Excessive Use of Force by ICE\CBP Tracker

ICE agents indiscriminately shot pepper spray into a crowd that was determined to not be breaking any laws by local law enforcement.

Peaceful protesters were excessively pepper sprayed from ICE vehicles as they were driving away. One officer got out of the car and pepper sprayed multiple people in the eyes and the ground including spraying a very unassuming person with their back turned inches from their face. One victim, Khalid Mohamed, attested, "I lost my voice. I was blind for about 30 minutes." Leading up to all this, agents randomly asked people on the street if they had IDs and proof of citizenship.

55-year-old U.S. citizen Susan Tincher was detained for 5 hours for passively protesting and recording an ICE raid of 8 unmarked vehicles from a safe distance. She was thrown to the ground, needlessly cuffed, shackled, threatened with pepper spray and had her wedding ring cut off.

DACA and marriage visa eligible Wilmer Toledo-Martinez, who has lived in the U.S. since 15 with a U.S. citizen wife and two kids, was lured outside his home under false pretenses by an ICE agent posing as a construction worker after which another agent sicced a dog on him in front of his family despite not resisting arrest or attempting to flee. He suffered gruesome bite marks, dizziness, blurred vision and was denied medical treatment for hours before being taken to a hospital. He received stiches for his injuries at a hospital and antibiotics he was prescribed were not immediately provided and another prescribed medication was never provided. Democratic senator Patty Murray has called for his immediate release from detainment.

Jose Paniagua Calderón had his foot run over by an ICE agent of which a witness who filmed it said she "heard the screams of absolute pain that just stop you in your tracks." Instead of giving him medical attention, they put him handcuffed in back of a car and drove away. This was after they haphazardly and dangerously blocked a busy intersection with multiple ICE vehicles disrupting traffic and smashed his car window.

A Somali woman U.S. citizen was accosted by multiple ICE agents, zip-tied and detained 24 hours in Minneapolis for no reason. She was touched inappropriately and mocked with agents saying, "What could you be hiding under your hijab?" and "This would be the wrong attire to try and run away from us in."

A U.S. citizen construction worker had his phone taken and handcuffed by CBP agents of which they obstinately said, "you’re being detained for your own safety."

Roofers were targeted by ICE\CBP on top of a two-story house in a New Orleans suburb of Kenner despite being informed that all have legal permits to work in the U.S. Multiple agents pointed guns up at them despite not being a threat. They also chased someone else with guns drawn in an excessive use of force found distressing to neighbors. The raid was done purportedly to target one specific person but then they used that to harass everyone else working on site, apparently for being Hispanic.

U.S. work permit holder and 22-year-old asylum applicant Nayra Guzmán and her family were detained by ICE on their way to see her baby recovering at the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital after an emergency Cesarean section of which she also suffered pain and complications. Despite their paperwork and circumstances, she was detained for 34 hours without receiving any medical evaluation. And, she was forced to spend the entire time in a room which was very cold with only a bench to lie on and no blankets or anything for sleep. Afterwards, she had complications producing breast milk for her baby. While being transferred by van, agents, aware of her condition and ignoring pleas from her brother, drove recklessly fast and over potholes in a way that was very painful for Nayra.

A Venezuelan father and 19-year-old daughter asylum seekers were taken by ICE agents during a standard immigration check-in in Chicago despite having work permits and a good asylum case. They were taken to the Broadview facility where they were "cold, without any blankets, without any food and they were laying on the floor without any beds." They were later transferred to facilities far away in El Paso and New Mexico where placing a simple phone call costs $53 and overcrowded with 70 people in the room the daughter was held in. Medical issues were ignored where the daughter was not given any medication despite having a bad cough that was worsening and the father hadn't been given his medication for high blood pressure.

A peaceful protestor said something to an ICE agent wearing an American flag mask and in response the agent pushed him and pointed his assault rifle at him

56-year old diabetic Martha Ruiz, who has no criminal history and has lived in the U.S. since the 90s on a religious visa, had agents bang on her door and then immediately broke it down before she had time to answer.

Maryioth Pascanales immediately went to open the front door pounded on by ICE agents, but before she could answer they broke through her door and needlessly tear gassed her and her two 10-month-old twins and made a "mess of the home". She was handcuffed and driven to an ICE facility with her babies where they were detained for 5 hours until released.

