Human Impact Project

A Trump-appointed federal judge ordered Florida officials to produce legal agreements justifying their authority to detain approximately 1,000 migrants at the detention camp in the Everglades by Thursday. Civil rights groups allege detainees are being held without formal charges, denied access to legal counsel, and stripped of bond hearings, with some held beyond the legal 14-day limit. The state and federal governments lack clarity on jurisdiction and legal custody over the facility.

Luis Manuel Rivas Velásquez collapsed at Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center and was hospitalized. Detainees reported inadequate medical response and chaos at the facility. He is now being held in El Paso Enhanced Hardened Facility with reportedly deteriorating health conditions.

Sheikh Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir, a 46-year-old green card holder and Imam from Eritrea, died at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on December 14, 2025, after spending 215 days in ICE custody. The Council on American Islamic Relations stated his death was related to detention system issues regarding medical care, transparency, and conditions.

Allison Garcia, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen honors student, was left to manage her family's mortgage and finances alone after her mother Patricia Balbuena Soto was arrested by local police on a domestic dispute warrant in July 2025 and subsequently deported to Mexico by ICE in August. Garcia missed 21 school days, dropped two AP classes, and saw her 4.8 GPA decline to 3.5 while working extra shifts to cover household expenses. Her $10,000 college fund was depleted by her mother's legal defense costs.

Two individuals were detained by ICE officers in front of Southwest Elementary School in the Roosevelt School District on August 5, 2025, the second day of the school year. One agent was observed escorting a student to the school's entry gate. Some parents subsequently kept children home or considered doing so.

Paola Clouatre, a Mexican-born woman and wife of a Marine Corps veteran, was detained by ICE on May 27, 2025, while breastfeeding her three-month-old baby during an adjustment of status interview. She spent two months in ICE's detention center in Monroe, Louisiana before being released after her husband and Senator John Kennedy's office advocated for her case. An immigration judge granted her motion to reopen her case and she was released while her legal process continues.

Recently obtained 911 calls from Alligator Alcatraz, an undocumented migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, include approximately 70 calls. These calls included requests for emergency medical services for medical incidents with injuries and health concerns, with approximately 30 being accidental calls from staff. The facility has faced lawsuits over conditions. Reports indicate detainees staged a hunger strike to protest conditions, which DHS denied.

No More Deaths released a comprehensive database and map of recovered migrant remains along the US-Mexico border, providing the most comprehensive statistical record to date of people who died crossing into the United States. The database reveals that many deceased individuals were US residents, confirms asylum seekers among the dead, and documents that CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility has failed to record the vast majority of border patrol-related deaths. The data shows 20-40% more migrant deaths than CBP's official count depending on the sector.

Dale Heath, a British-born permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. since age 8, was detained by CBP at Denver International Airport on August 4 while renewing his temporary green card. He was arrested due to marijuana possession convictions from 2001 when he was a teenager in Texas. Heath has been held in ICE detention for weeks, separated from his wife and two children, while awaiting his immigration hearing.

Jose Angel Rodriguez Loa was detained by ICE on August 4, 2025, after a traffic stop on I-10 and Culebra in San Antonio. He was placed in an unmarked black SUV and transferred to an immigration detention facility. His family hired an immigration attorney and is fundraising to cover legal fees, with hopes he may be allowed to stay.

Gonzalo Salas, a painter with 25+ years in the U.S., three American children, a home, and a business, was detained by ICE on August 4, 2025, after taking his seven-year-old son to a dentist appointment. He remains in custody at an ICE facility in Virginia pending a bond hearing on August 28, 2025. His family is raising funds for legal representation to fight his deportation to Mexico.

Federal immigration authorities attempted to quickly deport Mirta Amarilis Co Tupul, a 38-year-old Guatemalan woman who has lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years, through expedited removal proceedings that bypass immigration court hearings. A federal court granted an emergency request to temporarily pause her deportation while the case proceeds. Her lawyers argue the Trump administration is stretching immigration law to fast-track deportations.

Cesar was arrested by ICE on August 3, 2025, after 9 years in the U.S. and transferred to Imperial Detention Center. He had previously been arrested by ICE around 2019 and released on parole under an order of supervision. ICE has now moved to enforce a previous removal order. His wife and two daughters (ages 16 and 6), one of whom has cerebral palsy requiring specialized medical care, are left without his income and struggling to afford rent, groceries, and medical expenses.

