Human Impact Project

Ana Castro, a long-time Wyoming resident and immigrant advocate who arrived as a child, is leaving the state amid fears for her safety as red state leaders increasingly cooperate with ICE and pursue hard-line immigration policies. Castro, who worked for a nonprofit and founded the Wyoming chapter of Juntos, an immigrant advocacy group, had spent decades contributing to her rural community despite lacking legal status. Immigrants comprise nearly 30% of rural Wyoming's recent population growth and fill critical gaps in service and construction jobs, but mounting deportation concerns are causing an exodus that threatens rural economies. State leaders acknowledge immigrants' economic importance while supporting stricter enforcement policies.

ICE agents conducting enforcement operations across New York City's five boroughs on July 30-31, 2026 were documented on video pepper-spraying Linda Wolff, a 72-year-old immigrant rights supporter, in Inwood, Manhattan while she filmed them on her cellphone. Wolff, who says her civil rights were violated, has filed a federal tort claim against ICE and plans to pursue a lawsuit under a new New York law allowing people to sue individual ICE officers in state court. She appeared alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul at a press conference this week highlighting the law, which also bars local police from participating in immigration enforcement. An ICE spokesperson said officers used "the minimum amount of force necessary."

Darren Eichler, a U.S. citizen working at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, was pepper-balled and detained by immigration agents on October 7, 2025, after he and coworker Daniel Greer moved to help a man wading in the nearby Des Plaines River, not realizing the man was fleeing agents, and may have thought he was suicidal. When the men refused agents access to a locked gate and began filming, agents cut the padlock with bolt cutters, sprayed them with chemical agents, and tackled or arrested them. Eichler said his face felt like it was on fire and he developed chest pains and breathing difficulty, pleading for about an hour before agents took him to Rush Oak Park Hospital, where he remained handcuffed until a nurse intervened; agents held his phone and wallet until the next day. Neither Eichler nor Greer was charged, but both say they required follow-up medical care and counseling. In 2026, Eichler filed a Federal Tort Claims Act claim, reportedly seeking $1 million, as part of a coordinated ACLU-led effort involving 54 to 56 people across 17 states. "My story is not just about what happened to me," Eichler said. "It's about the kind of country we choose to be. No one should lose their dignity the moment they come face to face with those who hold power."

Hunger strikers at the Adelanto detention center in California faced retaliation from ICE officials after staging protests, according to attorneys with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). Detainees were zip-tied, threatened with teargas, placed in solitary confinement, and transferred to other ICE facilities. ICE officials denied that detainees were forgoing food and denied that retaliation was occurring, instead claiming that one detainee who led the hunger strike faced disciplinary actions for vague facility violations.

Oriana Korol, 38, a clarinet player with the Unpresidented Brass Band and a child and family therapist, was pepper-sprayed twice in the face and tackled by federal officers moments after her band finished playing the "Ghostbusters" theme during a protest outside Portland's ICE facility on October 12, 2025. Video shows her dragged to the ground, her glasses and clarinet broken, as she pleaded that she has asthma and was struggling to breathe. She was transported across state lines to Clark County Jail in Vancouver, Washington, where she was held for roughly three nights before her husband learned of the transfer; she was reunited with her partner and 3-year-old child upon release. Prosecutors initially charged her with felony assault, alleging she kicked and bit an officer, which carried up to eight years in prison, while she maintained she acted defensively after being shoved and pepper-sprayed. Band founder Miles Thompson called the felony charge "absurd" and said he saw nothing warranting her arrest. After a trial in which she testified she never kicked or bit the officer, Korol later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for trying to kick an officer and faces sentencing with a maximum of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Emma Landis, a 22-year-old activist and artist, was shot in the right foot by Brandon Booth, a 42-year-old off-duty employee of GEO Group, which operates the Aurora ICE Processing Center in Colorado, during a protest outside the facility on July 17, 2026. The shooting occurred after a verbal confrontation when facility employees began mocking and threatening protesters on the sidewalk. Landis called 911 herself after Booth and his colleagues fled the scene and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. She requires six to eight weeks of bed rest, which has prevented her from working and engaging in her hobbies. Despite her injury, Landis returned to protest at the facility on Sunday and told supporters she will continue to advocate for closing immigration detention in Colorado. Booth was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, felony menacing, and unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon.

