ICE buys $100k worth of 'non-lethal' pepper ball rounds days after blinding protester with one

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 20 January 2026 15:56 EST


Four days after a 21-year-old anti-ICE protester was permanently blinded by a pepper ball munition, the nation’s deportation agency spent nearly $100,000 on more of the “non-lethal” rounds, according to federal procurement records reviewed by The Independent.

On January 9, Kaden Rummler was struck in the left eye with a projectile fired from a few feet away by a federal agent while the college student demonstrated outside a federal building in Orange County, California.

Rummler, whose skull was also fractured in the close-range shooting, will never see out of that eye again, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help with medical expenses.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent entity, has not confirmed what type of projectile it was, but witnesses said it was a pepper ball.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/ice-protester-pepper-ball-rounds-100k-b2904248.html