ACLU Report Details Force in Over 1,200 ICE Operations Across Eight States

An ACLU report released July 16, 2026, examined more than 1,200 immigration enforcement operations involving ICE officers or partner agencies across eight states from January 2025 through December 2025. Nearly one-third of those incidents involved the use of force or the threat of force, NPR reported.

Researchers documented immigration agents pushing, tackling, or pinning people to the ground more than 400 times.

Officers used weapons including chemical irritants, rubber bullets, and tasers approximately 400 times. Dozens of instances involved knee-to-neck pressure and chokeholds. ICE officers killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Joan Durán Guerrero in Maine during traffic stops in July 2026.

A third person died in Florida after being struck by a semi-truck while fleeing ICE officers during a traffic stop. Officers were not wearing body cameras in the Texas and Maine cases. " DHS stated that Durán Guerrero attempted to flee and the officer shot him fearing for public safety.

ICE announced it will pause non-urgent traffic stops following the two shootings. President Trump posted on Truth Social on July 15, 2026, calling for ICE traffic stops to continue. ICE received an influx of federal funding in the year and a half after President Trump returned to office in January 2025.

The ACLU report documented hundreds of incidents involving children, U.S. citizens, protesters, bystanders, and journalists. ICE officers conducted enforcement at bus stops, grocery stores, and roads.

Officers rammed other vehicles, boxed them in, and smashed vehicle windows in dozens of documented instances. ICE officers received an abbreviated version of defensive tactics training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center from 2019 to 2024. "You're seeing the threat of using force and actually using it become the default tool for immigration enforcement agents," Naureen Shah said.