A woman in a cane passively and peacefully protesting an ICE operation was pepper sprayed in the face at point blank range for an excessively long time after which she was pushed away until she fell to the ground overcome. This violated a federal court order governing its use according to a former officer and use-of-force expert.

Marimar Martinez & Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz were targeted by CBP agents who instigated an accident after which an agent escalated and shot at her five times of which he bragged afterwards "I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys" and then later in response to a news article on the incident, "Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes." She was hospitalized and both were initially charged with assault but prosecutors ended up dropping all charges with prejudice presumably because it was CBP who instigated the crash and used excessive force. In addition, the offending agent drove the vehicle 1000 miles away to Maine immediately afterwards which was against protocols so presumably was done to hinder investigations into his culpability.

Two women U.S. citizens had their car windows dangerously smashed in by an AR-15 muzzle after which they were zip-tied, arrested and held in federal custody for hours before being released with just minor citations. Agents were unhappy with the women for merely honking their horns alerting people to ICE.

18-year-old U.S. citizen Fernando Vazquez was racially profiled by CBJ agents who drove up to a job site in unmarked SUVs and approached him wearing masks and dark sunglasses and asked him "where are you from?" and further questioned him in Spanish. One agent ripped his AirPod out of his ear and when he tried to put it safely back in its case, the agent yelled "don't touch me" despite him not making any moves towards him. He had his North Carolina Real ID proving his citizenship, yet they handcuffed and drove him away with an agent getting angry to him further asserting details of being a citizen. Finally, they pulled into a parking lot, uncuffed him and threw his wallet and cards out the window which scattered to the ground. They did this instead of admitting their mistake, driving him back to where they took him from, personally handing him his wallet and apologizing for the inconvenience from their mistake which any respectful and decent law enforcement officer would do.

92 people were needlessly detained and handcuffed including two teenage boys during an ICE raid which appeared to use racial profiling to exceed the scope of the warrant. During the raid, they walked up to and immediately tackled a man to the ground who was simply standing by a table with his back turned. They also broke the door of a food truck that was locked and closed for the night, and an agent used an umbrella to break a security camera which recorded everything. Afterwards, the agency refused to provide answers to basic questions or evidence of claims they made supporting the raid.

U.S. citizen activist journalist Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez passively followed and filmed CBP agents from his van during which they targeted him in an unwarranted, unjustified and egregious escalation and excessive use of force after he did not agree to a "voluntary stop" by an agent and another agent made a gesture for him to leave after which he left. Despite leaving to deescalate the situation as instructed, CBP agents followed him driving recklessly including briefly into oncoming traffic and the CBP agent driving tried repeatedly to ram his van egged on by his fellow agents who described the pursuit as "fun" and "great." And in further disregard to public safety one exclaimed, "he’s gonna get shot is what’s gonna happen." When finally stopped, they smashed his window, arrested him and -- as was probably the plan all along to intimate people holding them accountable -- falsely charged him with assault. A judge summarily dropped the assault charges noting it was CBP agents who expressed an intent to hit the van.

A restrained man was repeatedly struck in the head by an ICE agent while roughly held down on pavement and despite him saying that he can't breathe. This happened after agents caused an accident by braking hard in front of the vehicle following them. Agents presumably used the accident as a ploy to target the occupants and escalate the situation with three U.S. citizens arrested.

Schizophrenic 54-year-old Omar Huerta Cisneros, a Green Card holder since 1988, was detained by ICE and then dropped off somewhere else at random despite him obviously needing help upon which it took his family two weeks to find him because of his condition

Asylum applicants Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, who worked three jobs and has no criminal history, and two of his children were detained at ICE facilities for a month before they were forced to deport back to Colombia due to the distress his children faced. ICE pulled them over while he while taking them to school in search of another person, and so they were detained without a warrant. His 12-year-old daughter said an ICE agent grabbed her breast while she was transported and experienced "acute psychological distress" during her captivity. And his 15-year-old son said when they arrived at the facility, they were treated badly, beaten and given nothing to eat or drink but potato chips and water for a day.

57-year-old peaceful protestor Franci Stagi had her phone grabbed or knocked out of her hand by an ICE agent she was filming. When she approached him to ask for her phone he snapped and grabbed her by the hair, lifted her off the ground in a chokehold and pushed her to the ground with two other agents despite being a petite 5-foot-2. The actions were egregious enough for the local police chief to open an investigation into the agent's actions.