ChongLy 'Scott' Thao, a 56-year-old naturalized Hmong American U.S. citizen with no criminal record, was forcibly removed from his St. Paul home by ICE agents on January 18, 2026. Agents broke down his front door at gunpoint without a warrant and led him outside in sub-freezing conditions wearing only underwear and a blanket. Thao, who has severe psoriasis worsened by cold and stress, was held for over two hours, driven to an undisclosed location where he was photographed in the cold, then returned home after agents realized he was a U.S. citizen. ICE claimed agents were executing a warrant seeking two convicted sex offenders with ties to the property, but Thao stated he had never seen those men and they did not live with him; the Minnesota Department of Corrections later confirmed one of the wanted men was still imprisoned. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher announced in April 2026 they are investigating the incident as potential kidnapping, burglary, and false imprisonment. Thao's family is working with the ACLU of Minnesota and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office to pursue legal action.

ICE agents fatally shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian man, outside the agency's immigration facility in Maine in July 2026. His partner, Karolina Rojas, described him as a loving, hardworking father who did everything to make her and their daughter happy. Relatives say the ICE officer who shot him has a history of serious mental health struggles dating to childhood. In response, community ICE-watch groups across Maine have ramped up efforts to monitor and document agency vehicles and detentions amid an intensified crackdown known as Operation Catch of the Day, work that organizers, largely small nonprofits and volunteers, say has become exhausting as enforcement expands into rural and suburban areas.

Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and Columbia University graduate student of Syrian-Palestinian descent, was arrested by ICE without a warrant at his apartment building on March 8, 2025, following his pro-Palestinian activism and organizing campus protests. The Trump administration pursued deportation based on allegations he concealed prior employment with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and the British Embassy on his visa application. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used immigration provision claiming his activism threatens U.S. foreign policy. Khalil was held for 104 days at LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana before a federal judge released him on bail in June 2025. In July 2026, he filed a lawsuit against Trump administration officials and pro-Israel groups, alleging they conspired to target him and others for supporting Palestinian rights, claiming the administration coordinated with surveillance groups Betar and Canary Mission using a document called "Project Esther" as a blueprint.

A Cuban national held at Florence Correctional Center in Arizona staged multiple hunger strikes to protest what he described as inhumane detention conditions and lack of transparency regarding his asylum claims. He alleges that ICE subjected him to solitary confinement and restrictive measures to isolate him from legal counsel and advocacy groups after his protests gained attention. He was subsequently deported to Ecuador, a third country, which terminated his ability to participate in U.S. legal proceedings.

Jaime Alanis Garcia, a 57-year-old farmworker at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, died from injuries sustained during a federal immigration raid in July 2025. While fleeing federal immigration agents who deployed rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun guns, Garcia fell approximately 30 feet from a greenhouse roof, sustaining a broken neck and skull fractures. He was placed on life support before his family decided to discontinue his care. Garcia's wife and daughter filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Glass House Farms and the federal government, alleging that federal agents' use of excessive force caused Garcia to seek shelter on the roof. The raid resulted in more than 360 arrests of undocumented workers across Camarillo and Carpinteria locations. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Alanis was never in custody and was not being chased by federal agents. Community members later marched through Carpinteria to commemorate Garcia's death and demand accountability.

Jacob Zepeta-Castro, owner of the El Quetzal bakery in Lake Worth Beach, was arrested by ICE agents and Florida Highway Patrol troopers after an hours-long standoff that drew a crowd of officers, protesters and passersby. He was charged with defying deportation orders by returning to Florida more than once from his native Guatemala; his family said he was working legally and had a pending asylum application. Zepeta-Castro's family and advocates disputed ICE's claim that he tried to ram an agent's car, saying he locked the bakery's doors to protect his employees and surrendered voluntarily as his distraught children watched. A federal judge has ordered him held without bond at a Stuart detention facility, ruling his asylum application is no defense against the reentry charge.

Yeferson Jose Canamo-Jordan, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national, and Felipe Fernando Reymundo, a 23-year-old Guatemalan national, were arrested by ICE during vehicle stops in Upper Marlboro on July 9, 2026, after being released from Prince George's County Detention Center. Both men had been released from county custody after their charges were dismissed or resolved. Canamo-Jordan entered the U.S. in August 2022 and has been convicted of driving without a valid license and recently charged with assault. Reymundo entered without inspection and has faced arrests since 2025 on charges including arson and motor vehicle theft. ICE alleged Canamo-Jordan was affiliated with Tren de Aragua. The arrests followed Prince George's County's decision to decline ICE detainers; the county executive signed an executive order in February banning the use of county property as immigration detention facilities.

