Human Impact Project

Federal immigration agents detained three men in a white Jeep in the Westcott neighborhood of Syracuse, stopping the vehicle in the 400 block of Westcott Street. Witnesses said two of the men complied with ICE agents, but the driver tried to flee and was tasered several times before being tackled by ICE agents. Syracuse police officers, who initially stopped to assist thinking it was a local warrant execution, backed off once they realized it was an ICE operation and later only wrote a crash report at ICE's request. The men, who have not been identified, were taken to ICE's Central New York headquarters in Mattydale; the incident is one of more than 80 similar detentions reported in Onondaga County in the first two-and-a-half months of the year.

Camila Toro de Paula, a 25-year-old transgender woman from Venezuela, has been held for nearly a year at a men's ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, after being arrested during a routine immigration check-in at ICE's New York City office in August 2025. She fled Venezuela after suffering childhood abuse, including repeated rape by relatives and a homophobic stabbing attack by police, and sought asylum in the U.S. two years ago. Toro de Paula says she has been assaulted, threatened, placed in solitary confinement, denied water, and deprived of the hormone therapy she had received for years, after a policy protecting transgender detainees was eliminated in February 2025. She told The New York Times, "I'm afraid of dying here," and says she has resisted pressure to voluntarily return to Venezuela. Immigration officials cited felony assault and weapons charges as justification for her detention, though both charges were later dismissed and sealed.

Jun Qiu, a Chinese national who runs Fantasy Nails on Low Street in Newburyport, was detained by ICE agents who entered the salon "with guns drawn," according to Mayor Sean Reardon. Eyewitnesses reported the operation left customers shaken, and the mayor called it "incredibly frightening and traumatic," adding that the city does not condone the manner in which the operation was carried out. DHS said Qiu is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings; he had been arrested days earlier by local police on misdemeanor harassment and threat charges and had pleaded not guilty. The city said it did not participate in or receive advance notice of the ICE operation, and Reardon said officials are continuing to gather information from those involved or who witnessed the incident.

Two U.S. citizens were physically assaulted by ICE agents in the Bensenville suburb of Chicago, Illinois while observing and filming an immigration enforcement action. One woman said she repeatedly told agents she was a U.S. citizen, but they yanked her to the ground while trying to grab her phone and then shot her with a taser. A second U.S. citizen was taken by ambulance to the hospital in critical condition, with a witness saying he had been hit repeatedly.

A resident in Brownsville, Texas recorded federal Homeland Security Investigations (HSI/ICE) agents restraining a man on the ground inside a commercial plaza. In the video, a bystander can be heard questioning the agents' presence on what he calls "private property," while an officer orders him to back away under threat of arrest. Brownsville Mayor John Cowen criticized the increased aggressiveness of federal immigration operations in the area, saying it "sends the wrong message" and that "it makes no sense to go after people who follow the rules."

Ibrahim Mohammed, a 44-year-old Ethiopian national who came to the U.S. in 2014, was granted protection from deportation in 2024 under the Convention Against Torture after an immigration judge found he would likely face torture or persecution if returned to Ethiopia. Despite federal court orders in February and March requiring his release, roughly 10 ICE agents arrested him a third time on July 28, 2025, at his Baltimore-area apartment after falsely telling him and his attorney his ankle monitor was malfunctioning. Agents shoved his head into a car and gave him documents referencing Eswatini, a country ICE had previously tried unsuccessfully to deport him to. A judge again ordered his immediate release the same day, and U.S. District Judge John deGravelles later held then-ICE deputy field office director Vernon Liggins, who ordered the arrest on his last day in that role, in civil contempt, ordering ICE to pay Mohammed's attorney's fees and $180 for lost time. Mohammed, who spent 13 months in and out of ICE custody, testified the repeated detentions caused him nightmares and led his landlord to force him to move out.

José Mejía, a 45-year-old Mexican migrant, said he was detained by ICE agents on August 11 while on his way to work in Arlington, Texas. He said agents shocked him with a stun gun when he tried to flee and then physically assaulted him, leaving him with visible facial injuries. Mejía said he later woke up in a hospital in Washington, where he was admitted for three days due to the severity of his injuries. Days later, he said he still needed medical attention for his injuries but was denied permission to remove his ankle monitor so he could see a doctor.

ICE agents forcibly detained a person with irregular immigration status outside a Dollar Tree store in Jacksonville, Florida. During the operation, another person inside the store questioned the agents' actions and argued that they were on private property.

A video submitted to HudPost appears to show a federal immigration agent kicking a man during an encounter at 52nd Street and Hudson Avenue in West New York, New Jersey. The footage shows an agent making physical contact with the man, though the circumstances leading up to the moment are unclear and could not be independently verified. ICE did not comment on the incident, citing its policy of not discussing active investigations or arrests. The report follows a series of other immigration enforcement actions across Hudson County in recent weeks, including in Guttenberg, North Bergen, Weehawken, and Union City.

Linda Wolff, a 72-year-old fashion stylist and longtime immigrant rights supporter from Manhattan, was pepper-sprayed in the face by a masked ICE agent while filming federal officers near Inwood Hill Park during what officials referred to as 'Operation Rotten Apple.' Wolff said she had learned of ICE's presence via social media and was recording from a distance, never touching or acting aggressively toward officers, when an agent approached and sprayed her without provocation. She said her eyes and skin burned afterward but continued documenting ICE activity in the neighborhood and said she would not be deterred from doing so again. DHS said agents used pepper spray to control an 'unruly, combative' crowd while recovering a vandalized government van, describing their response as appropriate and within training. Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the incident as part of a pattern of aggressive federal immigration enforcement tactics against New Yorkers, and Wolff's attorney filed a claim against ICE under New York's newly enacted Bivens Act, calling it one of the first tests of the statute and describing the pepper-spraying as 'purely punitive.'

