Human Impact Project

Harrinson Jose Osuna Benitez, a Venezuelan tattoo artist seeking asylum over fears of torture and persecution, was released on parole when he arrived at the U.S. border in September 2024 after ICE found no criminal history. He moved to Portland with his partner, who gave birth to their son in December 2024. On November 17, 2025, when Osuna Benitez appeared for an immigration court appointment in Portland, ICE detained him. Court documents indicate ICE later reassessed his tattoos as a security concern, despite having cleared him on the same basis at entry. He spent two months in detention while his family struggled financially without his income as primary breadwinner.

Cristobal Maltos, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was stopped by Border Patrol agents on November 17, 2025, while following a hit-and-run driver and reporting it to police. Agents surrounded his vehicle at an intersection, and when he attempted to move forward, they broke his car windows and removed him from the vehicle, allegedly causing injuries. Maltos was charged with felony assault, resisting arrest, and impeding a federal officer during the enforcement operation dubbed "Charlotte's Web."

Internal documents reveal conditions on Avelo Airlines' deportation flights for ICE. Incidents include hazardous materials being loaded onto planes, flight attendants being prevented from conducting required safety checks, shackled migrants unable to evacuate in emergencies, and long mechanical delays leaving detainees trapped on aircraft. A cabin pressure emergency on November 13 injured six people on board.

ICE agents conducted an enforcement action at a church, arriving without visible identification and detaining individuals. According to accounts, agents chased workers into the woods. The incident resulted in children screaming and women crying.

Joel Camas, a 16-year-old with approved Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, was detained by ICE on October 23 during a routine immigration check-in at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, despite having legal protections and a pending pathway to permanent residency. After nearly a month in federal custody, U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel ordered his immediate release on November 17. His attorneys argue ICE violated federal law and the Constitution by arresting a child with legal status at a routine appointment.

Hanne Daguman, a Norwegian national, was detained by ICE on November 17, 2025, during a USCIS marriage-based green card interview in San Diego after she acknowledged overstaying her student visa. She has type 1 diabetes and no criminal record. Her next court hearing is scheduled for November 24, 2025.

Jahir Torralba Castillo, who had resided in the United States since 2001 with no criminal history and U.S. citizen family members, was detained by immigration authorities in November 2025. He was charged with entering without inspection and denied a bond hearing under Section 1225(b)(2). The federal court granted his habeas petition, finding his detention violated due process, and ordered either immediate release or an individualized bond hearing within 7 days.

Heather Morrow, a 44-year-old Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus driver, was arrested on November 16 while protesting at an ICE office on Tyvola Centre Drive. Federal prosecutors charged her with felony assault on a federal officer, claiming she grabbed an agent's shoulders and attempted to jump on his back. Video footage released by Morrow's attorney shows her touching an agent's shoulder before being tackled to the ground.

Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested by Border Patrol agents on November 16, 2025, while photographing and documenting their operations in Charlotte to warn immigrants of their locations. He was charged with using his van as a deadly weapon to assault, resist, and impede federal agents after driving away when agents approached his vehicle and attempted to open its door. According to court documents, an agent was injured breaking the van's window during the incident.

Antonio Enriquez, 53, a lawful permanent resident, was walking to a store in Melrose Park when federal agents in unmarked vehicles demanded to see his documents. When he told them his green card and documents were at home, agents ignored his pleas and pushed him to the ground, handcuffing him after he resisted. He was taken to an ICE facility and held for six hours until his daughter brought copies of his green card and Social Security card.

A U.S. citizen in his early 20s and his undocumented father were stopped by federal agents while walking to La Chiquita grocery store in Little Village to buy carne asada and beans. Both men were arrested and transported to the ICE facility in Broadview. The son was later released but said agents dismissed his pleas that his younger brother has epilepsy and needs their father's care. The father remains in ICE detention out of state. The son requested anonymity to protect his father from potential retaliation.

On July 4, 2025, roughly a dozen people demonstrated at the Prairieland ICE detention center in Texas, and gunfire erupted during a police response with one officer reportedly injured. Nineteen people were charged with material support for terrorism, rioting, and other federal crimes. On February 17, 2026, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman declared a mistrial during jury selection in the case involving nine defendants, citing an attorney's attire. Jury selection is scheduled to resume on February 24, 2026.

During an August 11, 2025 joint patrol at Lake Borgne with U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, three men were detained by federal agents for immigration issues despite officers reporting no witnessed crimes or civil violations. Two of the men had legally entered the U.S. but overstayed their authorized time; the third allegedly entered without authorization.

