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Fact check: Which states have seen the most lawsuits filed against ICE agents in 2024?
Executive Summary
The available materials do not provide a comprehensive, state-by-state tally of lawsuits filed specifically against ICE agents in 2024; reporting instead focuses on a nationwide bond-withholding class-action and select local civil-rights actions naming ICE or seeking to join suits. States explicitly named across these reports include New York, California, Louisiana, and North Carolina, but the sources emphasize litigation patterns and systemic claims rather than an organized count by state [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What the reporting claims and repeats — a single, large bond-withholding case that spans states
The dominant claim across multiple pieces is that plaintiffs filed lawsuits alleging ICE illegally withheld more than $300 million in bond payments from thousands of immigrant families and some U.S. citizens, and that the litigation implicates people in multiple states including New York, California, Louisiana, and North Carolina. These reports describe a class-action posture seeking refunds for those who posted cash bonds and did not receive timely reimbursement after cases concluded, and they anchor their accounts in filings from late October and November 2024, with articles dated October 29 and November 4 and 18, 2024 [2] [3] [1] [4]. The framing is nationwide rather than limited to a single state, signaling systemic allegations against ICE’s bond-handling practices.
2. Localized litigation and municipal involvement — Los Angeles County and local civil-rights actions
Separate coverage highlights local governments and municipalities attempting to join or lead civil-rights suits against ICE, citing illegal arrests, seizures, and economic damages from enforcement raids. One example explicitly names Los Angeles County and multiple cities seeking to join a civil-rights action; however, that filing is dated July 8, 2025, and therefore postdates the 2024 window, illustrating the continuation of litigation dynamics beyond 2024 [5]. Local government engagement suggests municipal-level legal strategies complement federal class actions, but the available documents do not quantify how many such suits were filed in any single state during 2024 [5].
3. Who the plaintiffs are and the nature of claims — individuals, centers, and potential class representatives
The reports identify individual plaintiffs, advocacy groups, and university-affiliated centers as claimants. One named plaintiff is Douglas Cortez of Uniondale, New York, who posted a $10,000 bond and now seeks reimbursement — a concrete example used to illustrate the broader $300 million withholding claim [3]. The University of Washington Center for Human Rights filed separate litigation seeking proactive disclosure of ICE and DHS documents related to enforcement, filed in mid-November 2024 and framed as part of transparency and accountability efforts [4] [1]. This mix of individual and institutional plaintiffs underscores both personal financial harms and advocacy-driven attempts to expose agency practices.
4. Consistencies and differences in the coverage — amounts, timing, and geographic scope
Across reports from October and November 2024, coverage is consistent on the alleged sum — over $300 million withheld — and the class-action ambition to represent tens of thousands of low-income families and citizens who posted cash bonds [1] [2] [3]. Where sources diverge is in geographic specificity: several pieces list a handful of affected states — notably New York, California, Louisiana, and North Carolina — but none offer a comprehensive enumeration of suits by state or a ranking of states by lawsuit volume [1] [2]. The divergence stems from reporting that focuses on systemic harm and illustrative plaintiffs rather than producing a state-by-state litigation dataset.
5. What the data do not tell us — the crucial gaps and why the original question cannot be fully answered
None of the provided analyses supplies a complete count of lawsuits filed against ICE agents in 2024 by state, nor do they claim to. The items either concentrate on a nationwide bond-withholding class-action or on discrete local actions and filings, some of which occur outside 2024 [1] [2] [3] [5] [4]. Therefore it is not possible, based solely on these sources, to identify which states “saw the most lawsuits filed against ICE agents in 2024” with statistical confidence; the documentation highlights affected states and types of claims but lacks a systematic, comparative tally.
6. Bottom line — the most defensible answer supported by the sources
Based on the provided materials, the only defensible statement is that litigation in late 2024 involving ICE focused heavily on alleged bond-withholding that affected residents in New York, California, Louisiana, and North Carolina, with individual plaintiffs (e.g., Douglas Cortez) and institutional plaintiffs (e.g., University of Washington Center for Human Rights) bringing claims [3] [4] [1]. No source in the package establishes which states had the highest number of suits against ICE agents in 2024, and attempts by local governments to join civil-rights suits are documented but not quantified within the 2024 timeframe [5] [6]. For a definitive state-by-state ranking, a dedicated compilation of court filings or a dataset from a watchdog or court records search would be required; that compilation is not present among the supplied analyses.