Human Impact Project

An analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data found that the Trump administration detained the parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children in its first seven months, roughly double the rate under the Biden administration. The administration is deporting approximately four times as many mothers of U.S. citizen children per day compared to the Biden administration. The Trump administration revised detention guidelines by removing the word 'humane' from policies governing how officers should interact with detained parents. Many of these parents face deportation, leaving American-born children without parental care.

A Trump-appointed federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against ICE for grave violations of detainees' Fifth Amendment rights during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. The court found that ICE isolated thousands of people at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building without access to attorneys and ordered the agency to provide legal aid contacts, interpreters, and free phone access within one hour of detention, as well as ban rapid out-of-state transfers within 72 hours.

An editorial describes increased ICE enforcement operations in Eastern Washington, particularly in Franklin and Benton counties, which have disrupted agricultural workers, communities, and families. The piece argues that ICE is conducting indiscriminate arrests of undocumented immigrants without criminal records and calls for immigration reform rather than mass enforcement.

A video recorded by a man's wife documented an ICE arrest in Bridgeton. The video shows officers smashing a car window during the arrest and taking the man away.

Yaima de las Mercedes Suárez, a Cuban mother of five and permanent resident of the United States, was arrested by ICE at Miami International Airport upon returning from a trip to Cuba. She faces possible deportation due to a criminal conviction from July 2013 for theft and conspiracy when she was 21 years old and pregnant. Her lawyer is pursuing bail and habeas corpus options to challenge the detention.

Two people were arrested during a "No Kings" protest at Riverfront Park near an ICE facility in downtown Spokane. An 18-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly taking a Trump flag from a counterprotester, and a 32-year-old man was arrested for assaulting an officer who was attempting to detain the woman. The incident lasted approximately five minutes and involved a brief physical altercation between police and protesters.

An Iranian national was released after being detained by ICE for nine months in what was determined to be unlawful detention. The case involved challenges to the legality of the detention and protection from removal proceedings.

An Iranian gay couple, Ali and Adel, who fled Iran after being arrested by morality police, arrived at the U.S. border in 2025 seeking asylum. Their claims were denied, and they were placed in separate ICE detention facilities facing deportation to Iran despite the risk of persecution. At least 175 Iranians have been deported on flights to Iran since September 2025 following a Trump administration deportation agreement, with some deported individuals separated from their families and handed over to Iranian authorities upon arrival.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in Noem v. Al Otro Lado, a case challenging the government's "turnback policy" that blocked asylum seekers from accessing ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. Under the policy, CBP officials turned back hundreds of thousands of migrants into Mexico, sometimes falsely claiming lack of processing capacity. Plaintiffs argue the policy violated asylum seekers' rights protected under U.S. and international law.

A federal court issued a preliminary injunction requiring ICE and the Florida Department of Emergency Management to provide detained people at the Everglades Detention Facility (also called "Alligator Alcatraz") with access to legal counsel. The ruling was based on testimony from formerly detained people who described being denied access to attorneys, papers, and pencils. The court certified the case as a class action, protecting all current and future detainees at the facility.

ICE nearly doubled its use of ankle monitors on people in its Alternatives to Detention program following a June 2025 internal memo, growing from approximately 24,000 to 42,000 people by February 2026. Advocates and legal experts argue the devices impose psychological, economic, and physical harms and may be used to pressure immigrants into self-deportation. A 2021 study found ankle monitors did not improve compliance rates and may be counterproductive.

Four migrants represented by the ACLU of Nebraska were released from ICE custody in recent weeks after federal judges ordered their release on bond or outright release. However, a new 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling decided that federal law does not require bond hearings for undocumented immigrants, even those with years of U.S. residence and no criminal records, aligning with the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy.

Florida's aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, which resulted in nearly 10,000 arrests by ICE in 2026, is facing criticism from Republican sheriffs and other law enforcement officials who express concern about detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants who have not committed crimes. Detention facility overcrowding, allegations of improper jail practices, and budget disputes with state lawmakers are creating operational challenges to the state's enforcement efforts.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Suraj Vasal, an Indian national seeking asylum, at an Interstate 80 weigh station in Iowa on February 11, 2026. The arrest occurred during a traffic stop in which the Iowa State Patrol requested an immigration inquiry. Federal court records indicate ICE and the Iowa State Patrol were collaborating to check drivers' legal status at weigh stations. A federal judge ruled that the government violated Vasal's due process rights by conducting his bond hearing with only 30 minutes' notice and denying him adequate time to obtain legal representation, finding the agencies acted in bad faith.

