ICE and CBP Wrongful and Unjust Detainment of People

U.S. citizen and Coast Guard veteran Jose Martinez had immigration agents aggressively bust into his cruise ship stateroom in an incident he described as "flashlights in our faces, screaming my name, barking commands, telling me to get out of bed, put me up against the wall and handcuffed me." He was needlessly detained for 1.5 hours after a weeklong cruise with without apology because he happened to have the same extremely common name of another man they were looking for.

Darwing Padilla was targeted by several masked ICE agents who followed him to his home in unmarked vehicles. Agents ignored his valid papers under the guise of having an order of deportation (which did not exist). When his wife called them out on their ruse and asked to see it, they then pretended to have "misread" it and left. His 7-year-old daughter witnessed the entire incident crying out, "My dad, my dad, my dad. They are taking my dad" while shaking.

20-year-old Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen Mubashir was slammed against a wall, put in a chokehold and handcuffed by two masked men and in the process is heard screaming in pain, "My hand!".

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.

34-year-old Ernesto Cuevas Enciso was needlessly detained by ICE without bond until a hearing 11 days later despite having only one non-violent misdemeanor on his record which was from over a decade ago. He's lived in U.S. since he was 3, is married to a U.S. citizen with 1-year-old daughter and has pending green card application.

U.S. Army veteran and grandfather Godfrey Wade, who has lived in the U.S. for 50 years and was in the process of applying for citizenship, was detained for 3 months without a hearing before a judge due to a minor paperwork issue. His first 12 days, he slept on a makeshift bed on the floor with 80 other people sharing a dirty bathroom with sewage water on the floor. He also wasn't assigned a case agent for 55 days.

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."

A Hispanic navy sailor in uniform drove off base and was immediately pulled over and detained by ICE for 90 minutes after they refused to accept his military ID as proof of citizenship and forced someone to bring his passport before releasing him.

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.

College freshman Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, who has lived in the United States since she was 7 and thus is DACA eligible, was detained by immigration officials at Logan International Airport on a flight to visit family in Austin for Thanksgiving. She was quickly deported to Honduras by ICE despite having flown multiple times during the year without any issues and also despite having a court order barring her removal which was ignored. She was not informed of issues with her immigration record which also registered her case as resolved in 2017 and so was unable to file paperwork to address them. Her parents did not hear from her for two days while she was detained.

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.

A woman married to U.S. Citizen who spent 20 years in the Marines was handcuffed and detained for 8 days during their final interview for her Green Card of which her immigration lawyer said he's never seen an arrest under her circumstances before and questioned why she needed to be detained at all.

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.

Indigenous actor Elaine Miles was randomly stopped and detained while walking to a bus stop by four masked ICE agents who questioned her valid tribal papers saying they "looked fake" and "anyone can make that." They refused to call the phone number on the ID to verify, and when she attempted to call herself they tried to take her phone. It took a fifth agent to eventually intervene before they let her go. In addition, her son and uncle were also previously detained and had their tribal IDs question before being let go.

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.

Kimberlyn Aguilar was detained by ICE during an immigration appointment for a work permit despite having special juvenile status to stay in the U.S. and also needing asylum from gangs that were harassing her in Honduras. Courts gave her special juvenile status to stay in the U.S. in after a court ordered her deportation for mistakenly missing a court date that she was unaware of. They still deported her and without her baby of which they had also promised they would be able stay together.

Green Card applicant Ludmila, married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested and detained by three ICE agents during an appointment at an immigration office despite a precedent of not detaining people with pending Green Card applications especially when they're married. It was traumatizing enough for the person handling her application paperwork to cry along with Ludmila who suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks during detainment.

Thomas Bilger, married to a U.S. citizen for a year, was handcuffed and detained by three masked men in bulletproof vests with guns during a meeting at an immigration center which should have been the final step in him gaining his Green Card. He was detained for overstaying a past visa despite past assurances it would not be an issue.

33-year-old Katie Paul was arrested by ICE agents at an immigration office of which her husband Paul said he "had to take our baby from my crying wife’s arms." She was handcuffed and needlessly detained for 6 days despite reassurances from prior immigration officials that it was ok to stay in the United States as she was in the final stages of getting a green card and had a high-risk pregnancy due to her age. Her lawyer said she was "completely dumbfounded" as this had never happened before. She then had to file a lawsuit in federal court after authorities tried to deport her without a hearing. Paul had to take leave from his job to take care of their baby until the Green Card she was obviously going to get was finally approved, and she was released.

17-year-old high school student Christian Jimenez had his car window smashed and was detained for 5 hours at an ICE facility despite being a U.S. citizen of which officers responded to his assertation of such with "I don’t care." It appears they targeted him for simply filming or following them which he had done in the past.

A beloved DACA eligible and Green Card Applicant barber who has lived in the U.S. for 40 years since coming as a child under a medical visa was detained for a year without bond despite being pardoned for a crime in 2010 due to his strong character vouched by many. He is a double amputee and struggles with many health issues that are worsened by the conditions during detainment. He got engaged 10 days before being detained, and his fiancée has trouble finding the time to visit going 2 months sometimes as the facility is 150 miles away. They have seven children and on a recent trip to visit him, the ICE facility for no good reason limited the number of people who could visit forcing some of his children to wait in the parking lot.