Catalina "Xochitl" Santiago, a 28-year-old DACA recipient and immigrant rights activist, was detained by ICE on August 3 at El Paso airport before boarding a domestic flight. Despite having valid DACA status that should protect her from deportation, Santiago was subjected to deportation proceedings. The Trump administration has stated DACA recipients may be subject to arrest and deportation, though Santiago's attorneys argue her detention is wrongful and have filed a motion to terminate proceedings.

Three women known as "Las Tres Guerreras" or the "Baldwin Park Three" (Akalei Brown, Cynthia Saragoza, and Sandia) were charged by the Department of Homeland Security in September 2025 for documenting an ICE agent during a community watch patrol. They face charges including conspiracy and doxxing with potential sentences exceeding 10 years in federal prison, with trial scheduled for February 24, 2026. Sandia is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles awaiting trial.

A federal appeals court upheld a lower court's temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. The decision prevents the government from making sweeping immigration enforcement actions without proper legal justification.

Juan Fonseca Tapia, co-founder of Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants in Connecticut, recorded a federal agent wearing a safety vest, hard hat, and dark glasses who refused to identify the agency he worked for while conducting surveillance in Brewster, New York on August 2. When Tapia asked what agency the officer represented, the man replied "I'm not going to tell you… It's none of your business" and only stated he belonged to "federal law-enforcement forces." ICE later confirmed that one of its own officers was behind the disguise, claiming the agents were conducting surveillance when anti-ICE activists attempted to disrupt their operation.

A federal judge dismissed charges against Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, a 36-year-old TikTok creator and U.S. citizen arrested at an August 2 protest against immigration enforcement, after finding the government acted in bad faith. Redondo-Rosales had spent six months in jail awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting a Federal Protective Service officer with a cloth hat. The judge noted discrepancies in the officer's statements, that video evidence contradicted the assault claim, and that prosecutors sought dismissal to avoid disclosing problematic officer records rather than address legitimate legal issues.

A visibly pregnant U.S. citizen and her undocumented mother were arrested by federal agents outside a health clinic in Los Angeles.

Customers at a gas station in Maryland witnessed armed, masked agents in vests marked only 'POLICE' emerge from an unmarked black Kia, chase a man named Samuel, and swiftly handcuff him. One agent repeatedly asked him in Spanish, 'Why were you running?' then demanded to know whether he was 'legal or illegal' and asked for his papers. One witness said, 'I felt like I was watching someone being kidnapped.'

In Yuma, Arizona, Border Patrol agents detained Jose Valdovinos, a 27-year-old DACA recipient and longtime resident, after he and his wife left a Circle K gas station near downtown. When his wife asked why they had been stopped, an agent told them, 'We don't have to give it to you.' Valdovinos had a work permit and, according to his family, no criminal record. DHS later said DACA 'does not confer any form of legal status.' Weeks later, he was released from the Florence Service Processing Center with an ankle monitor.

In New Mexico, a father was en route to a school event when his vehicle was surrounded by agents in a supermarket parking lot. Agents smashed his window with a sledgehammer. His partner and two young girls slipped out the passenger side as an armed agent hovered beside the car. ICE, which was assisted by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, claimed that when officers first tried to stop Jorge Martín Ortiz-Rosalez's vehicle earlier that day, he fled at high speed.

In the San Diego area, a mother was arrested by federal agents outside an elementary school as students arrived. Her two children were in the car with her. The school district confirmed the children were students at the school.

A man in his mid-30s who came to Huron as a teenager without legal status was detained by ICE outside his home in August 2025 and subsequently deported to Guatemala. His wife, a U.S. citizen, and their two children (ages 2 and 9) were left behind. The family had consulted multiple lawyers about obtaining legal status for him but found no feasible options under current law. The man now lives with his parents in Guatemala while his family struggles financially and emotionally in South Dakota.

Pablo Sequen filed a habeas corpus petition challenging unlawful detention by immigration authorities. The case involves a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction proceedings. A judge granted a preliminary injunction on September 16, 2025, halting the petitioner's deportation.

Sharareh Moghadam, a legal green card holder from Iran working toward U.S. citizenship, was detained by ICE on August 1, 2025, after reporting to immigration offices as instructed. She had traveled to Iran to visit family members with serious health issues and was detained upon her return to California. She is currently held in a facility in Phoenix, Arizona, with a court date scheduled for September 12.

Detainees at a South Florida immigration detention center nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" have been on a hunger strike for ten days, protesting living conditions. One detainee, Pedro Hernández, was hospitalized during the strike but continues to refuse food, citing conditions and treatment. Civil rights groups have filed lawsuits stating detainees lack access to legal counsel, food, hygiene, and medical care.

