Despite escalating calls for accountability from Congress and the public, ICE continues its systematic assault on constitutional rights with impunity. Across six states, federal agents are crushing First Amendment rights by arresting protesters, operating secret detention facilities that deny due process, and illegally partnering with local police to circumvent constitutional protections.
This isn’t enforcement—it’s lawlessness. While Congress debates DHS funding and oversight measures, ICE operates as if the Constitution doesn’t apply, separating families, terrorizing communities, and demonstrating that without meaningful consequences, federal agents will continue to act above the law they’re sworn to uphold.
Here are a few examples of how these abuses are still happening in states across the country:
ILLINOIS:
- ICE agents in unmarked vehicles pulled over five sawmill workers who had valid work visas, targeting them based on appearance and ethnicity. One detainee’s whereabouts remain unknown.
- At an Illinois Accountability Commission hearing, educators and pediatricians testified that ICE raids near hospitals – complete with helicopters and flash bangs – left a third grader too terrified to eat lunch, high schoolers teaching each other to identify produce because their parents feared leaving home, and children whose chemotherapy was interrupted after their parents were detained.
- ICE detained four restaurant workers with no criminal records in a parking lot using five unmarked vehicles. The owner said they were targeted solely based on appearance and ethnicity.
MAINE:
- ICE held Maine residents at a Massachusetts facility designed for 12-hour processing for 10+ days in conditions attorneys called “torture” – cramming 50 people into cells with a single toilet, no windows, no showers, and only aluminum blankets.
- ICE detained an asylum-seeker who had filed for asylum 8 years earlier – arresting him while his wife recovered from an emergency C-section and their newborn remained in the NICU.
- ICE agents refused to identify themselves to a woman whose partner was being arrested, responding “I’m not going to give that” when she demanded their names and badge numbers as required by federal law.
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
- A federal judge ruled ICE violated due process when it detained an asylum-seeking pastor and ordered his release. His detention sparked vigils across New Hampshire and Vermont.
- ICE detained a construction worker and caregiver to his U.S. citizen wife, who has epilepsy, despite his work permit and clean record. His detention left her unable to pay rent or attend medical appointments. After his deportation, he now faces death threats from the gangs he fled decades ago.
NEVADA:
- A woman married to a U.S. Marine veteran was arrested five minutes into her green card interview – after waiting five years for the appointment – despite being eligible for a green card through her U.S. citizen spouse.
- An asylum-seeking woman was detained and spent the first months of a high-risk pregnancy period in detention without access to prenatal care. Despite being released, the detention cost her family their house and one of their two cars, and they spent months cycling through hotels and sleeping in their remaining vehicle.
- A college student who has lived in the U.S. since age 4 spent a month in detention before being deported – despite having no criminal history and having his charges dropped the same day he was arrested.
PENNSYLVANIA:
- DHS issued administrative subpoenas targeting social media accounts that tracked ICE raids and even email accounts – a clear First Amendment crackdown on immigrant advocacy that only stopped after ACLU intervention.
- ICE detained an asylum-seeker as he prepared to take his eight-year-old daughter to school, offering no explanation despite holding a valid work permit. The agency has yet to answer congressional inquiries about the arrest.
- ICE arrested a father with work authorization on his way to work, leaving his wife to care for their children alone while their daughter fights Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
VIRGINIA:
- ICE agents raided a 17-year-old family business, chasing a customer through the store and detaining him while he screamed “I can’t breathe.” Other customers hid as agents trashed the kitchen, sparking panic across the community.
- ICE detained a man during a routine check-in in the middle of his green card application process with his U.S. citizen husband. ICE provided no explanation, leaving the couple’s future in legal limbo.
- ICE detained a school custodian at an ICE office in North Chesterfield while enrolled in ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program) and pursuing a green card through her U.S. citizen husband. Despite complying with all supervision requirements, she was deported to El Salvador—leaving her daughter facing four years of legal battles to bring her back.
