Beyond the Border: ICE arrests of Native people, five deaths in ICE custody and identification of ICE employees
Here's what happened this week in immigration news.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp
Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Border, which summarizes immigration news from across the country in a weekly roundup. Did I miss something? Message me via kate@daylightsandiego.org or on Instagram.
More violence from immigration officials in Minnesota
The New York Times reported that immigration officials in Minnesota have continued to move in the community with violence since one of them shot and killed a woman there. Many outlets have covered the details of different such incidents.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained several Indigenous men in Minnesota, according to Indian Country Today, including Ojibwe Red Lake Nation descendent Jose Roberto “Beto” Ramirez, who, according to a video posted on Instagram, appears to have been punched by an official. Ramirez told Indian Country Today he felt like he'd been kidnapped. His mother told The Minnesota Star Tribune that she brought his birth certificate and passport to the local federal building to try to get him released and was initially turned away.
Two U.S. citizens who document ICE activity in Minnesota were detained for hours without charges and said that officials tried to pressure them for information on protest organizers, the Associated Press reported.
Sahan Journal reported that ICE officers rammed a U.S. citizen's car with their vehicle. The man believes officials racially profiled him.
Mother Jones posted a video on its Instagram documenting violent and aggressive actions by immigration officials in Minnesota. The outlet also documented via video officials breaking the window of a woman who was trying to get to a doctor's appointment.
A Border Patrol agent kneed a man in the face multiple times in Minnesota while detaining him, the Minnesota Reformer reported.
La Jornada posted a video on its Instagram of an immigration official pushing someone documenting agents’ activities at a gas station in Minnesota and then a group of officials violently bringing the person to the ground.
The New York Times posted a video on Instagram showing Border Patrol agents using violence on people at a high school in Minnesota.
The Associated Press posted a video to its Instagram showing officials busting into the home of a Liberian man who had shown up to his immigration check-ins as instructed.
Six lawyers from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota and four from the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division resigned in protest over the lack of investigation into ICE's killing of Renee Nicole Good, The Guardian reported.
Minnesota and Illinois sued to stop the Trump administration from sending large numbers of immigration officials to their states, Reuters reported.
The Atlantic explained how Trump administration cuts to Department of Homeland Security accountability offices will lead to less scrutiny over Good's killing.
Arrests, detentions and surveillance
Four people died in ICE custody in the first nine days of 2026, Reuters reported. Since then, the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta reported another death. The family of one of those men is questioning the medical care he received prior to his death, ABC6 reported. The Washington Post reported that a medical examiner believes that another of the deaths was a homicide at the hands of facility guards at Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss in Texas.
ProPublica posted a video on its Instagram about immigration officials putting a 16-year-old U.S. citizen in a chokehold.
The Oregonian reported that immigration officials detained and deported a mother and father, forcing them to leave their toddler behind.
In violation of a court order, ICE deported a Utah man who had been in the U.S. for decades, and a federal judge has now ordered his return, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Federal officials briefly detained an organizer of a weekly protest against ICE outside the San Diego federal building, KPBS reported.
WBRZ reported that a former detention officer pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a Nicaraguan detainee at a Louisiana ICE facility.
A University of Arizona student originally from Qatar who has a valid student visa and spent weeks in ICE custody told The Copper Courier about the cruelty, and overcrowding, that he experienced while detained.
The Chicago Tribune tallied an estimated cost-to-date of ICE's “Operation Midway Blitz” at about $59 million.
ICE now has software that can monitor the movement of cellphones selected because they were all in a certain area, according to documentation reviewed by 404 Media.
“The material suggests that if users look at where the device was located at night, they might find the person’s possible home, and during the day, the person’s possible employer,” the outlet wrote.
The Texas Observer reported that Texas police are using the same software.
MPR News reported that ICE is using private data to identify and intimidate people observing and documenting the agency's actions.
Other stories to watch
Following President Donald Trump's targeting of Somali community members in Minnesota, Somali child care providers are reporting strangers surveilling them in San Diego, KPBS reported.
HBO recently released a documentary about the killing of Anastasio Hernández Rojas without any real advertising, and the journalist who worked on the piece told the Los Angeles Times he believes the company is trying to bury the story.
For Slate, journalist Laura Jedeed detailed in a first-person account how she was able to get hired by ICE with a six-minute interview and skipping normally required screening steps, including for domestic violence history.
The Guardian reported that Democratic members of Congress filed articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Raw Story reported that a whistleblower released information about the identities of about 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees.
The State Department has suspended immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries over concerns that they will use public benefits after coming to the U.S., the Associated Press reported.
The Texas Observer reported that an ICE attorney identified as running a White supremacist X account is back at work in immigration court.
A whistleblower who works for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services revealed that the agency has been denying records requests from individuals in order to clear its backlog instead of processing requests within the time required by a court order.
Officials with the Office of Refugee Resettlement told KUT News that the agency has stopped releasing unaccompanied migrant children to their loved ones in the U.S.
The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is holding migrant children in a facility known for staff physically and sexually abusing minors in its custody.
The Atlantic got an inside look at the world of Stephen Miller, the White House official behind many of the Trump administration's immigration and foreign policies.
POLITICO reported that federal judges are generally ordering the Trump administration to release immigrant detainees despite the government's attempts to say they are subject to mandatory detention.
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