The Trump Administration opened Camp East Montana, the largest immigrant detention facility in the country, at Fort Bliss military base in West Texas in August 2025, designed to hold up to 5,000 people. The facility was awarded to Acquisition Logistics, a Virginia-based company with no prior detention experience whose CEO operated from a modest suburban house in Richmond. Detainees arrived at an active construction site with non-functioning toilets, sporadic running water, toxic sanitation conditions, and no outdoor recreation—one Cuban detainee reported not seeing sunlight for a month. ICE failed to register the contractor in Texas, withheld facility location information from families and lawyers, and disabled the detainee locator system.

Beata Siemionkowicz, a 57-year-old with a valid permanent resident card since 2003, was detained by ICE in August 2025 while working in her daughter's garden in Illinois. An immigration judge issued a deportation order in December 2025; DHS cited two petty theft convictions from the early 2000s and claimed an arrest warrant from Poland, though her daughters provided documentation from Polish authorities showing no criminal record. Her appeal of the deportation order is pending, with a final decision expected in summer 2026.

In August 2025, a 6-year-old New York City public school student and her mother, an Ecuadorian family who had sought asylum, were deported after being detained during an ICE check-in on August 12 and removed on August 19. The family's asylum application had been denied with a deportation order issued in June 2024. The student's older sibling, age 16, remains in the United States. New York officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, condemned the deportation.

Yury Saaryan, a Russian national who overstayed his tourist visa, went to an ICE office in August 2025 seeking help returning to Russia but was detained instead. An immigration judge granted him voluntary departure in November 2025, but ICE has not arranged his removal despite his repeated requests and three hunger strikes. ICE cites delays in obtaining travel documents from the Russian government, while Saaryan and his attorney say the Russian Embassy could issue documents within two days if he were permitted to visit in person.

Juan José Estrada Lopez, a 42-year-old Nicaraguan national working on a Kona coffee farm, was detained by ICE agents in August 2025 during a green card interview and held at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu for over five months without charges or bond. He had entered the U.S. in 2022 and was married to a U.S. citizen, Emily Estrada, who sought assistance from the ACLU of Hawaii after private attorneys quoted expensive fees. Lopez was released on January 27, 2026, after an immigration court granted him a green card and lawful permanent resident status, with the government waiving its right to appeal.

Alma Bella Bowman, a Georgia resident and immigrants' rights activist, was released from Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, after ICE agreed to her release following eight months in custody. Bowman was detained on March 26, 2025, during a routine check-in at the ICE Atlanta Field Office and continues to press the U.S. government to recognize her as a citizen based on her father's Navy service. She previously exposed non-consensual gynecological procedures at Irwin County Detention Center from 2017 to 2020.

The NYCLU, ACLU, and other legal organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging ICE's policy of arresting immigrants who attend mandatory immigration court hearings. The lawsuit claims the Trump administration's practice violates the Administrative Procedure Act and due process rights, as people are being arrested when complying with legal obligations to appear in court and then fast-tracked for deportation.

Ted Jones, a 24-year-old British man, was deported from the United States to Britain in August 2025 after ICE identified a 2022 drink-driving conviction and visa irregularities. Jones moved to the US as a child and was removed during the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations. According to ICE data, 212 people were deported from the US to the UK between Trump's inauguration and October 2025, compared to the same period under the Biden administration.

Yeonsoo Go, age 21, a South Korean student with an R-2 religious worker visa, was arrested by ICE outside a federal courthouse in New York on July 31 after reporting for a routine visa hearing. She was initially held without access to legal counsel at a Manhattan facility, then transferred to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, and released after five days on August 5. ICE claimed her R-2 visa expired more than two years ago, though her visa attorney states it is not set to expire until December 2025 and Go was in the process of converting to a student visa. The visa hearing on July 31 reportedly went well and the judge had granted her a hearing date for late August.

Zhiyu Yang, a Chinese national, was scheduled for detention at an ICE appointment on July 31, 2025 in San Francisco. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order to prevent his arrest and detention, then converted it to a preliminary injunction. The court ruled that Yang cannot be detained without a pre-detention hearing before a neutral decisionmaker, citing Fifth Amendment due process protections.

ICE agents arrested Carmen Aracely Pablo Sequen as she was leaving the San Francisco immigration court on July 31, 2025 and detained her at ICE's San Francisco field office. The arrest was pursuant to ICE and EOIR policies permitting the arrest of non-citizens at immigration courthouses. The court granted preliminary injunctive relief ordering her release and prohibiting re-detention without due process protections.