Ryan Drury, a volunteer with VC Defensa, a community group that alerts residents when immigration agents are operating in the area, was confronted by an ICE agent on the 101 Freeway in Ventura on Tuesday morning. Cell phone video captured the agent stopping in the middle of the road, jumping out of his vehicle, and pepper spraying the air-conditioning vents of Drury's car. According to Drury, the agent then positioned himself in front of the vehicle, smiled, waved, and walked away. Drury stated the agent's actions followed a pattern he has witnessed before, where agents spray the air-conditioning vents so that if the driver turns on the air conditioning, the pepper spray comes through the vents.

Annya Mari, an activist who has protested outside a Department of Homeland Security/ICE facility in Cedar Rapids for more than 20 years without prior arrest, was tackled to the ground and zip-tied by police on July 7, 2026. According to bodycam footage released by Cedar Rapids Police, two officers grabbed and pinned her arms behind her back while she was intervening during the arrest of another individual, Scott Boylen. Mari stated she was wearing a sundress, did not act aggressively, and was not a threat, expressing confusion about her arrest.

David Streever, a Rochester resident and former journalist, sent a critical email to then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons in January 2026 criticizing federal immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis, including a fatal shooting by federal officers. Months later, while Streever was traveling in Finland with his daughter, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents visited his home and delivered an unsigned warning form to his wife, alleging the email may have violated federal law by threatening a federal official. After returning to the United States, agents tracked Streever to a hotel near JFK Airport and left a business card. Streever's attorney stated the email contained no threats and characterized the visits as an attempt to suppress his First Amendment rights to free speech and petition. On July 6, 2026, Streever's attorney filed a federal lawsuit through the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, arguing the email was protected political speech.

Jeane Wong, a prominent immigration enforcement protester in San Diego, was sentenced last month to 45 days of home detention after pleading guilty to assaulting a federal officer during a law enforcement operation at an apartment complex in Linda Vista in early July. Wong told the judge in asking for a lighter sentence that she had unmasked an agent whom she said had assaulted someone else during the operation.

Seven more defendants were sentenced on July 1, 2026, for their roles in the July 4, 2025 protest at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. Six who had pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists received sentences ranging from 22 months to 15 years — Nathan Baumann (22 months), Seth Sikes (6 years), Lynette Sharp and John Thomas (about 9 years each), and Joy "Rowan" Gibson and Rebecca Morgan (15 years each). Ines Soto, who pleaded not guilty but was convicted, was sentenced to 50 years — matching the sentence given the previous week to his wife Elizabeth Soto, who was among eight defendants convicted at trial. Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor said he factored Soto's anti-ICE views and opposition to government immigration policy into the sentence.

Approximately 300 immigrants detained at Delaney Hall, a privately operated ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, launched a hunger and labor strike beginning May 25, 2026, to protest conditions including spoiled and expired food, inadequate medical care, overcrowding, filthy bathrooms, lack of hot water, and denial of medical treatment. Detainee Elder Guerra, a Guatemalan immigrant, suffered a head injury after slipping in the shower and was placed in isolation rather than receiving proper treatment. Martin Soto, arrested by ICE four months earlier while buying diapers, remained detained despite a judge blocking his removal from the facility. Detainees reported retaliation by facility staff, including beatings, solitary confinement for strikers, and confiscation of personal items. The facility, operated by Community Education Centers, faced scrutiny for a pattern of medical neglect and rights violations, with sustained crowds of protesters gathering outside in solidarity.

A Belizean asylum seeker has been detained by ICE at the California City Detention Facility in Kern County for nearly two years. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, he described inhumane conditions including forced labor, medical neglect, and retaliation for advocating for others' medical care, and he has filed habeas petitions resulting in the release of several other detainees. His first habeas petition was granted, leading a federal court to order the government to provide him a bond hearing; he has since filed a second petition challenging his continued detention and the constitutional adequacy of that hearing. A federal judge in the Eastern District of California denied, without prejudice, his request for appointed counsel while granting him more time to reply in the case.