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.

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.

18-year-old legal U.S. resident Carlos Guerra Leon was detained by ICE for nearly 3 months at a facility in Louisiana 1400 miles away from his family in Spring Valley, New York.

39-year-old legal U.S. resident Marta Leiva was detained by ICE agents at Salt Lake City International Airport and held at a detention facility in Salt Lake City citing a minor paperwork error she was never properly informed of in 2020 and despite it not considered in 2024 when her visa was last renewed.

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.

Sixteen-year-old U.S. citizen Arnoldo Bazan was beaten, choked and verbally attacked with racial slurs by plain clothed and masked ICE officers outside a restaurant supply-chain store in Houston. When he cried out that he was underage, the agent started to choke him more which was severe enough for a witness to yell out "you're fixing to break his neck." He also said an agent took his phone after they noticed him filming the initial encounter, and he was detained for hours before being released without charges. During the incident his father was also roughed up and kicked. Agents previously cut off the car the father was driving in with his father with two unmarked vehicles and recklessly escalated the situation by smashing the windows after which Arnulfo said he was scared and drove off briefly to escape before stopping again.

A beloved ice cream vendor of over 20 years with no criminal record who is married to a legal U.S. resident was whisked away by masked ICE agents, thrown into an unmarked vehicle and taken into custody without explanation and with his cart abandoned. His family did not know what happened to him for weeks and he was held for four months before he was granted a Green Card and released.

Gustavo Garcia Aguilar, who has been a permanent legal U.S. resident since 1997 and traveled internationally for years without any problems, was detained for an entire six months waiting for paperwork to go through for something from his past record to be vacated.

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.

Silvia Reyna Mendoza endured multiple sexual coercion attempts by ICE contractor Luis Ruiz according to a lawsuit that claimed he "engaged in severe and pervasive sexual harassment, including requesting sexual favors and sending her sexually explicit text messages and videos" saying things like "If you're good to me, I'll be good to you" which she eventually reported to his supervisor. However, the supervisor allegedly helped cover it up by deleting corroborating text messages and videos she showed them from her phone and nobody from immigration followed up with her claims. After her complaint, they started requiring her to wear an ankle monitor, then eventually detained her for weeks and deported her ignoring an emergency legal motion allowing her to stay.

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.

Legal U.S. resident and construction-company owner Victor Cruz was detained despite showing ICE his visa, driver’s license and work permit valid through 2029 of which agents said, "work permits don’t matter anymore".

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

The parents of two U.S. Marines were detained by ICE during a routine visit with them at Camp Pendleton, San Diego, despite having a current legal work visa, a pending green card application and having lived in the United States for more than 30 years. Their mother was detained for 3 weeks and their father was deported.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Javier Ramirez was detained in a Montebello ICE raid and jailed for four days before finally seeing a judge despite repeatedly telling agents he was a citizen.

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.

U.S. citizens George and Esmeralda Doilez regret voting for Donald Trump after they were racially profiled, detained and searched for 30 minutes by "goons in masks in unmarked vehicles chasing down American citizens just because of the color of their skin." They further ranted on the agents' wearing masks saying, "Who does that? Criminals do that. Robbers and thieves do that. Kidnappers do that."

Chaofeng Ge was found dead by hanging in the showers at a Queens ICE facility which was ruled a suicide attributed to mental abuse and neglect due to poor conditions during detainment; however, further reports showed that his hands and feet were also bound with no explanations of how he could have hung himself.

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.

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.

A permanent US resident with a Green Card for 35 years since he was 5 and working on a PhD researching a vaccine for Lyme disease was detained for a week by CBP without access to an attorney and then detained for more than a month at an ICE facility for a minor marijuana charge back in 2011 that was supposed to have been expunged from his record.

Afghani Interpreter Zia S. -- who risked his life for U.S. forces in Afghanistan over a five-year period -- was detained by ICE at a routine immigration appointment after the Trump administration disgracefully revoked his two-year special temporary legal status a year early while he was still in the process of getting a green card. They issued an order to expedite his deportation in a process that would preclude a hearing in immigration court and force him to return to Afghanistan where the threat to his life would be severe. With pressure from his lawyer and two U.S. Senators, the order to expedite his deportation was cancelled but not after three weeks of angst endured by him and his family. Zia was held at the ICE facility for three months away from his wife and five children. He was not allowed outside once during his detainment which was especially difficult for him as he routinely enjoyed hour long walks in nature with his wife. Most of his time was spent in a two-person room with a small window that he was allowed to leave only three times a day to visit common spaces and watch TV.

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.

Yessenia Ruano spent 14 years building a life in the U.S. after fleeing human trafficking in El Salvador, raising two U.S.-citizen children, teaching at Milwaukee’s bilingual public school and serving as a valued community member. Facing impending detention and deportation by ICE, she made the impossible decision to self-deport back to El Salvador with her children.

Legal U.S. Washington resident Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old son were detained for three weeks in a cramped facility despite having a valid work permit. She drove her eldest children to the international airport in Vancouver, Canada, on a trip to visit their grandparents and immediately came back to the U.S. But she was then detained on a minor technicality of which she mistakenly thought she was allowed to leave the U.S. and it was just a quick stop to accompany her children before returning.