On October 23, 2025, Arnulfo Bazan was pulled over by unmarked law enforcement in Houston while driving his 16-year-old U.S. citizen son Arnoldo to school. According to Arnoldo, officers without visible badges surrounded their car, leading Arnulfo to drive to a Restaurant Depot parking lot where he was tackled and restrained. Arnoldo reported being assaulted during the encounter but was released after identifying as a minor and U.S. citizen. Arnulfo was taken to the Montgomery County Processing Center and deported to Mexico on October 28, 2025. Months later, Arnoldo testified before Congress about ICE agents choking him and using derogatory slurs during the arrest, stating uncertainty about when he would see his father again. ICE disputed the assault allegations, claiming Arnulfo rammed a federal vehicle and fled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled on March 26, 2026, that the Trump administration has authority to detain immigrants without bond hearings. The case centered on Joaquin Herrera Avila, a Mexican national detained in Minneapolis in August 2025 after entering without proper documentation. The three-judge panel found that immigrants classified as applicants for admission or aliens seeking admission are not entitled to bond hearings before immigration proceedings. The ruling reversed approximately 1,000 habeas corpus orders for release previously issued by Minnesota federal district judges and is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Sandra De Leon Perez, a Guatemala native residing in the U.S. since 2019, was detained by ICE during a scheduled check-in on March 26, 2026. She was transferred to the Adelanto Detention Facility and held without bond based on a BIA decision requiring mandatory detention for those who entered without inspection. The court granted a TRO ordering her release or bond hearing within seven days.

Julio Elias Ivan Perez Rojas, a 22-year-old Peruvian national with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, was arrested by Burbank Police on March 26, 2026, but never charged with any crime. The next day, ICE took him into custody from the police department and detained him at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding that ICE violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without proper notice or a bond hearing.

J.W.B.S., a noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole, was re-detained by immigration authorities on March 26, 2026. 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 and required the government to provide seven days' notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before any future re-detention.

When Oudone Lothirath was in immigration detention in January, he missed four out of five chemotherapy sessions he had scheduled in his fight against aggressive lymphoma.

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at Scrappys Auto Salvage in Rockledge on March 26, 2026, investigating alleged violations of state law regarding vehicle documentation. The operation resulted in the arrest of Theodore Gross on over 5,000 charges including fraud, racketeering, and operating a chop shop, as well as the detention of 13 undocumented immigrants from Afghanistan, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Immigration rights activists arrived to monitor the operation and raised concerns about collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies.

Federal immigration agents made 614 arrests at Massachusetts courthouses in 2025, more than double the 282 arrests in 2024. Civil rights advocates and state lawmakers oppose the practice, proposing legislation to require judicial warrants for courthouse arrests. In September 2025, ICE agents detained Ana Michelle Ramirez Sanan's mother, a lawful permanent resident with valid green card status and over 20 years in the U.S., during a family encounter. Her brother with autism was present during the incident. Local police verified the family's legal status and secured their release. The teenager testified before Congress in March 2026 about the incident, describing agents throwing her mother to the ground and blocking her brother from receiving assistance. Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a Federal Tort Claims Act complaint against ICE on behalf of the family in December 2025.

On March 25-26, 2026, ICE agents detained six Guatemalan workers aged 18-40 at a residential construction site in Cambridge, Maryland. The homeowner, who had hired the workers for remodeling work nearing completion, contacted ICE and assisted agents in accessing the work area. The workers were owed approximately $10,000 in unpaid wages. A coworker with permanent residency status, Bryan Polanco, documented the detention on video and livestreamed it online without being detained himself. Family members reported emotional hardship from the detentions.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a State College area man on March 26, 2026, while he was being driven by his attorney to a court appearance. The man, who had lived in the community for nearly two decades, was pulled over on East College Avenue and taken into custody by five ICE agents. Local advocates expressed concern about the arrest's impact on community trust and its chilling effect on residents seeking help.

The Department of Justice admitted in federal court that it misrepresented a 2025 ICE memo to justify arrests of immigrants at immigration courthouses nationwide. The DOJ conceded the memo does not actually apply to civil immigration enforcement in federal immigration courts. The error, attributed to an agency attorney, led to hundreds of arrests at immigration courts, often resulting in detentions in facilities far from immigrants' locations. Civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the arrests, and the government acknowledged the arrests continued despite the misapplication of the guidance.

