filed a lawsuit on his behalf alleging the arrest lacked proper probable cause determination and was part of a pattern of indiscriminate arrests.

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.

ICE agents raided Ocean Seafood Depot at Adams and Delancey streets in Newark, New Jersey, on January 23, 2025, detaining both undocumented workers and U.S. citizens. The business owner said about a dozen agents entered without a warrant or court order around 11 a.m., demanded employee identification, and took three people into custody. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said one detainee was a U.S. military veteran whose military documentation was questioned by agents, and he denounced the raid as a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Rep. LaMonica McIver called for answers from the Department of Homeland Security about how the agency detained citizens and a veteran without a warrant. ICE confirmed the operation occurred and acknowledged U.S. citizens may have been detained during the enforcement action.