Human Impact Project

Since the beginning of 2025, ICE has conducted extensive raids targeting day laborers seeking work at Home Depot stores across Los Angeles, with more than 500 workers detained according to estimates by the National Day Laborer Network. ICE operations have included a tactic called 'Trojan Horse,' where officers hid in a truck to enter a Hollywood branch, and raids have expanded to construction sites, traffic lights, and coffee shops where day laborers congregate. Home Depot has expelled day laborers from its facilities citing an old rule against offering services without authorization, while the company denies coordinating with ICE or sharing license plate reader data with authorities. Community groups have organized support efforts including the 'Adopt a Day Laborer Corner' documentation program and boycott campaigns.

Erwin, 31, from San Marcos, Guatemala, came to the U.S. in early 2020 seeking better opportunities and worked as a tractor driver at a recycling plant, earning $1,400 per week and sending money home to his wife and two children. After his employer discovered his fake Social Security card and fired him, and as ICE raids intensified across Los Angeles, he lost his apartment and now sleeps in an abandoned wagon in South Los Angeles, seeking day labor work at Home Depot stores despite the constant threat of detention. He visits two churches daily for food and has been unable to find steady employment, contemplating self-deportation as his situation worsens. More than 500 day laborers have been detained by ICE in Los Angeles since 2025 according to the National Day Laborer Network.

Immigration agents arrived in unmarked black vans around 8 a.m. on Friday, August 14, at a food vendor corridor on Sunset Avenue and Amar Road in La Puente, California, near the Don Chilaquiles stand. Witnesses and vendors, including David González and Gabriela Hoyos, said a fellow vendor selling chicharrones spotted the agents and alerted others, allowing workers to flee to their vehicles before any arrests. Two Don Chilaquiles employees told reporters that no one was detained this time because workers received the warning in time. The same location saw Border Patrol agents detain three workers in December 2025, and vendors say fear of enforcement persists even as they continue working to support their families.

A man was detained by ICE agents outside a Home Depot on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, while appearing to experience a stroke or seizure. Video shared on social media shows agents handcuffing him and searching his pockets despite his unsteady head and lack of bodily control. Bystanders reportedly offered him water, which agents waved away, and no medical assistance was provided by agents at the scene.

Federal immigration agents conducted sweeps at more than 106 car washes across Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, Inglewood, Culver City, Westchester, Bell, and Whittier, detaining at least 373 workers. Officers in masks and bulletproof vests arrived in pickup trucks and removed workers from their jobs within minutes. The enforcement operation targeted car washes as part of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown in the region. According to the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, family members have been deported or remain in detention, and many workers live with ongoing fear of apprehension. The raids prompted protests against the enforcement operations.

José, a car wash worker at La Cienega Car Wash in Los Angeles, was detained by ICE agents in August 2025. José's wife is a U.S. citizen, and he had a pathway to citizenship before his detention. After a federal judge ordered his release on bond, the car wash had shut down, leaving José without employment. Rev. Andy Schwiebert of Immanuel Presbyterian Church noted that the enforcement operation destabilized families, congregations, workplaces, and entire communities across the region.

A Santa Ana car wash worker and 33-year U.S. resident who supported his three kids was arrested by ICE agents during a shift in August 2025 and held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center for two months. During detention, he slept on cold floors without blankets, toothbrushes, or basic medical care. His wife Alejandra reported agents treated him "worse than a common criminal, with chains binding his legs, arms and waist." He refused to sign deportation papers and is fighting to remain in the United States, a process that has drained his family emotionally and financially. He was one of seven workers detained that day but the only one released. At least 373 car wash workers have been detained across Southern California since raids began in summer 2025, with agents raiding at least 106 car washes region-wide. He said the experience left him traumatized, noting his life is no longer the same.

ICE agents arrested two roof repairmen without showing a warrant during a raid at a Cornwall, Vermont home on Aug. 8, according to Will Lambek of the immigrant advocacy group Migrant Justice. The men were taken out of state to face deportation proceedings; one has since been released and returned to Vermont. The arrests were part of a wave of workplace and commuting arrests across Vermont that advocates said was unusually large in scale.

