Editorial Team
5 min read
A media tally says at least 37 people have been arrested in U.S. data-center protests in 2026, though it is not an official database. Two local cases show a narrower, documented conflict: who can speak at hearings over proposed infrastructure, under what rules, and with what recourse when those rules are enforced.
A nonofficial media tally says that Futurism had counted at least 37 U.S. arrests connected to data-center protests in 2026. That number is a signal of visible conflict, not a census: the same account says there were 12 additional police interventions, probably an incomplete count, and offers no common legal outcome or comparable record for every case.
The narrower evidence is more revealing. In Hobart, Indiana, and Claremore, Oklahoma, public meetings about proposed data centers produced arrests or removals after residents crossed—or were said to cross—meeting rules. Those episodes do not establish that officials were trying to silence criticism, but they do put the mechanics of public participation at the center of infrastructure decisions with local consequences.
A nonofficial media account reports 37 arrests and 12 additional police interventions connected to data-center protests in 2026. Source: Yahoo News.
The tally's source describes the people it counted as politically and demographically varied, from farmers to teachers. It also advances the view that elected officials were deferring to technology companies rather than constituents. That is the publication's characterization, not evidence that every arrest arose from the same policy or official conduct.
An organizer, Humans First, says its July 18 action produced 142 protests in 42 states. Its campaign site calls for action by local, state and federal politicians and opposes what it calls corporate welfare around AI data centers. But the group says it does not support a national or state moratorium; its stated position is that each community should decide whether to host a facility. That distinction makes the headline arrest figure a poor proxy for a single national program or a settled public view.
Pablo Payan, a 42-year-old maintenance manager from Merrillville, was trying to speak to Hobart's Plan Commission about a planned facility described as an Amazon–NIPSCO data center. He was removed and then arrested after declining to give his name and address for the record, according to a local video report. The case matters because the Plan Commission is the municipal body overseeing the hearing, while NIPSCO is one of the project’s named counterparties—not because the incident alone resolves the project’s merits.
Indiana law does not specifically require a person to identify themselves when addressing a public body, the report says, but lets municipalities adopt reasonable oral-comment rules. Hobart's legal department said its posted rules required speakers to state their name, address and phone number, both for the public record and possible litigation. The city said Payan continued speaking, was told to leave, refused and was arrested on criminal-trespass and disorderly-conduct allegations.
The video record limits that account without deciding the matter: it shows Payan asking officers whether he was being detained as they escorted him out, and the report says he is not heard saying he refused to leave. Payan denies being disruptive and says he planned legal action. The charges were still pending when the report sought comment from police and Mayor Josh Huddlestun.
The same report documents a second Hobart removal. Angelita Soriano was escorted out after exceeding the two-minute public-comment limit, but was not charged. Soriano said the rule was selectively enforced because a NIPSCO representative spoke for more than two minutes without interruption; the city said she continued speaking and began yelling after time expired. The evidence preserves the dispute rather than proving either account.
Darren Blanchard, a Claremore farmer, was arrested after speaking beyond his allotted time at a February 17 City Council meeting about Project Mustang, a planned data center. The city charged him with criminal trespass, carrying a $200 penalty, and Blanchard said he would contest it, according to a report based on body-camera footage he shared with the publication.
That account says city officials had signed nondisclosure agreements on behalf of the developers and had not been forthcoming about construction details; it also says residents largely felt the development had been approved without their input. Those are consequential allegations about disclosure and participation, but the retained report does not establish what the agreements allowed officials to withhold, whether an approval had already occurred, or whether the process met all applicable rules.
The cases do not turn a procedural complaint into proof of a broader conspiracy. Hobart offered an administrative and legal rationale for collecting speaker information; a meeting chair also has a legitimate interest in enforcing a speaking limit. Conversely, the available accounts make it difficult to dismiss the procedures as trivial when they determine whether a resident can raise concerns about the project in the first place.
The same caution applies to the broader campaign's claims about electricity, water, land use, subsidies and AI's social effects. Humans First presents those as advocacy arguments, not project-by-project findings. The local episodes show how that expansive critique can become an immediate dispute over a microphone, a clock or an order to leave—without showing that every data-center proposal has the same impacts or approval process.
The next evidence is more concrete than another national tally. In Hobart, the material questions are the disposition of Payan's allegations, the full hearing rules and how they were applied to supporters, opponents and project representatives. In Claremore, they are the terms of the nondisclosure agreements, the project approvals and the outcome of Blanchard's case.
Across the country, a useful account of the conflict would need a consistent record of arrests, charges and outcomes alongside the local project agreements and hearing records. Until that exists, the strongest conclusion is limited but significant: public-meeting procedure is becoming one arena in which communities contest the data-center buildout.
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