Costa Rica announced it will accept 25 migrants deported from the United States per week under a third country deportation agreement. The arrangement allows the U.S. to deport individuals to Costa Rica rather than to their countries of origin.

Martha Ruíz, a Salvadoran woman detained by ICE, suffered a stroke while in custody. She requested medical assistance for weeks but was not helped until she collapsed and required hospitalization. After six months of separation, she was reunited with her family. Her daughters allege ICE failed to provide adequate medical care.

Deiver Henao Jimenez, a 9-year-old asylum-seeker from Colombia, was detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas with his parents starting in early March after a routine immigration check-in. After pleading during a video call with children's entertainer Ms. Rachel to be released so he could attend his state spelling bee, ICE freed the family on humanitarian parole in late March.

Pheap Rom, a Cambodian national, was deported by the United States to Eswatini in October 2025 under the Trump administration's third-country deportation program and held at a maximum-security prison. He was released in March 2026 to be repatriated to Cambodia after spending five months detained without facing criminal charges in Eswatini. Rom is the second deportee from this program to be repatriated, with the U.S. having sent 19 migrants to Eswatini since July 2025.

A Colombian woman working as an Uber driver was detained by ICE in Florida despite having a pending asylum case, a valid driver's license, and work authorization. Her family reports constant transfers, lack of information about her whereabouts, poor detention conditions, and concerns about potential deportation while the family remains separated.

Ciocolata Munteanu was deported from the United States to Cork after living in Los Angeles for five years. ICE seized her car and $20,000 in savings before deporting her. She was arrested upon arrival in Ireland and pleaded guilty to stealing two hams and cosmetics from Cork stores in 2018-2019. Her sentencing was adjourned after she was found chewing gum in court.

Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration's Departments of Homeland Security and Justice after ICE agents shot and killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and wounded Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. The administration refused to cooperate with state-level investigations, declined to release the names of agents involved, and refused to share evidence despite formal requests. Charges against Sosa-Celis were dropped and a criminal investigation was opened into whether federal officials lied under oath. State prosecutors characterized the federal government's refusal to cooperate as unprecedented.

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation banning local law enforcement agencies from partnering with ICE, making it the 10th state to adopt such laws. The law codifies a 2018 Immigrant Trust Directive that barred participation in ICE's 287(g) program and restricted law enforcement from detaining people on ICE's behalf. Sherrill also signed two additional laws protecting immigrants: one restricting collection and sharing of immigration status information, and another requiring ICE agents to show identification before making arrests.

Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, a 52-year-old Mexican national, died on March 25, 2026, at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. He was found unconscious in his bunk and staff initiated life-saving procedures before he was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Ramos had been arrested by ICE on February 23, 2026, in Torrance, California. Detainees who witnessed the incident reported that Ramos-Solano was experiencing symptoms of overheating and difficulty breathing prior to being found unconscious. The Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles documented this as the 14th death of a Mexican national in ICE custody since January 2025.

Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, a Mexican national in his early 50s, died on March 25, 2026, at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. He was found unconscious in his bunk; staff initiated CPR and called emergency services, and he was transported to Victor Valley Global Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased. Ramos had been arrested by ICE on February 23, 2026, following a previous local conviction. His death was the fourth at the facility in 2026 and the 14th migrant death in ICE custody nationally that year. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced her government would file a legal brief in a class-action lawsuit alleging unconstitutional conditions at the detention center.

On March 25, 2026, ICE agents conducted a targeted vehicle stop to arrest Xa Lee, an undocumented individual from Laos with prior criminal convictions. During the stop, Lee attempted to flee and struck an ICE officer with his vehicle. The officer was not injured. Lee fled the scene and remained at large at the time of the announcement.

An ICE enforcement operation in San Juan, Texas resulted in a male driver being taken into custody by ICE agents. A young girl present at the scene was observed in clear distress and having a panic attack as the agent reached through the car window during the escalating encounter. Neighbors witnessed the incident and the impact on the family.

