Illinois-backed website launches to catalog ICE detentions and deportations
A new interactive database called Disappeared in America, supported by Governor JB Pritzker’s Illinois Accountability Commission, records roughly 500 cases of people affected by ICE actions.
Disappeared in America is an online repository that documents about 500 individual experiences of immigration enforcement, from detentions to family separations, during the second Trump administration. Backed by Governor JB Pritzker’s Illinois Accountability Commission and the Democracy Power Project, the database includes multimedia profiles and seeks to keep these narratives from being reduced to statistics. The launch follows the controversial Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, which prompted the creation of the Illinois Accountability Commission to investigate federal ICE activities.
Project co-founder Beatriz Lopez says the goal is to ensure such large-scale enforcement never repeats, while Hina Mahmood emphasizes the collective effort behind the record. Organizers hope the platform will inspire similar initiatives in other states and influence future policy discussions.
Why it matters
It creates a permanent record of ICE enforcement impacts, fostering accountability and informing policy debates.
How this story developed
- Aug 13 San Antonio immigrants live in constant fear as ICE arrests surge
- Sep 20 A man was wounded after being shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in North Austin, Texas, and taken to a local hospital.
- Sep 27 A federal judge scheduled a personal appearance for the man on September 30 and issued a temporary order halting his deportation.
- Sep 29 The U.S. Supreme Court granted the Justice Department’s emergency request, letting the Trump administration continue deporting migrants to third countries while the policy’s legality is examined.
- Sep 30 Supreme Court issued an emergency order allowing third‑country deportations to continue.
- Sep 30 An immigration judge ruled that Salah Sarsour, head of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, can be deported on national-security grounds despite his claim that the case targets his Palestinian-rights advocacy.
- Sep 30 The Justice Department lodged complaints with the 8th Circuit alleging that Minnesota federal judges made partisan statements about a Trump-era deportation surge.
- Oct 1 A federal indictment charging Garces Perez with assault was filed.
- Oct 3 The filing requests that the judges be barred from hearing Department of Homeland Security cases.
- Oct 3 A Chicago immigration judge allowed a possible deportation of Salah Sarsour.
- Oct 8 A person was shot by federal agents in Marble Hill, Bronx, and is now receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.
- Oct 9 ICE announced it will continue enforcement actions in New York City despite the shooting.
- Oct 10 Protests spread to Manhattan and lower Manhattan, drawing thousands of demonstrators.
- Oct 10 An off‑duty ICE agent was shot after allegedly assaulting a homeowner and his father in Fresno.
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