About 100 people gathered in Naples Manor on Friday to demand accountability after a 23-year-old U.S. citizen said an encounter with ICE agents during a protest left him hospitalized nearly a week with a collapsed lung and fractured ribs. Isael Trejo said he was simply getting dinner at a food truck near a demonstration when the confrontation turned violent, and he was released without ever being charged.
A Food Truck Stop Turns Into a Hospital Stay
Trejo told Gulfcoast News Now the incident happened around 7 p.m. on a Wednesday, September 23, while he was picking up food near the protest. “That’s when an ICE agent knocked me down,” he said, describing how he was detained, punched in the ribs and pepper-sprayed. Doctors later diagnosed him with a collapsed lung that required oxygen assistance, according to the same report. Trejo said he was released without charges and went straight to the hospital, and he is now seeking justice while he continues to recover.
ICE had not responded to requests for details on why Trejo was detained at the time Gulfcoast News Now published its report. The outlet also described video from that same Sept. 23 incident showing a man being dragged and punched multiple times by agents while a woman nearby was pepper-sprayed, and footage of an agent drawing a gun at legal observers and protesters on scene.
Candlelight Vigil Caps Rally Along US-41
The anger carried into Friday evening, when protesters rallied along US-41 in Naples Manor to demand accountability and call for ICE’s removal from their neighborhoods, as reported by Gulfcoast News Now. The gathering, described as drawing about 100 people, ended with a candlelight vigil that organizers framed as a symbol of remembrance and hope for affected families.
Among those who showed up October 2 was Arianne Betancourt, who traveled from Miami and recalled fighting for her own father’s release from the Alligator Alcatraz detention center after he was detained by ICE roughly a year earlier. He is home now, she said, but according to Gulfcoast News Now, she told the crowd, “My dad is home, but the trauma” remains. Her remarks echoed a broader pattern documented by Mother Jones, which reported that hundreds of people have turned out for vigils outside Alligator Alcatraz for 31 consecutive weeks.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Complaints
Naples Manor is not an isolated case. The Christian Science Monitor reviewed more than a dozen legal claims filed between June and December of 2025 in which people said ICE and Border Patrol personnel assaulted or detained them without cause, and six immigration lawyers and civil rights groups told the outlet they had seen a rise in accusations of excessive force over the past year. The Department of Homeland Security has countered that assaults on its agents rose 1,300% in 2025 compared with 2024, though the Monitor noted some news reports have disputed that figure, putting the actual increase closer to 25%.
Similar allegations have surfaced elsewhere this year. In Evanston, Illinois, two federal immigration agents allegedly beat and badly injured a Black U.S. citizen during a botched arrest attempt meant for someone else, leaving him hospitalized with injuries to his head, neck and teeth, according to The Guardian. In Frederick, Maryland, the outlet separately reported that roughly 200 protesters gathered during clashes with ICE officers, with video showing officers raising batons and hitting at least one protester while dragging or shoving others.
In Chicago, Newsweek reported that 15 Federal Tort Claims Act filings have been brought by American citizens and a green-card holder alleging excessive force during Operation Midway Blitz, an operation the Department of Homeland Security says detained more than 4,500 immigrants. The Monitor also noted that in fiscal year 2023, ICE agents were involved in five shootings and Border Patrol agents in 18, according to a 2024 DHS report.
Enforcement Surge Across Florida
The backdrop to these local clashes is a broader enforcement push. The New York Times reported that ICE arrests nationwide reached 43,000 in June, climbed past 49,000 in July and neared 51,000 in August, with the agency amplifying its reach in states like Texas and Florida through partnerships with sheriffs and state highway patrol officers. For residents of Naples Manor, that expansion has now collided directly with their own streets, and with one neighbor’s hospital stay.