A 67-year-old runner and U.S. Citizen was dragged from his car, tackled, pinned down and knelt on by immigration agents in front of children attending a Halloween parade in such an excessive use of force that he suffered six broken ribs and internal bleeding of which many bystanders described as aggressive and unjustified.

U.S. Citizen activist protestors Ruben Morales and Jessi Olazaba were attacked by ICE agents despite turning around and backing up when told. They pepper sprayed Ruben Morales in the back and tackled him to the ground with such force it ripped his pants, bloodied his knees and scratched his throat and arm. Jessi Olazaba filmed the arrest and an agent knocked off her glasses, pepper sprayed her and shoved her to the ground where she hit the back of her head. Ruben Morales was released without charges and Jessi Olazaba was cited for impeding an arrest despite merely filming their actions from an appropriate distance.

ICE deployed tear gas on a residential street in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood without warning or provocation as families with young children were gathering to watch a popular yearly Halloween parade.

Ashley Palomares was taken to do the ground and cuffed in an excessive use of force by agents and detained for 2 1/2 hours despite having her ID and being born in the USA. An older woman detained with her said she needed to use the bathroom and instead of helping the officer laughed. She also observed a boy around 14 grabbed by the neck and zip-tied.

Reverend Jorge Bautista was shot in the face by a pepper ball at close range despite simply standing peacefully holding a protest sign and also dressed nicely in a suit. It was severe enough for him to be taken to an emergency room where he texted that he was "in a lot of pain."

Federal immigration agents jumped a fence to detain a man on private property without a warrant in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood and then fired tear gas across a residential street without warning when neighbors demanded answers in violation of a federal court order requiring ICE to issue a verbal warning before deploying tear gas.

A combat veteran peacefully protesting was accosted by a masked immigration agent who pointed a handgun at his face through his open car window and said, "bang bang, you're dead liberal"

A mother of two children found out she was pregnant after being detained by ICE for around a month in Louisiana but "received minimal portions of substandard food that left her feeling hungry and malnourished." She later experienced abdominal pain and other severe symptoms that required hospitalized during which she was told she had a miscarriage. She was taken back to the ICE facility where she continued to suffer from severe symptoms and pain and kept for an additional two months before being deported.

Quinn Haberl,a 4-foot-6 blind man sitting outside an ICE facility peacefully protesting and clearly not impeding whatsoever, was grabbed, dragged and dropped on his head, had foot pressed on his back and neck and was cuffed for an hour before taken to the hospital with lots of bruising. Agents referred to Portland as a warzone unironically during the excessively violent arrest.

A 14-year-old girl was dragged out of her family truck by gunpoint during an ICE raid where she fell to the ground resulting in bruising on her ribcage and was then zip-tied. Her mother, Anabel Romero, was shoved to the ground and was kicked repeatedly resulting in bruising of her ribs and shoulder despite holding her hands empty in the air waiting for instruction. They also put a gun to her head and said they were going to "f%#king blow her head off." She was zip-tied as well and asked to go back to her children of which the agent laughed and said, "we're taking better care of them." They were detained for 3 hours despite telling them her social security number and date of birth and that she had her ID in their truck.

State Rep. Hoan Huynh's vehicle was surrounded by six federal immigration agents with one officer having their gun drawn who prevented him from following an unmarked vehicle which he had the legal right to do.

Ruben Torres Maldonado had his truck windows smashed as he was surrounded by four masked ICE agents outside of a Home Depot and taken into custody. He was detained for two weeks despite being eligible for special immigration consideration because his high school daughter was battling Stage 4 cancer and had just returned home from nearly 40 days of inpatient chemotherapy. He had no criminal record and had lived in the US for 22 years.

Leonardo Espartaco Martinez, a U.S. citizen and immigration rights activist legally monitoring federal immigration agents on behalf of watchdog group VC Defensa, was rammed by an SUV driven by them and suffered injuries serious enough to require hospitalization after which he was detained and released without any charges filed.

A 15-year-old American citizen peacefully protesting excessive use of force by CBP agents was slammed to the ground, cuffed and held down so hard he cried out "my neck, my neck" after which they pushed him down even harder. Then he was detained by agents in a federal building garage for five hours without informing his family, stating any charges, or allowing him to call an attorney or his family.

ICE chased two people for 30 minutes from their white SUV -- not because they were a danger but because they were undocumented. As a result, an Uber driver almost got hit by their vehicle and a parked car got damaged when they rammed the vehicle they were chasing despite the fact that ramming vehicles is against local Chicago PD procedures in all scenarios.