Bertha Olga Gómez Fong, wife of former Chihuahua Governor César Duarte, was arrested by ICE officials in El Paso and is being held at the El Paso Service Processing Center. Duarte, who governed Chihuahua from 2010 to 2016, was previously arrested in Miami in 2020 for embezzlement and extradited to Mexico, where he was later re-arrested on federal money laundering charges and remains incarcerated in Mexico City.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Department of Homeland Security has legal authority to detain immigrants without bail before deportation. The case centered on Joaquín Herrera Ávila, a Mexican citizen detained in Minnesota in August 2025 without legal entry documentation. The appeals court reversed a lower court ruling in Ávila's favor, endorsing a broader interpretation of immigration law that extends mandatory detention without bond to undocumented immigrants already in the country.

Anabel Romero, a U.S. citizen from Idaho, was detained at gunpoint during a federal raid while her young children watched. She and her 14-year-old daughter were assaulted and zip-tied during the incident. Romero is now speaking out about her experience.

Hiren Jagdish Patel, an Indian immigrant who has lived in the US for 25 years, was first detained by ICE in March 2012 following a 2007 conviction for attempted lewd acts with a minor. He lost his lawful permanent resident status and has been under Orders of Supervision since 2017, requiring regular ICE check-ins. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing ICE from re-arresting him without notice and a hearing before a neutral adjudicator.

Edwin Abel Gonzalez Veliz, a Guatemalan citizen who had been released on bond and granted withholding of removal in 2013, was detained on March 24, 2026 during a routine ICE check-in. He had fully complied with his supervision order for over 12 years with no new criminal history. ICE agents told him he was being arrested because of the new administration and they would find a third country if they couldn't send him to Guatemala. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release.

Adrian Ramirez, a Dominican Republic native with an approved juvenile immigrant visa, was detained by ICE on January 16, 2026, while traveling to work in Syracuse after being stopped by agents at a work site. He was held at detention facilities in Batavia and Louisiana, including Jackson Parish Correctional Center, for approximately nine weeks. With support from his Syracuse community, including All Saints Catholic Church members who raised money and wrote letters on his behalf, and assistance from strangers in Louisiana, Ramirez was released on bond with an ankle monitor and returned home to reunite with his family, including his infant son.

Jackson Kabut Gichema, a Kenyan national, was arrested by ICE on March 24, 2026, after being convicted of a serious crime in Baltimore County. He entered the United States legally on a visitor's visa in 2003 but remained in the country without legal status after his authorized stay expired. He is now in ICE custody awaiting deportation to Kenya.

Wilmar Aristo Pablos-Miguel, a 42-year-old Mexican national living without legal status in West Virginia, pleaded guilty to fraud and misuse of visa documents. He was arrested during an ICE search of Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant in Nitro on January 16, 2026, where he was working using a counterfeit immigration form. He has been assigned a detainer for removal by ICE.

Ya'akub Ira Vijandre, a Filipino DACA recipient and community activist, was detained by ICE at his Arlington home in October 2025. The federal government is seeking to terminate his DACA protection, citing his social media activity and posts about Palestine activism. On March 24, 2026, community members and supporters spoke before Arlington City Council requesting a resolution calling for his release, citing constitutional concerns and detention conditions at Folkston Detention Center in Georgia.

Orange County Sheriff's Department released an annual report showing it notified ICE of 323 prisoners with immigration holds, resulting in 271 being transferred to federal custody. The report comes amid ongoing protests against ICE deportation sweeps in Southern California and disputes between sheriff's officials and immigrant advocacy groups over whether cooperation with immigration authorities should continue.

ICE agents conducted a raid in South Burlington on March 11, 2026, believing they were pursuing Mexican national Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez. Court filings revealed the agents actually chased and arrested Cristian Jerez-Andrade, a Honduran man, after misidentifying him during a vehicle stop. The operation resulted in the suspect ramming into a home and led to arrests and protests.

Abel Ortiz, an undocumented immigrant who lived in Los Angeles for 38 years since infancy, self-deported to Mexico City in August under pressure from Trump administration immigration enforcement policies. Though Mexican-born, Ortiz identified as American and had built a life including a hair salon business and community ties in LA. He now struggles with displacement in Mexico City, a country where he spent only nine months of his life and speaks Spanish only haltingly.

A middle school student and her parents were deported by ICE on Monday while attending an immigration appointment at the ICE facility in Camarillo. The family was deported to Tijuana within 24 hours. Their 3-year-old sibling, born in the U.S., was not taken into custody and is being cared for by relatives.