Report: misuse of crowd control weapons at ICE protests caused blindings, brain injuries

newsJul 14, 2026361,746

Physicians for Human Rights and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley released a report this week documenting 412 verified incidents of alleged misuse of crowd control weapons at anti-immigration protests and ICE operations from June 2025 through May 2026. The researchers verified 203 injuries tied to those incidents, including blindings, traumatic brain injuries, lacerations, fractures and contusions, and created an interactive map showing where weapons such as teargas, rubber bullets and pepper spray were deployed. Lead author Dr Rohini Haar said the findings are concerning and noted she began the investigation after video of a pastor hit with a chemical weapon in Oakland. The report warns that visual investigation cannot capture invisible harms such as chemical injury, chronic pain or hearing loss, and says the true number of injuries is likely far greater. The report highlights high-profile episodes such as protests outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, where ICE agents pepper sprayed Senator Andy Kim and local, state and federal officers used teargas and batons. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to Guardian inquiries about the report before publication.

Jonathan Cohn

@jonathancohn.bsky.social

"Now, a new report lays bare the scale of the use of these crowd control weapons during anti-immigration demonstrations across the US, including hundreds of incidents that resulted in lasting and traumatic injuries." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

62545d ago

Alex Morash11

The authoritarian police state isn’t China or Cuba, it’s America.

No Jive Turkey9

We're paying gov't workers who are harming us. How dumb are we?🙃

Ruby’s Mom (she/her)3

I’m curious about the long-term effects of exposure. My daughter participated in Portland BLM protests. She now has CML, a blood cancer that doesn’t run in our family & is extremely rare in young people. So much for non-lethal weapons.

Regina Schrambling 3

And they cut SNAP and Obamacare while funneling more gazillions to #ICEstapo.

Alan Rudy3

Anti-ICE or anti-immigrant policing protests? They're pro-immigrant mobilizations, not anti-immigrant or anti-immigration, yes?

foolwatcher2025.bsky.social3

We need to get really tough and harsh with these red states enough bull shit from them

Quoting this

Strider5

Someday we will find that there are people in this Administration who not only planned giant camps for political prisoners & dark people, but for mass graves and incineration. Bank on it.

Edouard Machery4

Abolish ICE should be a litmus test.

Rym - Abolish and Prosecute ICE4

Abolish ICE and prosecute its members.

Antlers Teeth Claws4

Again: send every single member of ICE & DHS to prison for life, strip them of all assets, & force the govt to pay reparations to every single person whose life they destroyed. MINIMUM. They deserve far, far worse. Sadistic little shits.

Meidas Rick ❌🚫🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱💙🐸

@sgtrick.bsky.social

BREAKING: Maine protesters are now showing up outside of the state’s ICE administrative building in Scarborough, Maine, demanding justice for this week's brutal killing of 26 year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford. Share to show your support! substack.com/@rawstory/no...

50944d ago

oligarchssuck.bsky.social1

This case in a reminder that Collins is the worst of politics. She sells out women. She sells out workers. She sells out our future. She protests but then votes with the kleptocracy. She laments but then is a sycophant for Donnie. Maine can’t keep making the same mistake with Collins.

Progressive News Service

@prognews.bsky.social

ICE misused crowd control tools, inflicting hundreds of serious injuries. "[Physicians for Human Rights & the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley] documented 412 verified incidents of the 'misuse' of these crowd control weapons..." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

10944d ago

Progressive News Service2

"The report documented 203 injuries stemming from the alleged misuse of the crowd control weapons. Some of the injuries included blindings, traumatic brain injuries, lacerations, fractures and contusions."

kristofarian1

. ICEStapo's violence will only Increase after that, ALL until Nov. 3rd. Bets're OFF . bsky.app/profile/ronf...

healinghands65.bsky.social1

ICE is America’s Gestapo. We know how things ended for them. HEY ICE: for every brutality you commit understand the consequences you are going to face will be visited on you TENFOLD

Guardian US

@us.theguardian.com

Doctors and human rights experts documented hundreds of incidents from June 2025 through May 2026 and estimate true number is ‘far greater’

8145d ago

Tamerra🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️2

So the murders we see are just the sad tip of the iceberg. When violence becomes so much violence that not more violence is possible. Because the victim is dead. ICE is escalating a pyramid of violence. Only the murders stand out and gain public traction.

