Human Impact Project

A 24-year-old Native American woman from Arizona, Leticia Jacobo, was subject to an ICE detainer issued by Polk County Jail in Des Moines. The detainer was intended for a different person booked at the same time but was erroneously placed on Jacobo's file. Her family provided tribal identification documents, and she was released before being transferred to federal custody.

Carine Balenda Mbizi, a Congolese mother, was detained by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry in New York after attempting to seek asylum in Canada with her three teenage children. The family had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022 and was transferred to the Dilley family detention facility in Texas. An immigration judge issued a deportation order in February 2025, and her appeal was dismissed in October. Online immigration court records show she remains in the facility while her case is pending.

A 41-year-old man from Mexico, now identified as Adán Núñez Gonzalez, a Northfield resident for over a decade with no criminal record, was detained by masked ICE agents on Washington Street while riding as a passenger in his own SUV after a friend drove him to work. Witnesses and multiple videos show agents surrounding the vehicle, breaking the window, drawing firearms, and forcibly removing him without showing a warrant or credentials, as his 15-year-old son cried, pleaded with officers, and filmed the encounter. A community volunteer described him as hardworking, maintaining two local jobs to support his family, and he is now held at Kandiyohi County Jail pending removal. ICE claims he had an active warrant and endangered officers despite wearing a seatbelt and not driving, an account disputed by The Advocates for Human Rights and local elected officials, who have called the arrest violent and a possible violation of due process.

Rafael Veraza and his 1-year-old daughter were allegedly pepper-sprayed by ICE agents in a Chicago suburb while the family was going grocery shopping. The incident occurred last week, and the family held a news conference to discuss the alleged use of force. The Department of Homeland Security has disputed the allegation.

ICE agents surrounded a car during a traffic stop on Kimball Street in Fitchburg on November 6, 2025, to arrest Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya, 24, an Ecuadorian national with a pending asylum claim and valid work authorization who was wanted for allegedly stabbing a coworker with scissors. During the arrest, her husband Carlos Sebastian Zapata, 24, a Fitchburg resident, appeared to suffer a seizure while holding their 1½-year-old daughter, whom Ojeda-Montoya breastfeeds. Zapata said an ICE agent pushed him, hit his ribs, and pressed on his neck, causing him to lose consciousness; video of the incident captured bystanders expressing concern and went viral. DHS disputed his account, claiming he faked the medical emergency to help his wife evade arrest and that medical personnel found no legitimate emergency. Ojeda-Montoya, who had previously been released on bond in March 2024, was ordered released on November 10 after a federal judge found her detention without a hearing violated her due process rights.

A 16-year-old high school student and mariachi musician in Oxnard describes two separate immigration raids on his family occurring four months apart. His mother was detained during the Glasshouse Farms raid in July, and months later ICE agents returned and took his father and uncle outside their Oxnard home.

Jaykie Funez-Andrade, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, was detained by federal agents during a traffic stop on Route 11 North in Harrisonburg, Virginia, while driving her 16-year-old daughter to school. When she struggled to recite her Social Security number from memory, an agent tackled her to the ground; she then showed her work permit, Social Security card, driver's license, and vehicle registration, but was arrested anyway. Her daughter filmed the encounter, saying officers left her alone on the roadside as agents drove off with her mother, and pleaded, "I want this video out there because I want my mother home." Funez-Andrade is being held at Rockingham/Harrisonburg Regional Jail with no criminal charges filed, reportedly as a 'courtesy' to ICE, and her family has started a GoFundMe to cover legal fees.

Federal agents sprayed pepper spray from a moving vehicle at a line of cars exiting a Sam's Club parking lot in Cicero on Saturday morning, striking a 1-year-old child among other occupants. Video footage shows a masked federal agent firing chemical irritants through open car windows.

Dennis Quiñonez, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested during a DHS immigration enforcement operation at a Home Depot parking lot in Cypress Park on November 4, 2025. ICE agents took his 1-year-old daughter into custody during the arrest; she was returned to her grandmother several hours later with a dirty diaper, a bruise and a rash, after the family provided a birth certificate. Quiñonez was released on bond on November 6, 2025, and reunited with his daughter and family. He has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of domestic violence, and DHS said the broader operation led to the arrests of five undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala.

On November 5, 2025, ICE agents detained Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, a teacher at Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in Chicago's North Center neighborhood, during morning drop-off hours. According to DHS, officers conducted a traffic stop that led to a vehicle pursuit ending at the daycare facility. Agents entered and forcibly removed Galeano in front of children and parents, searching the facility. Galeano claimed to have work authorization and a pending asylum case, while DHS identified her as undocumented from Colombia. A federal judge subsequently ruled her mandatory detention illegal and ordered a bond hearing before an immigration judge. The incident prompted a rally of hundreds of community members and local officials demanding ICE stay out of schools and daycares.

