New ACLU Report Documents Widespread Violence by Immigration Agents

PORTLAND – The ACLU issued a new report Thursday, Agents of Chaos and Cruelty, documenting widespread civil rights violations carried out by immigration agents during the first year of President Trump’s second term. The report examines immigration enforcement incidents in eight states – representing a cross-section of the country and reflecting varying degrees of federal law enforcement presence and personnel surges – and finds that over 400 of the more than 1,200 immigration enforcement incidents examined involved misconduct by immigration agents.

The report highlights intentional changes at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that have unleashed thousands of masked, menacing, and unaccountable agents on communities across the country at a scale that mirrors aspects of countries under authoritarian rule. The result of these changes has led to violence throughout the country, including widespread terror during Operation Catch of the Day and this week’s killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford at the hands of ICE.

“Mainers of all backgrounds across the state are heartbroken as ICE violence has culminated in another extrajudicial killing, this time in Biddeford,” said ACLU of Maine Executive Director Molly Curren Rowles. “The killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was not an isolated incident. It is part of a disturbing and deadly trend of state violence that is happening because of a failure of law. The loss of a young partner and father who came here seeking freedom and safety has shattered our community. We applaud Governor Mills’ statement that ICE ‘needs to be fundamentally reformed, and if not then it is time to abolish it,’ and join her call on Congress to take action now.”

With more funding than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined, ICE has “hired 12,000 new agents in record time in 2025, based on diminished hiring standards,” according to the report. ICE has shortened required training hours and omitted critical legal frameworks, like use of force standards required by the U.S. Constitution. ICE has recruited “agents” using far-right, Christian nationalist, and white supremacist advertising campaigns delivered directly to the phones of people at MMA fights and those playing on violent video game platforms. The violence that ICE is committing is not law enforcement in any meaningful sense. It is lawless, terrifying, and deadly – and it must be stopped.

Among the report’s key findings:

• Agents used force and the threat of force as default tactics. The report documented 418 times agents pushed, shoved, tackled, or pinned people; 361 times agents deployed chemical irritants, including 132 times they were directly aimed at individuals, and 81 instances when agents used tactics that can limit breathing and become deadly, such as chokeholds.
• Instead of protecting children, the administration turned its enforcement tools against them. The report identified 214 children who were detained, targeted for enforcement, or experienced law enforcement misconduct, including 32 U.S. citizen children.
• Racial profiling by federal, state, and local agents was rampant. The report documented 437 incidents involving likely racial profiling by agents.
• U.S. citizens were often impacted by immigration enforcement. The report identified 155 U.S. citizens who were detained, targeted, or who experienced law enforcement misconduct.
• Agents routinely conducted enforcement at or near sensitive locations, including 49 documented incidents at or near schools – prompting 40 school lockdowns.
• Protesters, journalists, elected officials, clergy, and community observers were also regularly targeted by immigration agents. The report found that 782 total people in those groups were detained, targeted, or subjected to misconduct.

The report also documents a systemic breakdown in accountability. The ACLU has argued for over 25 years that federal laws have not provided clear and enforceable restrictions on the Department of Homeland Security, nor have they ensured accountability when people lose their liberty or their lives. Congress had an opportunity to reform ICE during recent funding negotiations, but instead passed a blank check without the commonsense reforms that advocates and communities made clear were needed. What has always been an out of control agency has been turbo charged with unprecedented funding and power under the Trump administration.

In the face of this ongoing violence, three new ICE Out of Maine laws will take effect on July 29 and draw a clear line between this rogue agency and the essential places where we live, learn, and heal: ICE Out of Policing, ICE Out of our Homes, and ICE Out of our Schools and State Healthcare. These laws will protect our communities and ensure that local officials and resources are never used to support dangerous and chaotic federal immigration operations. The ACLU of Maine plans to hold state and local officials accountable to implement the ICE Out laws fully from day one.

The ACLU of Maine encourages all Maine people to know their rights so they can make their voices heard and hold the government accountable. They can learn more about their rights at ACLUMaine.org/KnowYourRights.