Scott2

The brutality keeps maga entertained while enriching the mara lago ammunition dealers while maiming those trying to defend their right to protest

Quoting this

Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS36

ICE murders people, yes. But they also blind, injure, and permanently incapacitate many more people. ICE is a plague on America.

CocktailMD3

given our country's track record with J6 and E-files criminals one won't hold one's breath, but these criminals should be prosecuted thoroughly

Ian Kremer

@wolverinebear.bsky.social

‘Misuse’ of crowd control weapons on ICE protesters led to blindings and traumatic brain injuries, report finds www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... #ICE #DHS #CivilRights #HumanRights

5045d ago

Glenn2

After yesterday’s murder in my backyard I’m not sure how much more of this cruelty and BS I can take frankly.

Lex McMenamin (they/them)

@lexmcmenamin.com

when I learned of this most recent example, a man killed by an oncoming tractor trailer while fleeing ICE, it brought me back to the protests outside Delaney Hall, where ICE kept pushing protesters into a stream of oncoming tractor trailers; one person’s foot was run over

8544d ago

Gabe Ortíz

@tusk81.bsky.social

“Around noon, about two dozen protesters marched into Collins’ office, but were shooed out minutes later as police arrived,” the Portland Press Herald reported. “‘This is your fault Susan!’ one man shouted.” americasvoicecnn.substack.com/p/as-communi...

4344d ago

Nicole Bedera

@nbedera.bsky.social

“The researchers struggled to confirm the full scale of the injuries, because ‘visual investigative techniques cannot adequately assess invisible injuries, such as chemical injury or chronic pain or hearing loss’. “‘The true number of injuries is likely far greater,’ the report adds.”

2344d ago

Abbey Rhodes

@abbeyr28.bsky.social

A new Human Rights report documents 203 injuries stemming from ICE's misuse of the crowd control weapons – including blindings, traumatic brain injuries, lacerations, fractures and contusions. And these were just the cases they could document. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

2344d ago

messenger611.bsky.social2

Um yeah its war on America from within. Time to get real No problem hunting enemies overseas... The enemy is killing Americans right here right now. Delay only brings suffering This is not fantasy. This is real and it's now. Rise up now We are many Together we win

KUNA2

that's 203 cases they could document. what about the ones they didn't?

Resistance is persistence!1

#30million8/30 If we do not assemble a massive march we will appear weak. 30 million marching on August 30th. I am not seeking likes. You need to repost this. I cannot make this happen by myself. It requires all of us to participate.

Stephanie Kollmann

@slkollmann.bsky.social

And yet it still appears to be committed to this extreme surge, which means ICE is likely to triple down on targets that are easier for agents (e.g., courthouses) and which have not adequately prepared to defend themselves from these incursions.

1645d ago

@cmerfy Lifelong Democrat

@cmerfy.bsky.social

📢🌊‼️ I'm not surprised, sadly 🥹 It's still REALLY great to see the collection of injury accounts formally documented & reported on!!! 🙌 Stay strong everyone! We're in this flight together & we will see it through! 💪 #OV1 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

1045d ago

Andrew Levesque

@andrewlevesque.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... No one is surprised. ICE is a feckless domestic terrorism organization….

2145d ago

Pine Tree Activism

@pinetreeactivism.org

Today's marching and solidarity protest of Joan Sebastian Guerrero's murder, at the ICE facility in Scarborough, Maine. Quite the crowd. I recognize @loudforcongress.com and others. #F*ckICE #ICEoutOfMaine #AbolishICE #ICEOutForGood

1544d ago

Democratic Activists

@democratswin.bsky.social

*Warning: This video contains foul language.* Emotions remain extremely high more than 24 hours after a young man was shot and killed by ICE in Biddeford. An ICE supporter clashed with anti-ICE protesters in Scarborough. DETAILS: bit.ly/4w3dqy7

1044d ago

Charles Keener

@charleskeener.bsky.social

Protesters chanting “Vote her out!” marched to Collins’s office after Durán Guerrero’s shooting was made public. Collins was the deciding vote to approve an additional $70 billion in federal funding for ICE last month.

1444d ago

1 source

theguardian.com‘Misuse’ of crowd control weapons on ICE protesters led to blindings and traumatic brain injuries, report finds

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Report: misuse of crowd control weapons at ICE protests caused blindings, brain injuries

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