Human Impact Project

Tania Warner, a 47-year-old Canadian citizen from Penticton, B.C., with a valid U.S. work visa through 2030 and a Social Security number, and her seven-year-old autistic daughter Ayla Lucas were detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint near Sarita, Texas, on March 14, 2026, while returning from a baby shower with Warner's American husband Edward. The family, who had lived in Kingsville for five years, was separated from Edward and held at the Ursula Central Processing Center in McAllen, sleeping on the floor of a cold cellblock for five days before being transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Warner said guards were "sadistic, inhumane and abusive," taunted her for being Canadian, and pressured her to self-deport, telling her she could do it "the easy way or the hard way." Ayla suffered chemical burns and a stress-related rash from harsh cleaning products, and the family reported inadequate healthcare, food shortages, and insufficient schooling during roughly three weeks in custody. Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee called the detention "extrajudicial," and Congressman Vicente Gonzalez said neither Tania nor Ayla should have been detained. Warner was released on bond of $9,500 on April 2-3, 2026, fitted with an ankle monitor she is contesting in court, and plans to file a lawsuit alleging unlawful detention and harm to her daughter.

Gilberto Garcia, a 26-year-old DACA recipient with autism and intellectual disability, was forcibly detained by ICE agents at his home in Hendry County, Florida on April 8, 2026, while awaiting DACA renewal processing after his status expired on April 1. According to family accounts and police reports, ICE agents entered his yard without a warrant and placed him in a chokehold. When his mother attempted to intervene, agents allegedly threatened to tase her and pushed her back. Garcia was transported to Hendry County Jail and charged with resisting arrest without violence. His public defender argued that his disability prevented him from understanding or identifying law enforcement. Garcia was released on April 10, 2026, after advocates raised concerns about the arrest's legality and lack of probable cause. The Florida Immigrant Coalition and United We Dream called the detention "deeply troubling and potentially unlawful."

A 17-year-old Hispanic minor was detained by ICE agents at a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota, during Operation Metro Surge. Federal Judge Eric Tostrud concluded that the minor was detained solely because of his race or ethnicity, without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. The incident is part of an ongoing ACLU lawsuit challenging ICE's racial profiling practices in Minnesota.

A 24-year-old Hispanic man and City University of New York graduate was arrested by federal agents on his way to the Long Island Rail Road in Hempstead. He was released from federal custody after lawyers filed an emergency lawsuit challenging his arrest. The incident is part of a class action lawsuit filed by civil rights organizations alleging that ICE is unlawfully arresting immigrants in New York based solely on race or ethnicity.

A 36-year-old Hispanic man was arrested by federal agents while entering his apartment building in Bushwick, Brooklyn, after coming home from work. He was released from federal custody after lawyers filed an emergency lawsuit challenging his arrest. The incident is part of a class action lawsuit filed by civil rights organizations alleging that ICE is unlawfully arresting immigrants in New York based solely on race or ethnicity.

Juan Carlos Quintero, 41, was arrested by federal agents in three unmarked cars while watching a game of dominos in Staten Island after saying he did not have an ID. He was released from federal custody after lawyers filed an emergency lawsuit challenging his arrest. The NYCLU, Make the Road New York, and the Legal Aid Society filed a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of eight immigrants, alleging that ICE is unlawfully arresting people in New York based solely on race or ethnicity.

Brandon, a U.S. citizen, was detained for eight hours at the Whipple building during Operation Metro Surge and reported appalling detention conditions including unresponsive guards, unsanitary facilities, and interrogations. After his release, he was hit with pepper balls and exposed to tear gas and flash bangs as ICE agents confronted a protest outside the facility.

A man with no criminal record and no standing deportation order was arrested by nine plainclothes, masked ICE agents at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building housing the Seattle Immigration Court on Tuesday while attending a hearing on his asylum petition. His attorney, Eilish Villa Malone, documented the arrest on video. The man, who fled to the U.S. seeking asylum after being kidnapped at age 16 and forced to work for criminal organizations in his home country, was in court for what was supposed to be the final step in his asylum case when he was apprehended and taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. His attorney plans to file a habeas petition challenging the arrest as unlawful, noting this marks the only known ICE courthouse arrest in Seattle since early summer 2025.