Four U.S. citizens were wrongfully detained for hours until released without charges by ICE officers who broke down a cemetery gate and entered private property without a warrant and unnecessarily deployed pepper balls against them.

Bar worker Maria Greeley was zip-tied and questioned for an hour by federal immigration agents after finishing a double shift and despite having her passport and other forms of identification on hand of which the agents repeatedly questioned her valid identification documents as fake and said she "doesn’t look like" a Greeley (she was adopted).

U.S. citizen and Portlander Frank Miranda was threatened by masked ICE agents that "we're gonna put you in cuffs or you're gonna get the dog" after which he was struck from behind, handcuffed and put in a van in which his legs were kicked out from under him and was told he would be sitting on the floor. He was driven to an ICE facility where he was held for several hours without access to a lawyer before being released without charges or any explanation of his detainment.

U.S. Citizen and WGN Chicago employee Debbie Brockman was forced to the ground, handcuffed and battered in a way that exposed her buttocks while walking to a bus top in a northside neighborhood and was detained for seven hours despite no evidence of any wrongdoing and finally was released without charges.

A woman's car is hit by ICE agents which is clearly their fault. But instead of responding reasonably acknowledging their role in causing the accident, they violently dragged the woman from her car and threw her to the ground in an egregiously excessive use of force perhaps triggered by her honking at them for blocking the road in an unmarked vehicle. The SUV doesn't turn normally to leave the scene and instead makes an overly wide turn -- perhaps in an attempt to intimidate bystanders filming them from the sidewalk -- which is abnormal for someone continuing straight. So, the woman probably thinks it's fine to finally pass. But the SUV driver veers quickly back into the street as if they were not paying attention and sideswipes the woman trying to get by.

Reverend David Black, dressed in all black and peacefully protesting with his hands open in a non-threatening, way was shot in the head and body multiple times with pepper balls without any warning.

Los Angeles resident Bayron Rovidio Marin suffered a broken leg during an immigration raid on the car wash he worked at and was handcuffed to a hospital bed for 37 days without any charges and was prevented from making phone calls, seeing family members and having proper access to lawyers. ICE agents were in his room 24 hours a day including during consults with his doctor.

A man dressed in an inflatable frog costume during a peaceful protest against ICE -- who obviously could not pose the slightest threat because of the sheer awkwardness of his satirical outfit -- was pepper sprayed directly in the air intake for the costume posing a severe medical risk.

Multiple bystanders near the Rico Fresh Mexican market of the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago were subjected to a needlessly thrown smoke grenade. Multiple drivers had to stop and a couple with a 2-year-old had to rush to safety. The behavior was severe enough for the Chicago PD to open an investigation.

Chicago Alderwoman Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed by plain-clothed ICE agents and forced out of a hospital for merely challenging the constitutionality of their detainment of an immigrant without a warrant.

Four reporters\photojournalists for the Chicago news outlet Block Club "were hit with pepper balls by federal officers at the Broadview ICE facility and were at risk of enduring other forms of force, despite standing on public ways and apart from the crowd, wearing visible press credentials, and displaying other visible indications they were there as members of the press.”

U.S. citizen Garcia Venegas was racially profiled and detained on two separate occasions by ICE officers despite producing his REAL ID which they smeared as fake. On one occasion they screamed for him to "get on the fucking ground" and kept him in handcuffs for more than an hour and another incident they detained him and two other lawful U.S. citizens for 20-30 minutes.

U.S. citizen Pertissue Fisher was handcuffed and detained for hours during an ICE raid on a South Shore apartment building in Chicago of which she noted it was the first time a gun was ever put in her face and said that "they just treated us like we were nothing."

Rodrick Johnson, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran retiree who recently went blind and completely innocent of any wrongdoings, had his door kicked in by federal in the middle of the night during an ICE raid on an apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago and was detained in a van for hours without a warrant or access to a lawyer.

Children were zip-tied and detained in "dark vans" for hours of which some were separated from their parents and others completely naked after an ICE raid on an apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago. One agent was observed laughing and said "f#$k them kids" after a neighbor questioned their actions.

Turkish journalist L. Vural Elibol was thrown to the ground by ICE thugs outside an elevator in the Federal Plaza in NYC which was serious enough for him to be taken to the hospital with back and head injuries.