ProPublica documented nearly 50 incidents of ICE officers breaking car windows to make arrests since Trump took office, compared to just eight in the previous decade. The tactic has resulted in injuries to detainees including children and U.S. citizens. Use-of-force experts say there is no official policy authorizing the practice, but officers who employ it are being promoted rather than disciplined.

The Washington Post interviewed 16 former detainees of El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) to document conditions inside the megaprison where the U.S. has deported migrants. Detainees reported beatings, isolation, sexual assault, and other forms of mistreatment within the facility.

Carlos Javier López Benítez, a Paraguayan immigrant with no criminal record, was arrested by masked federal ICE agents immediately after a routine immigration court hearing in New York in mid-July 2024. He was held for three days at Federal Plaza before being transferred to an ICE detention facility in the Houston area. His legal team filed a habeas corpus motion arguing the detention violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights. U.S. District Judge Dale Ho granted the petition, ruling that the Trump administration's policy of conducting surprise ICE arrests at immigration court hearings was unconstitutional and applied without proper discretionary review. The judge ordered López Benítez's release and return to New York nearly two weeks after his arrest.

Yeonsoo Go, a 21-year-old Scarsdale High School graduate attending Purdue University, was arrested by ICE on July 31, 2025, outside a federal courthouse in New York following a routine visa hearing. ICE claimed her R-2 religious worker visa had expired over two years prior, but Go was released on August 5 after her attorney confirmed the visa remained valid through December 2025. Go's mother is an Episcopal church pastor in Scarsdale, and Go had been in the process of converting to a student visa at the time of her detention.

Five men, including Gabriel Martinez-Segura, were arrested by ICE on July 31, 2025, following a Texas Department of Public Safety traffic stop for a misplaced license plate near a construction site in East Austin. Body camera and dashcam footage obtained in 2026 revealed the operation took 15 minutes from initial traffic stop to ICE custody, and showed DPS special agents wore face-concealing masks in violation of state police rules. The incident exemplifies how state and federal law enforcement coordinate to detain undocumented immigrants through routine traffic stops.

ICE arrests have increased in the Pittsburgh area since May 2025. ICE has been tasked with arresting 3,000 immigrants daily nationwide and received an additional $75 billion in funding to increase detention capacity from 40,000 to 100,000. Immigration attorneys report increased demand for legal support.

Guillermo Medina Reyes, a 31-year-old San Jose tattoo artist and Mexican national, was arrested in Berkeley on July 27 following an alleged vehicle theft crime spree. Reyes had been fighting ICE deportation efforts, with a judge barring his detention two weeks prior to the arrest. He was charged with multiple felonies including carjacking, vehicle theft, and grand theft. Reyes faces criminal prosecution and potential imprisonment, followed by deportation proceedings.

Pierre Reginald Boulos, a Haitian businessman and former presidential aspirant, was arrested by ICE on July 17 on immigration violation charges and remains detained at Krome North Service Processing Center. An immigration judge ruled he must remain in mandatory detention after determining he is subject to a detention regulation. Boulos, a lawful permanent resident born in New York who renounced his U.S. citizenship, is accused of failing to disclose involvement in a Haitian political party during his permanent residency application and collaborating with armed gangs.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducted an unannounced raid at a home in North Charleston, South Carolina on July 30, arresting Franklin Arce. Ring camera footage shows an ICE agent pulling a gun on Arce's partner Celeste Hernandez and shoving her back into the house while Arce was being arrested. Arce's family claims the officers never showed a warrant or provided their names and badge numbers, and Hernandez stated Arce was working toward legal citizenship with a court hearing scheduled.

Pang Nhia Hang-Bailey, a Hmong refugee who arrived in the United States in 1978, was detained by ICE on July 30, 2025, during a routine annual check-in visit and is currently held at South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. Her green card expired in 1995 and was revoked in 2007 following a guilty plea to bank fraud charges in 2000. She faces deportation to Laos despite having lived in the U.S. for 47 years and having four adult children born in the country.

Gov. Larry Rhoden announced 'Operation Prairie Thunder,' a state initiative to support federal immigration enforcement in South Dakota. The state will deploy six National Guard members to handle ICE paperwork and commit the prison system to transport detainees and sign a 287(g) agreement with ICE for jail detention, freeing up federal agents to conduct street enforcement operations.

A Korean-born researcher and longtime U.S. legal permanent resident was detained by immigration officials at San Francisco International Airport for a week without explanation. According to his lawyer, he was denied access to an attorney during his detention.