ICE agents arrested a U.S. citizen in Chicago after alleging she made a threat. The woman and onlookers disputed the allegation. Agents forced her to the ground and zip-tied her hands. The arrest followed a failed ICE attempt to access a nearby laundromat, where protesters had gathered.

A federal judge ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents violated a court order during a July 2025 enforcement operation at a Sacramento Home Depot parking lot by conducting warrantless arrests without individualized assessments. Judge Jennifer Thurston found that agents submitted virtually identical detention forms for 11 people, detaining them based on assumptions about their immigration status rather than reasonable suspicion or probable cause of flight risk.

Protect Democracy, the ACLU, and partners filed suit against DHS, ICE, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center on April 2, 2026, challenging a secret internal memo that authorizes agents to forcibly enter homes using only an administrative form instead of a judicial warrant. The lawsuit names six individuals affected by the policy, including Teyana and Garrison Gibson Brown, whose home was raided January 11, 2026, and Noe Alfredo Salguero, whose home was entered January 14, 2026. The memo, titled "Utilizing Form I-205, Warrant of Removal," was issued in May 2025 and kept secret until whistleblowers leaked it in late January 2026. Plaintiffs seek to vacate the policy and declare it unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ruled that Border Patrol agents violated a preliminary injunction by detaining day laborers at a Sacramento Home Depot in July 2025 without specific evidence of immigration violations, relying instead on broad assumptions about workers in the parking lot. The judge found agents "again detained people without reasonable suspicion" and demanded to see identification from individuals based solely on their appearance. Thurston's ruling, granting a United Farm Workers motion to enforce the injunction, requires agents to document specific facts and reasoning for detentions and prohibits warrantless arrests without assessing flight risk.

In December 2025, Axel Sanchez Toledo called 911 in Palm Beach County, Florida requesting a welfare check on his daughter. A sheriff's deputy who was part of the county's 287(g) Task Force with ICE accused Toledo of being undocumented, detained him, and used physical force when he attempted to flee. Toledo, who had a pending asylum case, was arrested and held in jail for four months on resisting arrest charges before being transferred to ICE custody facing deportation.

ICE agents detained Edgar Gomez in Bridgeton, New Jersey, after he left a court appearance where all charges against him had been dropped. Agents smashed the window of an immigration lawyer's vehicle and removed Gomez without producing a warrant despite requests from his attorney. Gomez was one step away from obtaining lawful permanent residency. The detention occurred one day after New Jersey passed a law requiring ICE agents to produce warrants.

Patience Gore, a 44-year-old Zimbabwean national who has lived in the U.S. for about 24 years, was seized by undercover plainclothes ICE agents at a United Airlines gate at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after a gate agent repeatedly called her name over the loudspeaker. Gore, who held a withholding of removal order, has sole custody of her 11-year-old U.S. citizen daughter and is married to U.S. citizen Olaoluwa Omotosho; she had been traveling home to Maryland with her partner after attending a friend's wedding. She was held for nearly two weeks across three Arizona detention facilities in what her lawsuit describes as degrading, squalid conditions, including sleeping on a mattress on the floor, being denied a change of clothes, and being denied sunglasses despite light sensitivity. The detention disrupted a time-sensitive IVF cycle, and a subsequent replacement cycle did not result in pregnancy. A federal judge granted her habeas petition and ordered her release on March 27, and she and her husband are now suing United Airlines, alleging it colluded with ICE to lure her to the gate.