Dan Jones, a resident of an apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, had multiple items missing including his mattress and iPad and his clothes and shoes strewn on the floor after agents broke down his door when he was not home with no cause or reason to target him negligently and without the slightest care leaving it wide open and unprotected when they left.

CBS News Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei was assaulted with pepper balls in her open truck window on a public street by a masked ICE agent from around 50 feet away inside their facility's fenceline. The area was quiet and desolate, and she had turned to leave when the pepper ball struck her. White powder covered her face which was "on fire" for 10 minutes or so according to the victim who also vomited because of it. The town's police chief later announced a "criminal investigation into an allegedly unprovoked attack on a CBS Chicago TV news reporter's vehicle by a chemical munition."

Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was shot and killed by a plain clothed ICE agent driving an unmarked car who claimed he was in danger but immediately afterwards described his injuries as "nothing major". Law enforcement experts who examined videos of the incident noted multiple reckless and unprofessional actions taken by the agents that went against standard training practices which contributed to this tragic death.

Chicago suburban police officers and reporters were exposed to mace and tear gas used by ICE in an excessive use of force that escalated tensions with protesters outside a local facility and violated an agreement to give the local police department advance notice whenever chemical agents were going to be used.

CBS News Chicago photojournalist George Umbenhauer was hit with a pepper spray ball by ICE agents outside a suburban facility.

U.S. citizen Rafie Shouhed was shoved to the ground in an excessive use of force by a masked ICE thug while trying to engage with them on their fascist raid on his car wash. He was further roughed up outside where agents were quick to throw him on the ground and during the process he describes three agents sitting on his back in a very painful way. And the abjectly evil fascists they are, his pleas about them hurting him were met with "You don't F with ICE." He suffered multiple broken ribs, deep bruising, a gruesome injury to his arm and damage to his brain from being slammed headfirst into the ground. He was detained for hours without his wife knowing where he was despite him yelling that he had proof he was a U.S. citizen in his wallet and five of his employees were also detained without looking at his claims of proof he had that his employees were authorized to be on the job. Mr. Shouhed filed a $50M lawsuit over the excessive use of force by the fascist ICE thugs.

U.S. citizen and Iraq War veteran George Retes was driving to his job as a security guard where he was stopped at an ICE roadblock -- and despite not resisting or posing a threat, even backing up when told to -- ICE thugs broke his window, teargassed and pepper sprayed him and forced him to the ground where two of their degenerates put knees to his neck and back. Despite him having a valid ID, he was detained by ICE fascists for three days in an isolation cell and not allowed to shower despite the exposure to toxic chemicals. Additionally, he was denied access to a lawyer or a hearing with a judge and prevented from making phone calls. His family had no contact with him and no idea where he was and he missed his daughter's third birthday.

A 15-year-old boy with significant speech and hearing disabilities was wrongfully handcuffed, detained and separated from his mother by border patrol agents for several minutes after they aggressively pointed their guns and a taser at him and his mother outside his high school. They ostensibly downplayed the incident as a case of mistaken identity because they are as inept and incompetent as they are thuggish. His mother characterized the aftermath of the traumatic incident as: "He says he has nightmares. He doesn't want to go to school. Every day I have to wake him up, and it's just so hard for him."

Dr. Mahdi Khanbabazadeh had his car window smashed by masked ICE agents in unmarked vans with no warning, no warrant and without identifying themselves while he was dropping his grandson off at his Kindergarten school according to witnesses who also described children, parents and staff at the scene as terrified. He was taken to a facility 150 miles away instead of a local one close to his family and held for 3+ months.

Kids practicing with the esteemed Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy were accosted by ICE goons who harassed them with questions including "Where are you from? Where are your parents from?" and when the coach intervened and reminded the agents of how the Constitution works after recognizing their uniforms an agent glibly responded "Oh, another YouTube lawyer"

54-year-old Matilde, who sells tamales with a street permit and has lived undocumented in California for 29 years without incident, was traumatized by masked immigration agents who charged at her without asking questions or producing a warrant. One grabbed her from behind with such considerable force she cried out multiple times that she couldn't breathe. Despite her panicked pleas, the agent holding her actually pulled tighter continuing to apply excessive force until she lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, the agents left her sitting there and prevented a bystander who identified herself as a nurse from attending to her. And when eventually taken to the hospital after a bystander -- not immigration agents -- called for an ambulance, it was found out she suffered a minor heart attack.