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived at an east Charlotte church on Saturday while about 15-20 congregants were doing yard work. Agents detained one man who was outside. His wife and child were inside the church. Church members reported that agents showed no identification and asked no questions before making the arrest.

Christian Elian Mendoza Barragan was re-detained by immigration authorities on November 14, 2026, after previously being released on bond or parole. The court found that the government violated his due process rights by failing to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention and required the government to provide seven days' notice and a proper hearing before any future re-detention.

In September 2025, federal agents from ICE, Border Patrol, FBI, DEA, IRS, and ATF conducted the largest single-site DHS enforcement operation in history at a Hyundai-LG joint venture battery manufacturing facility near Savannah, Georgia, detaining approximately 450-475 workers. Approximately 300 of those arrested were South Korean nationals; roughly 250 worked for HL-GA Battery Company LLC and about 50 for LG Energy Solutions. ICE alleged many had overstayed visa waiver permits (ESTAs) or held B-1 business visas that did not permit manual labor, though at least one worker with valid documentation was arrested. South Korea's president and foreign minister expressed concern and launched an investigation into whether detained workers were read their rights and reported inappropriate conduct by ICE agents. By November 2025, some workers had been released and returned to their jobs, with HL-GA Battery Co. resuming construction using a mix of new and returning workers, and the facility's opening delayed by two to three months.

CNN reviewed dozens of videos showing immigration agents using less-lethal weapons including pepper spray and munitions launchers. The investigation found repeated policy violations in the use of these weapons.

Two homeschooled brothers, Sam (16) and Ben (17) Luhmann, have been patrolling West Chicago and surrounding areas since mid-September to document federal immigration enforcement activity during Operation Midway Blitz. The brothers have had numerous encounters with ICE agents and have been threatened with arrest while documenting their activities. Their efforts represent part of a broader youth activism movement against the enforcement operation across the Chicago area.

Francisco Amezquita Diaz, a Mexican citizen who entered the US without inspection in 1988, was taken into ICE custody on November 14, 2025, after his Form I-485 application for permanent residence was denied. He had been living in the United States for 37 years before being detained and placed in removal proceedings. The court is considering his petition for release from mandatory detention.

Samuel Gonzalez Isabel, who had been living in the US for 25 years with three US citizen children, was arrested by ICE agents immediately after a criminal court hearing in November 2025. He had been released without conditions since 2019 following his initial NTA but was re-detained based on a misdemeanor assault plea. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without a pre-detention hearing violated his procedural due process rights.

José Barco, a 39-40-year-old decorated Iraq War veteran who received a Purple Heart after suffering traumatic brain injury in combat, was deported in November 2025 despite serving in the U.S. Army since age 4. After his release from prison in January 2025—following 15 years served for a 2008 shooting conviction—ICE detained him immediately. His 2006 citizenship application while stationed at Fort Carson was lost in the system. Venezuela initially ordered him deported there but refused to accept him at the Honduras border, citing documentation concerns. He was eventually deported to Mexico in November 2025, a country he had never visited, where he is now seeking asylum.

On November 14, 2025, ICE agents detained Wilmer Toledo-Martinez, a 28-year-old Vancouver resident married to a U.S. citizen with three American-born children. One agent posed as a construction worker to lure Toledo-Martinez outside his home, after which another agent released a dog that attacked him on the arms and torso. Toledo-Martinez was hospitalized and received stitches for his injuries. He was denied medical care while in federal immigration detention at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. Senator Patty Murray condemned the use of force, noting that Toledo-Martinez did not resist arrest or attempt to flee.

Jaime Humberto Vadillo Aranda was re-detained by immigration authorities on November 13, 2025, after having been previously released on bond or conditional parole. The court found that the government violated due process by failing to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before re-detaining him. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

Josefa Hernandez Bernal, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela with pending asylum applications, was detained by ICE officers on November 13, 2025, during a routine check-in at the ICE field office in San Francisco. Bernal had been released on an Order of Recognizance after arriving at the border in June 2024 and had complied with all release requirements and court hearings. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring her immediate release from custody and prohibiting re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing.

ICE agents approached the vehicle of Edith, an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Edith reported being subjected to physical violence during the encounter and was subsequently released. Edith sustained injuries including a torn rotator cuff, fractured shoulder, three herniated disks, and a ruptured eye requiring surgery.

British journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi was detained by ICE at San Francisco International Airport on October 26, 2025, after his visa was revoked. Hamdi was on a speaking tour in the United States when detained. He was held in overcrowded detention facilities for 18 days before being released and returning to the UK on November 13. Trump administration officials stated his visa had been revoked, leading to deportation proceedings. Hamdi maintains he was legally in the US on a valid visa at the time of his detention. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported on the detention.

A 33-year-old Queens woman reported that ICE agents raided her apartment on November 13, 2025 at 5:30 a.m. while searching for her cousin on a criminal arrest warrant. The woman claims agents forced entry, grabbed her by the hair, and pointed guns at her three children when the family attempted to record. ICE stated they knocked for 20 minutes before lawfully entering when no response was received.

A 24-year-old Native American woman from Arizona, Leticia Jacobo, was subject to an ICE detainer issued by Polk County Jail in Des Moines. The detainer was intended for a different person booked at the same time but was erroneously placed on Jacobo's file. Her family provided tribal identification documents, and she was released before being transferred to federal custody.

Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez, a 53-year-old day laborer, was detained by ICE/Border Patrol on November 13, 2025, while at a bus stop in Pomona, California. He has been held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center for over two months and has no criminal record. He has serious health conditions including congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and diabetes. According to community members, faith leaders, and advocates, he was denied heart medication for two weeks in custody and required emergency heart surgery while detained. On January 21, 2026, the community gathered to demand his release, and organizers plan to present a resolution to the Pomona City Council regarding his case and immigration enforcement.

Carine Balenda Mbizi, a Congolese mother, was detained by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry in New York after attempting to seek asylum in Canada with her three teenage children. The family had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022 and was transferred to the Dilley family detention facility in Texas. An immigration judge issued a deportation order in February 2025, and her appeal was dismissed in October. Online immigration court records show she remains in the facility while her case is pending.

Estafania Andre, a Casco Bay High School student from Congo, was detained by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry in New York along with her mother and siblings after the family attempted to seek asylum in Canada. The family, who had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022, was transferred to a family detention facility in Texas. An immigration judge issued a deportation order in February 2025, and their appeal was dismissed in October. Her school district reported the sudden absence was traumatic for students and staff.

Seven detainees filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration on November 12, 2025, alleging severe medical neglect, punitive conditions, and inadequate disability accommodations at California City Detention Facility. The lawsuit, supported by the ACLU and other organizations, describes denial of medical care, excessive solitary confinement, lack of disability accommodations, denial of legal access, sewage backup, insect infestations, frigid temperatures, and insufficient clothing and food. The facility, reopened in 2025 by for-profit company CoreCivic at a former state prison in the Mojave Desert, can hold up to 2,560 people and has faced intense criticism since opening, with detainees staging sit-ins and hunger strikes, including one involving over 100 people in mid-September.

Sokhean Keo, detained at California City Detention Facility, witnessed a fellow detainee's suicide attempt by hanging. The facility did not offer mental health services to Keo and others who witnessed the incident; instead, staff disciplined anyone who had not immediately returned to their cells afterward. Keo joined a class-action lawsuit filed November 12, 2025, against the Trump administration alleging severe medical neglect and inhumane conditions at the CoreCivic-operated facility.

Yuri Alexander Roque Campos, a 30-year-old detainee with a life-threatening heart condition, was transferred from Mesa Verde to California City ICE Detention Facility on September 5th, 2025. He was denied his heart medications before even seeing an intake nurse and did not receive aspirin for five days. As a result, he suffered a "pre-heart attack" and was rushed to the emergency room twice during his first two days with extreme chest pain and paralysis, losing consciousness during the first trip. When he returned to the facility, his medical records and the ER doctor's letter were confiscated. He was placed in an isolated observation cell for eight days with sporadic medication and did not see a doctor for over a month. Medical expert review concluded his treatment put him "at significant risk for sudden cardiac death."

A U.S. citizen, Carlos Jimenez, was shot by an ICE agent on October 30 in Ontario during an enforcement action. ICE stated Jimenez attempted to ram officers with his vehicle. Jimenez's attorney states Jimenez was attempting to alert officers about a nearby school bus stop and was leaving the scene when shot in the shoulder.

A U.S. congresswoman reported that detainees at Camp East Montana, the largest U.S. migrant detention facility in El Paso, face foul-tasting water, rotten food, and inadequate healthcare. The $1.2 billion tent facility is designed to house up to 5,000 detainees. The congresswoman stated conditions at the facility are dangerous and inhumane, while the Department of Homeland Security denied these allegations.