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen and student at Alief Hastings High School in Houston, was beaten and choked by masked ICE agents on October 23, 2025, when they stopped his father, Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo, during a drive to school near Gessner Road and Beechnut Street. Bystander video showed agents restraining Arnoldo with an arm around his neck while he told them he was a minor and a citizen; he was also subjected to racial slurs and later treated for bruises and welts consistent with choking. He was held for several hours before ICE confirmed his citizenship and released him. His father, an immigrant from Michoacán with a prior deportation and a misdemeanor DWI conviction, was arrested and, according to immigrant rights group FIEL, intimidated into signing a voluntary departure before being deported to Reynosa, Mexico. ICE disputed the abuse allegations, claiming Arnoldo elbowed an agent and that Arnulfo rammed a federal vehicle and fled. Arnoldo later testified before Congress about the incident.

On March 11, 2026, ICE agents conducted a raid in South Burlington, Vermont, after a vehicle stop on Dorset Street. Court filings later revealed that agents misidentified and arrested Cristian Jerez-Andrade, a Honduran man, after chasing him into a home—they had been seeking Mexican national Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, who was not present. Hundreds of community members and activists, alerted by Migrant Justice, rapidly assembled at the scene and formed a human barrier to prevent ICE from entering the house and detaining residents. As the standoff continued into the evening, heavily armed ICE agents and Vermont State Police officers in tactical gear forcibly pushed through the crowd, deploying flash-bang devices and shooting pepper balls at protesters. At least one protester was injured and taken away by ambulance, several were arrested, and many others suffered pepper spray exposure.

A 10-year-old U.S. citizen girl recovering from brain cancer was deported to Mexico along with her undocumented parents and four American-born siblings in February 2025. The family was detained at an immigration checkpoint while traveling from Rio Grande City to Houston for the child's emergency medical checkup. The girl, who had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor, has been unable to continue her specialized medical treatment and rehabilitation in Mexico. An 11-year-old U.S. citizen recovering from brain cancer was deported to Mexico with her family by Border Patrol agents despite her documented citizenship and need for ongoing medical treatment. The family was traveling to Houston for emergency care when agents ignored a hospital letter the family had used previously at checkpoints and detained the family, deporting them the next day. The citizen child's 18-year-old brother, Fernando Hernández García, was not detained and remained in the U.S. to earn money and send medicine to his sister. The family's lawyers report they have been unable to access proper medical care in Mexico and have applied for humanitarian parole.

ICE raided a South Burlington, Vermont home on March 11, 2026, searching for Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez after a car chase, but instead arrested three residents: Ecuadorian sisters Jisella Johana Patin Patin and Daysi Camila Patin Patin, and Honduran national Christian Humberto Jerez Andrade. The operation sparked a daylong standoff as hundreds of protesters surrounded the building and federal agents used flash bangs and tear gas to clear the crowd, prompting friction between ICE and local police. Judges later ordered the release of all three, finding their detentions unlawful, and their attorneys say ICE violated their civil rights. In a revised court filing, ICE now says it no longer believes Corona-Sanchez was driving the car during the chase, after Jerez Andrade told the FBI he was the driver and that his 18-year-old nephew was a passenger.

Estefany Rodríguez Flórez, a reporter for Nashville Noticias covering Spanish-language news, was arrested by ICE agents on March 4, 2026, during a traffic stop in South Nashville while her husband was dropping off their daughter at a bus stop. A Colombian citizen who entered the U.S. legally on a tourist visa in 2021, Rodríguez had fled Colombia after receiving threats for reporting on militant groups and was awaiting asylum approval. She also had pending green card applications through marriage to a U.S. citizen. ICE cited her as a flight risk for missing two meetings, though her attorney stated ICE could not locate any record of a scheduled appointment despite multiple inquiries. During her 16-day detention across facilities in Alabama and Louisiana, she reported difficult conditions including forced chemical washing, isolation, and limited access to legal assistance. An immigration judge granted her release on bond on March 16, 2026, and she was released on March 20 after a $10,000 bond was paid. Her legal team filed federal court petitions challenging the arrest as warrantless and alleging violations of her First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights, including allegations of retaliation for her critical reporting on ICE enforcement activities.