Misuse of Crowd Control Weapons Against ICE Protesters Caused Blindings, Brain Injuries: Report

A new report has found that the misuse of crowd control weapons by U.S. law enforcement during protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led to hundreds of serious injuries, including permanent blindness and traumatic brain injuries.

The report, released by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, documented 412 verified incidents of alleged misuse of so-called "less-lethal" weapons between June 2025 and May 2026.

Researchers confirmed 203 injuries, including blindness, traumatic brain injuries, fractures, deep lacerations, and severe bruising. They cautioned that the true number of injuries is likely much higher because many invisible injuries—such as chemical burns, chronic pain, and hearing loss—cannot be verified through visual evidence alone.

The report highlights the widespread use of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, bean bag rounds, stun grenades, water cannons, and other crowd-control weapons during anti-ICE demonstrations across the United States.

One of the most prominent incidents occurred outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, where ICE officers pepper-sprayed U.S. Senator Andy Kim during a protest in support of detained immigrants on hunger strike. Authorities later used batons, shields, tear gas, and mass arrests to disperse demonstrators, leaving many injured.

Researchers classified an incident as "misuse" when officers targeted journalists or medical personnel, used force against vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly, fired projectiles at close range or at people's heads, or violated manufacturers' safety guidelines.

According to the report, 64% of all documented misuse incidents involved officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), while state and local police were also involved in many cases.

The report also found that the use of crowd-control weapons surged during immigration enforcement operations led by former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, with documented incidents increasing sharply in cities where federal enforcement was intensified.

More than 90% of the documented misuse incidents occurred in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Newark, and Portland.

The report further notes that since January 2025, federal immigration officers have been involved in at least 11 fatal shootings. Among the latest cases were the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old construction worker, in Houston on July 7, and the killing of a 26-year-old Colombian man by a federal officer in Biddeford, Maine, less than a week later.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to The Guardian's request for comment before the report was published.