The Trump Administration has sought to punish and intimidate its political opponents with federal prosecution and/or deportation. This has included detention and prosecution of immigrant community leaders and activists for their political speech, as well as innumerable threats of criminal charges in media and written policy announcements and arrests and charges against elected officials who try to exercise oversight of immigration detention. These attacks continue expanding under the government’s efforts to criminalize resistance to the violent mass deportation agenda.
Please note this list is not an exhaustive list of all the political arrests and prosecutions, especially of the many community members arrested and prosecuted for filming DHS agents or otherwise trying to protect their neighbors during violent raids. The cases here are highlighted as examples of the weaponization of prosecution against immigrants and pro-immigrant elected officials.
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Brad Lander
Brad Lander was the NYC Comptroller and a 2025 New York City mayoral candidate. Federal agents arrested Lander on September 18, 2025 while he was attempting to observe ICE actions in the immigration courthouse. He was charged with obstructing the use of property during a protest.
Lander was part of a group of individuals who were present at the immigration court building at 26 Federal Plaza in New York to observe whether ICE was complying with a federal court ruling that prohibited them from unlawfully detaining immigrants arriving at court for hearings. A physical altercation occurred when ICE agents physically separated Lander from a person he was accompanying. This resulted in his arrest and charges of obstructing law enforcement. Lander was also briefly detained and released in June 2025 during court observation.
David Huerta
David Huerta is a California labor leader who currently holds the position of president of SEIU-West. DHS agents arrested Huerta in June 2025 while he was observing and protesting the deployment of militarized ICE operations across Los Angeles and Southern California. This deployment also marked the first time National Guard was also deployed as part of a major immigration enforcement operation. Huerta’s violent arrest was captured on video and he sustained injuries which required medical treatment after his release from custody.
Huerta is still facing federal charges for peacefully observing an immigration raid. While he was initially charged with a felony, his charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. This case is ongoing.
Don Lemon and Georgia Fort
Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested on January 30th, 2026 because of their coverage of an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in Minnesota. Lemon and Fort were livestreaming as dozens of anti-ICE protestors demonstrated at Cities Church. This protest led to a disruption of church service and several tense confrontations.
The Department of Justice alleges that the journalists were participants in an “attack” on the church and the intimidation of congregants. The arrests of both Lemon and Fort mark an unflinching attack on journalists attempting to report on anti-ICE demonstrations and further government repression of protected speech.
Judge Hannah Dugan
Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested and prosecuted for assisting an undocumented person who was trying to leave her court room without encountering ICE officials. Judge Dugan led a man through a side door of the court room when she learned that ICE was waiting outside for him. She was arrested on April 18th, 2025 for obstruction of law enforcement. She faced trial and on December 19, 2025, Judge Dugan was found guilty of a felony charge obstruction.
Judge Dugan is currently appealing her conviction based on an argument that the ICE officers in the courthouse had an administrative warrant, not a judicial warrant. Her attorneys have asserted in the appeal that this type of warrant is legally insufficient and there’s a “common law privilege” that would protect people from immigration arrests inside a courthouse.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who is residing in the United States with a grant of withholding of removal. In 2025, ICE arrested him in Maryland and in spite of his legal status, sent Abrego Garcia to El Salvador’s notorious prison, CECOT, as part of a deal negotiated by the two governments. After enormous uproar over his case, Kilmar was finally returned to the United States in June 2025, two months after the Supreme Court had unanimously ordered that he be returned.
However, upon his return, Abrego Garcia was transported to Tennessee and imprisoned on new charges of human smuggling. Although he was granted release on bail, ICE arrested him again with the intent to deport him to a third county. His legal team fought to get him released from ICE custody again, and he was released by a judge’s order on December 11, 2025. The federal government appears committed to persecuting Abrego Garcia because of the attention his case has received.
Mahmoud Khalil
Mahmoud Khalil is a lawful permanent resident and graduate of Columbia University’s graduate School of International and Public Affairs. While at Columbia, Khalil was a leader in the student movement for a free Palestine on campus in 2024. On March 6th, 2025, Khalil was arrested by ICE in New York City at his home. He was moved to a detention center in New Jersey and then quickly transferred to a detention center in Louisiana. His case has two components: 1) fighting for his release from detention and 2) challenging the government’s allegations that he is subject to deportation, since he is a lawful permanent resident.
