ICE and CBP Excessive Use of Crowd Control Measures

Table of Contents
18 Examples of ICE\CBP Using Excessive and Needless Crowd Control Measures
  • High school students and special ed teacher
    U.S. Citizen
    Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, MN
    Jan 8, 2026
    Minneapolis high school students were tear gassed by ICE\CBP agents who were "shouting at students, threatening students" and multiple witnesses reported people being shoved noting agents were "physical and aggressive." They detained a special ed teacher for dubious reasons and so he was later released.
  • Reporters & protestors filming
    South Minneapolis, MN
    Dec 15, 2025
    ICE agents indiscriminately shot pepper spray into a crowd that was determined to not be breaking any laws by local law enforcement.
    • WCCO reporter Esme Murphy and her photographer were hit by pepper spray while covering an ICE raid
    • State Rep. Aisha Gomez described the scene as "Everyone is coughing"
  • Khalid Mohamed and Unassuming Woman
    Peaceful Protestor
    Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN
    Dec 9, 2025
    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.
  • Maryioth Pascanales
    Memphis, TN
    Nov 27, 2025
    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.
  • Woman passively protesting
    Payne-Phalen neighborhood of St Paul, MN
    Nov 25, 2025
    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.
  • Ruben Morales and Jessi Olazaba
    Activist protestors
    U.S. Citizen
    Aurora, IL
    Oct 26, 2025
    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.
  • Law Abiding Chicago Citizens
    Old Irving Park, Chicago
    Oct 25, 2025
    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.
  • Reverend Jorge Bautista
    Pastor at an Oakland Church
    Peaceful Protestor
    U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, CA
    Oct 24, 2025
    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."
  • John Doe & Neighborhood Residents
    Lakeview neighborhood in Chicago, IL
    Oct 24, 2025
    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.
  • Four U.S. Citizens
    U.S. Citizen
    Concordia Cemetery, Forest Park, IL
    Oct 14, 2025
    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.
  • Reverend David Black
    First Presbyterian Church of Chicago
    U.S. Citizen
    Chicago Broadview suburb
    Oct 9, 2025
    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.
  • Peaceful protestor in an inflatable frog costume
    Peaceful Protestor
    Portland ICE Facility
    Oct 4, 2025
    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
    Rico Fresh Mexican market in Logan Square, Chicago
    Oct 3, 2025
    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 Block Club journalists
    Chicago
    Oct 1, 2025
    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.”
  • Asal Rezaei
    CBS News Chicago reporter
    Broadview Ice Facility Near Chicago
    Sep 28, 2025
    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."
  • Chicago suburban police officers and reporters
    Sep 19, 2025
    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.
  • George Umbenhauer
    CBS News Chicago photojournalist
    Sep 19, 2025
    CBS News Chicago photojournalist George Umbenhauer was hit with a pepper spray ball by ICE agents outside a suburban facility.
  • George Retes
    Iraq War veteran
    U.S. Citizen
    Los Angeles ICE Roadblock
    Aug 18, 2025
    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.