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

newsJul 14, 202636354

Physicians for Human Rights and the University of California, Berkeley Human Rights Center released a report and interactive map documenting 412 verified incidents from June 2025 through May 2026 in which law enforcement allegedly misused crowd control weapons at anti-ICE protests. The researchers verified 203 injuries tied to those incidents, including blindings, traumatic brain injuries, lacerations, fractures and contusions, and they say the true number is likely far greater because visual techniques cannot detect invisible harms such as chemical injury, chronic pain or hearing loss. The documented weapons include chemical irritants such as teargas and pepper spray, kinetic impact projectiles including rubber bullets and bean bag rounds, and stun grenades. The report cites a high-profile episode outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, when ICE officers pepper sprayed Senator Andy Kim and local, state and federal officers later used teargas canisters, batons and shields against protesters. Dr Rohini Haar, the report’s lead author and a PHR medical expert, said “this is a concerning story.” The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the Guardian’s inquiries 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...

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