ICE\CBP Abuse and Misconduct in Major Cities Tracker

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."

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.

Kurdish asylum applicant Enes Abak was detained despite following proper immigration procedures and having a very strong case for asylum due to his home county of Turkey's long history of human rights abuses and genocide against Kurdish people. Even more so, the day afterwards his wife officially became a U.S. citizen -- which, probably without coincidence, would have made his case even stronger to apply for a marriage visa. He was also moved to a facility in El Paso, Texas 1500 miles away.

Air Force veteran Dana Briggs was pushed to the ground by agents without given time to move and despite passively protesting at the Broadview ICE facility. Obstinately, they charged HIM with assault instead, and it took two months for prosecutors to drop all charges with prejudice despite video clearly showing ICE lied and was the offender.

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.

Willian Gimenez Gonzalez, despite having a legal work permit and asylum application, was arrested without being told why or shown a warrant and detained for 7 weeks at a Michigan ICE facility ignoring a court order absolving him of attending an ICE appointment because it was 500 miles away in Memphis, TN. He described the food at the facility as "not very good" and was only allowed 30 minutes outside per day. They knew his full name and so everything points towards him being retaliated against for advocacy work he had been involved in with immigrant workers.

A 32-year-old father and U.S. citizen was removed from his vehicle by masked immigration agents who then drove off in his car with his one-year-old daughter strapped in the back seat ignoring yelled warnings by a witness that "there's a baby in the back" (presumably on purpose). The family did not know where she was for a while and the baby's grandmother was made to wait for hours at an immigration center and provide proof of citizenship before they returned the baby.

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

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.

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.

A Venezuelan asylum seeker was ripped out of his car, handcuffed and quickly taken away in a vehicle in such a manner that a witness described it as a kidnapping and also noticed they left his distraught wife in the middle of the street.

A 16-year-old refugee fleeing gang violence in Ecuador was detained after attending a routine immigration appointment and despite having "special immigration juvenile status."

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"

ICE agents regularly broke Illinois law by changing, obscuring or removing their license plates and one agent responded to a bystander filming that "You can record all you want. We change the plates out every day."

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.

U.S. citizen and Chicago resident Warren King was tackled at a neighborhood Walgreens for merely trying to run from the chaotic scene unfolding due to an overwhelming and excessive use of force by ICE agents. A woman from a safe, non-threatening distance tells the officer he is her brother-in-law and a U.S. citizen but the officer yells at her to "get the f#$k back". ICE also ignored claims of citizenship from the young man and detained him in their vehicle for hours before releasing him without charges.

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.

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).

Lawful U.S. resident and Chicagoan Rueben Antonio Cruz was fined $130 for not having his papers on him using a law that up until then had rarely been enforced. This was after agents detained him by driving in circles harassing him with interrogation like questions.

A petite 18-year-old Chicagoan woman and legal U.S. resident was violently thrown to the ground and kneed in the neck by a masked ICE agent more than twice her size. He did this despite her yelling out "I'm not resisting" and having three vehicles of agents as backup. She and her two friends were subsequently detained for hours without being able to call their parents knowing where they were until they were released without charges. The ICE agents apparently were unhappy the group was filming them earlier to hold them accountable-- obstinately for completely and utterly egregious acts exactly like this. After the incident became public, DHS propagandist Tricia McLaughlin smeared the 18-year-old woman as a criminal and laughably claimed the quite obviously federal immigration officers were Chicago PD instead.

ICE agents surrounded two women in a small SUV waiting in a school pickup line and pulled them out even though they reportedly didn't have a warrant while terrified children and parents looked on.

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.

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.

Several questionable 911 calls were made by ICE agents at a Chicago suburban facility of which the town's police chief characterized as "disturbing" and "ridiculous" and presumably one of the incidents was intentionally done to harass two people from CBS News who were the only ones there filming.

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.”

Chicago suburban police officers were routinely "verbally abused" by ICE agents at a local facility including one calling an officer a "fascist" who "wasn't doing his job."

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."

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.

Freelance AP photojournalist Olga Fedorova was shoved to the ground by an ICE thug for merely taking photos of agents detaining two women inside a public elevator at Federal Plaza in NYC.

Photojournalist Dean Moses with amNewYork was grabbed by the arm and shoved by masked ICE agents after he merely followed them into a public elevator at Federal Plaza in NYC during which they screamed at him to "get the fuck out."

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.

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.

20-year-old legal U.S. resident and Purdue University student Yeonsoo Go was handcuffed and then detained for several days in a Louisiana facility 1400 miles from New York City where she lived with her parents after a routine hearing to extend her legal Visa.

Irish grandmother Donna Hughes-Brown, married to a U.S. citizen and Green Card Holder living in the U.S. for 37 years with 4 children and 5 grandchildren, was detained at O'Hare International Airport by immigration agents for a misdemeanor from more than a decade ago on the guise of writing bad checks only totaling around a mere $60. She was transferred to a facility in Kentucky away from her home in Missouri. A judge refused her bond hearing, and she remained in custody in legal limbo for more than four months facing possible deportation.

30-year-old Green Card holder Mahmoud Khalil was detained by ICE for 100 days at a facility 1000 miles away from his family in New York City without charges for online posts critical of Republican policies during which he also missed the birth of his son.

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.