Trump’s mass deportation campaign has wreaked havoc and terror on communities across the U.S. since his second term began. According to Just Security’s Litigation Tracker, the Trump administration has faced over 600 challenges to its polices largely adopted by executive order with over 100 of those challenges focused on rights violations committed during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Administration officials have repeatedly claimed that immigration enforcement operations focus solely on violent criminals illegally in the country. However, a spotlight has been shown on recent actions by federal ICE agents that directly contradicts that narrative.
On New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles, Keith Porter, a 43-year-old U.S. citizen and father of two, was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent living in his apartment complex. When Keith stepped outside on New Year’s Eve to fire a celebratory gun shot into the air, the ICE agent living nearby donned tactical gear and set out to investigate the gun shot, shooting and extrajudicially killing Keith Porter outside of his home.
Keith Porter’s death, the last of 2025, was the 32nd death last year of someone who was either killed by an ICE agent or who died while in ICE custody.
One week later on January 7 in Minneapolis, Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, mother of three who state and city officials described as a legal observer, was fatally shot by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in south Minneapolis.
Just over two weeks after Renee was killed, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, Veteran Affairs (VA) nurse, who was observing the actions of ICE agents, was killed by Border Patrol agents while recording and attempting to assist others during an enforcement operation. A federal civil rights investigation has been opened into his shooting.
Following these controversial killings, Trump sent Tom Holman, his “border czar” to Minnesota to oversee immigration enforcement, replacing Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, signaling a potential shift in the administration’s approach although Holman has been vocal in his defense of agents’ actions thus far.
So far in 2026, two individuals, both defenders of human rights, have been killed by federal immigration enforcement agents and six people have died in I.C.E. custody. See the full list for 2026 below.
Killed in 2026
- Alex Pretti: a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, legal observer, and VA nurse killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on January 24, 2026.
- Renee Good: 37-year-old U.S. citizen, legal observer, and mother of 3 who was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis in January 2026.
Died in Custody in 2026
- Heber Sanchez Dominguez - a 34-year-old Mexican migrant who was found hanging by his neck in his sleeping quarters while in I.C.E. custody in a facility near Atlanta on January 14th.
- Victor Manuel Diaz - a 36-year-old Nicaraguan migrant who officials report committed suicide at Camp East Montana on January 14th. However, the family does not believe he committed suicide. Federal officials refused to release his body to the county medical examiner, who had investigated previous deaths at the facility and ruled homicide in one death, for an autopsy and instead have transferred his body to the army medical center, which does not release autopsy reports to the public.
- Parady La - a 46-year-old Cambodian migrant who came to the U.S. legally as a child but lost his green card following multiple criminal convictions. Officials report La was found unresponsive in his cell after experiencing severe drug withdrawal and was transferred to a hospital where his died on January 7th. His family still seeks answers.
- Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz - a 68-year-old Honduran migrant who had lived in the U.S. undocumented with his family for decades died on January 6th from an unreported cause, though he was admitted to a hospital while in ICE custody for heart-related issues. The family reports that he was detained in November 2025 in New Jersey and began complaining of stomach and chest pains after being transferred to Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California.
- Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres - a 42-year-old Honduran migrant who officials report passed away at the Joe Corley Processing Center in Texas from complications related to congenital heart failure on January 5th. He had been in ICE custody since November 2025.
- Geraldo Lunez Campos - a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who witnesses report was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down while one constrained him by the neck, causing asphyxia and ultimately death, at Camp East Montana on January 3rd. The autopsy confirmed that a homicide had taken place rather than the suicide reported by officials.
Following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the Trump administration announced that it would work to “draw down” the number of federal agents in the city. However, soon after, Trump stated that he would not commit to deescalating immigration raids after Senate Democrats, opposed to the massive funding package for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security in the budget (appropriations) proposal, abandoned negotiations. A federal judge on Saturday denied the state’s request that the court halt Trump’s deployment of 3,000 immigration enforcement agents into the state because the deployment violates the state’s sovereignty.
Over the weekend, Trump stated while being interviewed on Air Force One that Democratic-cities facing protest unrest over federal immigration enforcement will have to ask and “say Please” in order to receive federal intervention but that federal agents would “guard, and very powerfully so, any and all Federal Buildings that are being attacked by these highly paid Lunatics, Agitators, and Insurrectionists.” On Friday, federal agents in Eugene, Oregon deployed tear gas into a crowd to reportedly prevent protestors from entering a federal building. Trump has since stated that he would be open to ICE agents wearing body cameras once he spoke with the agents. On Monday, the administration announced that every DHS agent will be issued a body camera in Minneapolis.