Tonny Quesada-Ramirez, a Costa Rican national who has lived in the United States for approximately 26 years, was detained by ICE agents on August 7, 2026, while working on a home addition project near his South Orange residence. He lives with his wife and two children, one of whom has Down's syndrome, and had begun the green card application process when he was detained. Through efforts by South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum, Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative attorneys, immigration attorney Kate Reilly, and the group SOMA Community Cares, Quesada-Ramirez and two other local men were released from Delaney Hall detention center a few days after their arrest. ICE has stated he remains in removal proceedings, citing a prior 2001 removal order after he failed to appear in court and a 2010 arrest followed by release on bond in 2011; community members had raised over $50,000 to support him and others detained in the same enforcement action.

Eduardo Aguirre Esparza, a 53-year-old Mexican national and small business owner who has lived in the United States for over 20 years, was arrested by ICE on July 23, 2026, while working on a home remodeling project in West Seattle. Approximately 20 ICE agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded him, allegedly physically pushing him and threatening him when he refused to sign a voluntary departure form; he requested his lawyer instead. Without appearing before a judge or having contact with his attorney, Aguirre Esparza was transferred between multiple ICE facilities over three days and flown to El Paso, Texas, where he is detained at ERO El Paso Camp East Montana. His wife, Stacey Fitzpatrick, a U.S. citizen attorney, disputes ICE's claim that he has a 2005 DUI arrest from Kansas, noting he has never lived in Kansas and background checks show only a resolved 2015 traffic citation. Aguirre Esparza has a pending green card application and is married to a U.S. citizen with deep community ties. Community members organized rallies and fundraisers in West Seattle to raise awareness and support for his family, and Senator Patty Murray called the arrest "fundamentally wrong and un-American."

Mohamed Guezoui, born in Algeria, moved to the U.S. after marrying an American citizen. After his marriage ended, he found community through his friend Staci Tighe, whom he met at karaoke. Tighe was struggling through an illness at the time, and Guezoui visited her daily to offer support before his arrest. While working his shift at King Kabab restaurant in West Virginia, three masked ICE officers arrested him at his workplace. He was eventually deported. His detention marked the beginning of Operation Country Roads, a DHS enforcement sweep that resulted in approximately 600 arrests across West Virginia, primarily relying on local law enforcement cooperation.

Brayan Omar Sánchez, a 26-year-old Honduran truck driver and owner of a pressure-washing and painting business who had lived in South Florida for nearly a decade after fleeing gang violence that killed his father and other family members, was detained by ICE agents on May 13 while heading to a job site. He was transferred through detention centers in Colorado, Arizona, California and Texas before being flown roughly 21 hours to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on July 30 along with five other men — Cuban nationals Omar Rodríguez, Arístides Fernández, Yasmany Moreno and Daniel Lázaro Fuente, and Ecuadorian Mauricio Alvarado. Sánchez said he never signed deportation paperwork, believed he had asylum protection and a court order preventing removal, and said an ICE officer threatened the group with violence the night before if they refused to board the plane. He described arriving with only $20, which was confiscated by customs, and said he and the others are being held at a hotel in Bangui fearing for their safety. Sánchez is asking the Honduran government and members of Congress to help secure his return to the United States.

A Black DoorDash delivery driver was arrested by masked ICE agents on a Jersey City street while working. According to the post, the agents did not provide a warrant or demonstrate they had legal reason to detain him. The arrest occurred days after another person died in ICE custody at Delaney Hall in Newark.