A 32-year-old U.S. citizen was detained by federal immigration agents during a raid at a Home Depot in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Witnesses said agents accused him of throwing rocks at them, detained him, and then drove away in his vehicle, which still had his 1-year-old daughter inside. The child was later returned to her family with a bruised cheek but was otherwise unharmed. The father was held in custody for two days before being released.

Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva, a 39-year-old Salvadoran immigrant and mother of four U.S. citizen children, was arrested by ICE upon arriving at Salt Lake City International Airport. She held a valid work permit approved in 2024 and said she was unaware of a 2020 deportation order, as the court notice had reportedly been sent to an address where she no longer lived. Her attorney says she was detained for nearly four months despite having an active appeal pending, during which she was transferred through multiple facilities, including jails in Salt Lake and Tooele counties, a Texas facility, two Arizona detention centers, and finally a Louisiana facility she described as having the worst conditions, with overcrowding, wet bedding, and untreated illness among detainees. She said she was cuffed at the hands, waist, and feet during every transfer, including her deportation flight, and repeatedly told agents she had lawful status. She was ultimately deported to El Salvador, leaving her four children behind.

According to an Instagram post by L.A. TACO, a Border Patrol agent hit a child in the face with a ball during a raid. The child was subsequently driven away from the scene by Border Patrol but was later reunited with their mother in the afternoon.

Daniel Angel Meléndez, an immigrant from El Salvador, was detained by ICE agents on November 4 during a yearly check-in in Cedar Rapids. His wife María Lozano, a U.S. citizen, and family members appealed to U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks at a town hall on November 10 to prevent his deportation. Meléndez has a U.S.-born child and has been in the country since 2017, having applied for asylum based on gang violence threats.

Julio Vargas, a 66-year-old Guatemalan, was detained by U.S. Border Patrol during an immigration raid at El Corredor Salvadoreño in Los Angeles on Sunday. He is being held at Adelanto Detention Center and has reported breathing problems and cramps due to cold conditions, worsened by his existing health conditions and lack of medication. His family is seeking legal assistance but faces financial and resource barriers.

Kenia Jackeline Merlos, a Honduran mother of four U.S. citizen children, was arrested by ICE agents in June at the U.S.-Canada border during a family outing. She had been granted deferred status to reside in the U.S. after being threatened at gunpoint by a man. Merlos was detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma for nearly four months. An immigration judge terminated the government's deportation case on October 14, and Merlos was released on October 28. Her husband was deported to Honduras, and her mother also resides there.

Immigration agents forcibly entered a family's apartment in November 2025 searching for the mother's cousin, breaking down the door and using force against the mother while her children hid. The 10-year-old boy, identified as J., witnessed agents point a gun at him and his sister as they tried to film the encounter on an iPad. Months later, J. continues experiencing nightmares and flashbacks, struggling to focus in school and fearing for his parents' safety. The incident is part of a broader pattern of immigration enforcement affecting children's mental health nationwide, with studies showing significant psychological impacts on minors in immigrant families.

Maria Vargas, 6, was detained with her parents at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas after her family was arrested during a September immigration check-in. The family had fled Colombia in 2022 and settled in New York, where they applied for special visas for human trafficking victims. At Dilley, Maria experienced severe trauma including regression (bedwetting and accidents), loss of appetite and weight loss, a staff member's accidental eye injury, and persistent psychological distress. Her parents reported officers pressured them to abandon their visa applications by threatening to separate Maria. After two months, the family agreed to self-deport and was sent to Colombia in November 2026. Maria continues to suffer vision problems, headaches, and behavioral changes including fear of police.

Alejandra's undocumented parents, who own a home and pay taxes in Nebraska, plan to self-deport to Mexico within six months due to fears of detention by ICE and concerns about conditions at ICE facilities that could jeopardize the mother's health. The family has lived in Nebraska for years as part of a Latino community that has been present for decades, but rising ICE enforcement operations and a new detention facility opening in the state have created an atmosphere of fear among undocumented immigrants.

Alejandra, a 30-year-old undocumented mother of four U.S.-born children, lives in fear of detention and family separation in Nebraska as ICE enforcement intensifies. In June 2025, ICE conducted a raid on a meatpacking plant in Omaha, detaining dozens of people including family friends and church acquaintances. A new ICE detention facility called "Cornhusker Clink" is opening in McCook with capacity for 300 adults. Alejandra's undocumented parents plan to self-deport to Mexico within six months due to fears of detention and concerns about ICE facility conditions.