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

Smoke fills the air as protesters face off with California highway patrol officers in Los Angeles, California, on 8 June 2025. Photograph: Jill Connelly/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

It’s been a brutal tactic deployed by local and federal law enforcement officials time and time again over the past year: using teargas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to control protests outside ICE detention centers or during enforcement operations.

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.