José Padilla, a 41-year-old car wash worker who had lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, was detained by ICE on January 27, 2026 while working in Los Angeles, one of over 1,400 people detained in the LA area that month and among at least 373 car wash workers detained between June 2025 and January 2026. He was held in a downtown LA facility before being transferred to Adelanto and then California City Detention Facility, three hours from his Watts home. His wife, Alma Ramirez, described him as a present father who helped pay bills, did chores, and cared for their children — 17-year-old Alex, who has autism and relied on his father for daily bathing, homework help and school meetings, seven-year-old José Jr., and two-year-old Joaquin. The family struggled emotionally and financially in his absence, with two children starting therapy, while Padilla worked in the detention center kitchen to send money home. On August 4, 2026, he was released with help from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center and reunited with his family at Union Station; he continues fighting his immigration case, and the family has kept a GoFundMe open for legal fees.

A crew of five Ecuadorian roofers, several of whom had come to the U.S. during the Biden administration to seek asylum and were still in that process, were driving to a job site in Vermont when they were pulled over and detained by ICE agents. All five were transported to a detention center out of state, but with legal help they secured bond hearings before an immigration judge and were ultimately released.

A man who was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge in 2017 but never left the country, causing that order to automatically convert into a final removal order under federal law. In June 2025, he was detained after law enforcement executed a search warrant at his place of employment, and he was held for nearly a year at the Montgomery Municipal Jail under a material witness warrant. On May 22, 2026, a magistrate judge dismissed the material witness warrant and ordered his release, but he was not released and remained in custody for reasons unknown to the court. He filed a federal habeas corpus petition on July 31, 2026, seeking release or a bond hearing before an immigration judge. Respondents indicated that ICE had only lodged a detainer at the time the petition was filed and did not take physical custody of him until August 4, 2026, after which he was transferred to a facility within the Northern District of Alabama. The court dismissed the petition without prejudice, finding both that Petitioner failed to comply with a show-cause order and that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because he was not in ICE custody at the time of filing, noting jurisdiction now lies only in the district of his current confinement.

Eight noncitizens were arrested during a U.S. Customs and Border Protection and ICE operation at a solar farm on Riches Corners Road in Albion, New York on July 30, 2026. Seven of the men are from Venezuela and one is from Jamaica. All were working on the solar farm project at the time of the operation, which was conducted after ICE received a tip through its tipline. The arrested individuals were processed at Rochester and Buffalo CBP stations before being transferred to ICE for deportation proceedings. Nearly three weeks later, nearly 20 people marched in Albion to protest the detention and deportation of immigrants and farmworkers, an event organized by the nonprofit Rural & Migrant Ministry after a local youth group member, Analiah Figueroa, and her family said they encountered federal agents near the same field during the operation. Figueroa said her family, who are U.S. citizens, were stopped by an agent at a stop sign and later saw agents repeatedly drive past their home, which she said felt intimidating.

ICE conducted a raid at an Abbeville manufacturing facility in Louisiana. A warehouse manager described the operation as chaotic, though specific details about the number of people detained, their identities, or the circumstances of their apprehension are not provided in the available article text.

ICE conducted a targeted operation at a construction site off Franklin Road in Nampa on July 30, 2026, arresting and detaining six undocumented immigrants. DHS stated the individuals will remain in ICE custody pending removal or removal proceedings and will receive full due process.

Jacob Zapeta-Castro, a Guatemalan national and owner of El Quetzal Bakery in Lake Worth Beach, was detained by ICE agents on July 9, 2026. According to his family and advocates, Zapeta-Castro locked himself and his coworkers inside the business to protect undocumented employees from detention. ICE characterized his actions as fleeing agents. At the time of arrest, Zapeta-Castro held a valid work permit, Social Security number, and driver's license, and had filed for asylum in June 2024 and a withholding of removal petition. Multi-agency law enforcement—including ICE, Florida Highway Patrol, and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office—surrounded the business with approximately 50 officers while roughly 50 community members protested outside. The standoff lasted hours in extreme heat. He was charged with re-entering the country after deportation and held in ICE detention in Stuart, with his arraignment scheduled for July 29 in federal court in West Palm Beach. His arrest occurred during a four-day ICE operation in Palm Beach County that resulted in 309 total arrests.