Suspected federal immigration agents smashed the windows of a truck and pointed firearms at the driver and passenger during a forcible vehicle stop in Langley Park, Maryland, escalating from verbal commands to breaking the window within about 10 seconds. The driver indicated that ICE had just detained his father, and agents reportedly dragged both occupants from the vehicle at gunpoint. Video of the incident, showing the shattered windshield and an agent reaching toward the occupants with a firearm drawn, was posted to Reddit on August 14 and circulated widely. The caption states it is another instance of suspected ICE agents drawing firearms on U.S. citizens.

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.

Carolina Molina, a U.S. citizen and licensed mental health therapist who works with immigration lawyers, was confronted at gunpoint by a masked ICE agent on August 10, 2026, in a Falls Church, Virginia parking lot. Molina was distributing business cards for immigration legal services when she witnessed ICE agents detaining two Latino men and shouted at the officers from her car. ICE vehicles boxed in her car and an agent drew his firearm, pointing it at her through the driver's-side window while accusing her of trying to run officers over. Molina denied the allegation, saying she was turning her car to avoid drawing attention to the attorney's office, and recorded the encounter on dashcam and cellphone video that she later shared publicly. DHS claimed she was 'weaponizing her vehicle,' but no charges were filed. Democratic Representatives Don Beyer and Suhas Subramanyam called for accountability, with Beyer describing Molina as a mother and citing a pattern of DHS misconduct.

Jimy Samuel Godoy Alfaro, an 18-year-old Honduran man, was confronted by ICE agents in the parking lot of a market in Columbia, Maryland, after agents mistakenly linked his vehicle to another person with a deportation order. When agents ordered him out of the car and tried to break his window, he drove off, striking an ICE agent who was later treated at a hospital for trauma and abrasions. Godoy Alfaro turned himself in to Howard County Police on hit-and-run related traffic charges and is being held without bond at the Howard County Detention Center, while ICE has lodged a detainer seeking custody of him.

A witness recorded video of ICE agents using a vehicle to pin a Guatemalan man against a fence to detain him on Aug. 10 in Hallandale Beach. The footage sparked outrage among activists from several organizations, including the Guatemalan-Maya Center and 50501, who gathered to protest at Hallandale Beach City Hall. Advocates said the incident occurred amid an escalation in ICE activity across South Broward and North Miami following the end of TPS, and called on the Hallandale Beach Police Department to document federal misconduct and avoid partnering with ICE under 287(g) agreements.

Gabar Choli, a 40-year-old Kurdish filmmaker and activist, has described being shackled, wrestled to the floor, and force-fed twice daily through a 60-centimeter nasal tube while held in a solitary confinement medical cell at the Port Isabel detention center in Texas. He said the daily procedure involved five staff members restraining him and inserting the tube, causing pain and internal bleeding during his hunger strike protesting detention conditions after his asylum application was denied. Choli said the ordeal led to a mental and physical collapse so severe that he wrote what he called an apology letter to his own body. A Guardian investigation found ICE obtained court orders for involuntary medical treatment for 18 hunger strikers between January 2025 and August 2026; Choli was later deported and now lives in Canada.

An estimated 71 Nigerian, African, and other foreign nationals were expelled from the United States on a 26-hour ICE deportation flight on July 31, routing through Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, and Ghana. Passengers, including Mohamed Barry, said GEO Group-contracted guards subjected them to verbal and physical abuse, bound at least two detainees in full-body straitjackets, and refused to let them use the lavatory. Barry said he witnessed an ICE agent instruct a foreign official to return detainees to their home countries despite protection orders barring such removal, a practice known as chain refoulement that violates U.S. and international law.

A Haitian man who had entered a national parole program in Manchester before relocating to White River Junction in 2025 was arrested by ICE agents at his door at 7 a.m. on Aug. 7, according to Yvonne Lodico of Grace Initiative Global. The man had employment authorization and an asylum application under review, and was moved between detention locations before arriving in New Hampshire. His wife, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, said that when she followed and asked ICE agents where they were taking her husband, an agent pulled out a gun and pointed it at her while she sat in her car.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested at least nine people across Vermont over a weekend in August 2026, including five construction workers arrested in Londonderry, one person in White River Junction, and two roof repairmen in a raid in Cornwall. A Haitian man with employment authorization and an asylum application under review was arrested at his home in White River Junction after ICE agents arrived at 7 a.m.; his wife reported that an ICE agent pointed a gun at her while she was in her car when she asked where they were taking him. Immigration advocates say at least one additional arrest occurred in the Upper Valley, and a local volunteer group reported three people were separately detained by ICE in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. The arrests, described by advocates as rare workplace and commuting operations involving groups of workers, occurred amid months of heightened federal enforcement across the state; the ACLU of Vermont has filed federal claims against ICE over a separate March raid in South Burlington, alleging constitutional violations.

Two men were detained after officers in ICE garb arrived in six vehicles at a gas station in Marshall on Tuesday morning, boxed in their vehicle at a gas pump, and smashed the windows before taking them into custody. Bystanders witnessed the enforcement action.