Joel Andre, a 16-year-old Deering High School student from Congo, was detained by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry in New York after his family attempted to seek asylum in Canada. The family had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022 and was transferred to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas. An immigration judge issued a deportation order for the family in February 2025, and their appeal was dismissed in October. Joel is a well-known member of Portland's Kennedy Park pickup soccer community, and his detention prompted his school district and congregation to mobilize support.

Norberto Ambrosio, owner of Just Peachy market in Encinitas, was called to immigration court after his deportation case was reopened in October, more than a decade after it was administratively closed in 2013. Ambrosio, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1990 at age 16 and has no criminal record, has filed to fight his deportation. Community members rallied in support at his hearing on November 25, with the next court date scheduled for May 19.

Bruna Ferreira, a 34-year-old Brazilian national who arrived in the U.S. as a child and held DACA protection, was arrested by ICE on November 12, 2025, while driving to pick up her son from school. An immigration judge granted her release on a $1,500 bond on December 8 after 26 days in detention across multiple facilities. The government stipulated to arguments that she posed no danger or flight risk and did not challenge her release. She remains in removal proceedings with mandatory periodic check-ins with ICE as conditions of her release.

California revoked approximately 13,000 commercial driver's licenses for migrant drivers after the Trump administration required the state to cancel licenses whose expiration dates exceeded drivers' legal status end dates. The federal government has banned the DMV from processing new commercial license applications, though affected drivers may apply for standard Class C licenses. Civil rights groups challenged the cancellations, but the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected an emergency request to pause the revocations effective March 6, 2026.

A man was forcibly removed from a car by federal immigration officers near West 157th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights on Wednesday morning around 8:15 a.m. The officers, including some appearing to be Homeland Security Investigations agents, placed the man into an unmarked black SUV. No immediate information was available about the person's identity or the reason for the detention.

Giorgi Gvedashvili, a Georgian citizen who entered the U.S. in 2022 and filed an asylum application, was detained by ICE in November 2025 during a routine check-in. He had originally been released on his own recognizance after being apprehended by Border Patrol. The federal court ruled his detention unlawful and ordered his immediate release, finding he did not meet the criteria for mandatory detention under immigration law.

Beginning in November 2025, ICE agents have detained spouses of U.S. citizens at USCIS offices immediately following marriage-based green card interviews. The arrests have occurred at multiple field offices including San Diego, Cleveland, New York City, and Utah, affecting applicants with visa overstays. Many detainees had no criminal history and were approved for their green cards, yet remained in ICE custody facing prolonged immigration court proceedings.

The Santa Ana Police Department has deployed approximately 57 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras from Flock Safety and Motorola to track all drivers in the city, with data shared in national databases. Simultaneously, ICE is establishing a 24/7 social media surveillance team at the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in Santa Ana to identify and target individuals for arrest. The surveillance infrastructure represents a public-private partnership between local law enforcement and immigration authorities.

As the Trump administration intensifies a mass deportation campaign, immigrant parents are rushing to make temporary guardianship arrangements for their children. Legal clinics report increased demand as parents seek to designate emergency caretakers such as friends, acquaintances, or teachers to care for their kids.

An Instagram post reports ICE agents forcibly placing a person into a van at 7:50 AM near 148th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 16th Street. The person was reportedly pleading for help in Spanish while being detained. Bystanders observed the incident but did not intervene or identify the individual.

Rafael Veraza and his 1-year-old daughter were allegedly pepper-sprayed by ICE agents in a Chicago suburb while the family was going grocery shopping. The incident occurred last week, and the family held a news conference to discuss the alleged use of force. The Department of Homeland Security has disputed the allegation.

Agenord N., a Haitian citizen who entered the U.S. in 2023 and was paroled, was arrested in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida on April 16, 2025 for battery. After conviction on November 4, 2025, he was detained by immigration agents on November 10, 2025 and transferred to Central Valley Annex in California. The court granted his habeas petition, finding he was not subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) and ordering a bond hearing within 14 days.

A high school student and mariachi musician describes two separate immigration raids on his family occurring four months apart. The article details the student's experience and documents the effects of federal immigration enforcement on young people of color across the United States.

Susan Paola Leo Huayan was detained by ICE on November 9, 2025, while in custody at Utah County Jail after her B-2 visitor visa expired in June 2022. She had entered the U.S. on December 10, 2021, with a valid visa. After six months in ICE detention without a bond hearing, the federal court found a due process violation and ordered her immediate release.