Misused for Maximum Mayhem: The Disturbing Pattern of Lethal Nonlethality in US Immigration Protests A recent report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the University of California, Berkeley, reveals that law enforcement agencies misused nonlethal crowd control weapons over 400 times during immigration protests between June 2025 and May 2026.
The research documents 412 instances of misuse, including injuries caused by projectiles deployed in ways that violated manufacturer guidance or widely accepted policing norms.
The report's authors found that nearly half (47. 1%) of those injured required medical care for their head and facial trauma, with at least one person left permanently disabled.