2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Timeline › 2026 › January › 11

January 11, 2026

6 entries on this date.

ICE deported 5-year-old U.S. citizen Génesis Gutiérrez Castellanos to Honduras without a hearing or access to counsel

On January 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported five-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos -- a U.S. citizen born in Austin, Texas -- to Honduras alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, who was removed under a 2019 administrative deportation order issued before Génesis was born. ICE took the pair into custody in Austin on January 5 after local police, responding to a domestic-disturbance call, found an active ICE warrant against Gutiérrez and notified the agency, then held them nearly a week in a San Antonio-area hotel without a hearing or access to a lawyer before deporting them.

St. Lucia signed non-binding third-country deportee MOU, faced disclosure-timing backlash

St. Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced during a New Year's address on January 11, 2026 that his Cabinet had approved a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on third-country deportees. Pierre faced domestic criticism for the timing of the disclosure, with commentators noting the deal appeared to have been finalized weeks before he announced it, and the agreement's text has never been publicly released.

ICE pepper-sprayed and detained two citizen legal observers in Minneapolis; one says HSI tried to recruit him as an informant

On the night of January 11-12, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in south Minneapolis pepper-sprayed the vehicle of two U.S. citizens conducting legal-observer work, Brandon Siguenza and Patricia O'Keefe, then smashed its windows and pulled them out despite their hands being raised -- an incident independently corroborated by neighbor-recorded video, according to a Snopes investigation -- arresting them for an "obstruction" charge that was never formally filed. The pair were held roughly eight hours at the Whipple Federal Building, where Siguenza says a Homeland Security Investigations agent offered him money and help bringing relatives into the country in exchange for the names of protest organizers and undocumented neighbors, which he refused; DHS disputed the account, calling any claim it offered money for information "FALSE" and alleging Siguenza and O'Keefe had themselves committed a felony by "stalking and obstructing ICE law enforcement." Upon release, agents directed Siguenza into a nearby area where tear gas was deployed and he was struck by a projectile.

Border Patrol agents choked and dragged Honduran cook from car, knocked him unconscious during St. Paul gas station arrest

On January 11, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents smashed the car window of Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano, a Honduran restaurant cook, at a Speedway gas station in St. Paul, Minnesota, then dragged him from the vehicle, choked him, and knelt on his back while handcuffing him until he lost consciousness. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, who was directing enforcement activity in the area, watched the arrest. Henriquez Serrano was detained, denied medical care and a lawyer for days, and deported to Honduras before he could meet with the attorney his family had retained.

ICE agents battered down Minneapolis man's front door and arrested him without a warrant; judge ruled the raid unconstitutional

On January 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents used a battering ram to break down the front door of Garrison Gibson's home in north Minneapolis and arrested him without a judicial warrant and without his consent, while his wife, 9-year-old daughter, and her cousin were inside. Gibson, a Liberian national who had been complying with routine ICE check-ins, was held in custody until U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled on January 15, 2026 that agents had "forcibly entered Garrison G.'s home without his consent and without a judicial warrant," violating the Fourth Amendment, and ordered his immediate release.

DOJ opened criminal probe of Federal Reserve Chair Powell with no evidence, using renovation costs as pretext for Trump's rate-policy feud

Around January 11, 2026, the Justice Department served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, opening a criminal investigation of Chair Jerome Powell focused on $2.5 billion in headquarters renovation cost overruns — a probe that followed months of Trump publicly attacking Powell for refusing to lower interest rates faster. At a March 3 court hearing, the lead prosecutor told U.S. District Judge James Boasberg "we do not know at this time" what evidence of fraud or criminal misconduct existed; the judge quashed the subpoenas on March 13, finding the government had produced "essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime" and calling the investigation's justifications "pretextual."