Khalil was detained for 104 days in Louisiana. During this time, he missed the birth of his first child. A federal judge found that this 1st Amendment rights were violated and ordered his release in June 2025. Khalil is currently residing with his family in New York and continuing his work as an advocate.
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Khalil continues to fight his deportation case. The administration claims that Khalil is deportable because his presence in the United States as a vocal advocate for the freedom and dignity of Palestinian people presents adverse foreign policy consequences. In September 2025, an immigration judge in Louisiana found that he was deportable and ordered him deported based on the assertion that he allegedly omitted information on his immigration applications. His case is currently being appealed. Meanwhile, DHS asserted in January 2026 that he would be deported to Algeria.
In addition, Khalil’s legal team has filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration. The first lawsuit is asking for monetary damages to compensate him for the harm caused by his incarceration and separation from his family. The second lawsuit is a demand that the administration share the information they used to track and arrest him.
Mohsen Mahdawi
Mohsen Mahdawi is a Columbia University graduate student and lawful permanent resident who was arrested in April 2025 at a citizenship interview. Mahdawi grew up in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and is an outspoken critic of Israel’s siege on Gaza during his enrollment at Columbia. He spent two weeks in ICE custody before a federal judge ordered his release.
Recently, an immigration judge ruled that Mahdawi could not be deported. This decision was based on the government’s failure to authenticate a memorandum that was purportedly written by Secretary Marco Rubio. This document served as the entire basis for the deportation case against Mahdawi. The memo alleged that he presented a threat to US foreign policy based on his protected speech criticizing Israel. This memo was the same basis for the arrest and attempted deportation of Mahmoud Khalil.
Nekima Levy Armstrong
Nekima Levy Armstrong is a civil rights lawyer and activist in Minnesota who was arrested because she organized a protest against the ICE Acting Field Office Director for Minnesota, who also acts as a parson at Cities Church.
Beyond the widely reported smear campaign by DHS involving doctoring a photo of Armstrong to make her look distressed, Armstrong faces charges of “conspiracy against rights.” Despite the weaknesses of the case against her, charges are pending.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was arrested, but then quickly released after a heated physical dispute at the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in March 2025 in Newark, NJ. Mayor Baraka was at Delaney Hall with several members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation to inspect the facility, pursuant to their authority and responsibility to engage in regular oversight of immigration detention centers. On this day, while the Congressional delegation was at the facility, ICE suddenly told the Mayor that he must leave right then or he would be arrested. However, after Baraka had walked back out the gate, DHS officers moved to arrest him anyway. Protesters outside the facility, as well as the visiting Congressmembers defended him, and a chaotic crush resulted. DHS eventually pulled Mayor Baraka and arrested him. Ultimately, no charges were filed, but the arrest was a clear example of the administration’s efforts to suppress the pro-immigrant work of elected officials seeking oversight and transparency.
Rep. LaMonica McIver
Representative LaMonica McIver is currently facing two federal charges (she was initially facing three charges, but one charge was thrown out by a federal judge) for assault on a law enforcement officer during a chaotic incident at Delaney Hall in March 2025.
Rep. McIver was with other Congressmembers and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on a visit to inspect the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility. The visit was conducted to provide oversight and inspect the conditions and treatment of people inside the facility. After DHS officers moved to arrest mayor Baraka, there was a physical struggle between ICE and the electord officials, as well as protestors outside the facility. ICE accused Representative McIver of assault on law enforcement officers.
Rep. McIver is the only elected official facing federal charges stemming from this altercation. She is currently appealing a federal court judge’s decision not to throw out the charges against her. Rep. McIver continues to be the subject of political attacks from Congressional Republicans who allege she “assaulted an ICE officer.”
Rumeyza Ozturk
Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish national and who came to the United States to study at Tufts University. In March 2025, she was kidnapped off the street by immigration officers with concealed faces. The shocking video of her arrest quickly went viral and provided confirmation that the administration was targeting students for violent immigration enforcement in an unprecedented manner. She was detained in several different locations over the course of 6 weeks until a federal judge in Vermont ordered her release.
The administration targeted Ozturk for arrest and revocation of her F1 student visa status because of an op-ed she published in the Tufts Daily, the student newspaper. This op-ed was critical of the university’s response to students speaking out against the siege on Gaza. After her release from immigration detention, a federal judge ordered that her F1 status remain intact. Ozturk was able to resume her studies and completed her doctorate in February 2026.