Human Impact Project

A citizen of Kyrgyzstan entered the United States without inspection on April 17, 2023, and has lived in the U.S. interior for nearly three years. DHS initiated removal proceedings and released him on an Order of Release on Recognizance (OREC) in April 2023. On February 20, 2024, he filed a pending asylum application. On March 12, 2026, Indiana State Police encountered him during a traffic stop, after which DHS revoked his OREC and ICE arrested him under an administrative warrant pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226. He has been detained at Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana since March 12, 2026. He is charged with inadmissibility as a noncitizen present in the United States without being admitted or paroled. The federal court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that his detention without a bond hearing violates immigration law. The court ordered that by April 7, 2026, respondents must either provide him with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge or release him under reasonable conditions of supervision.

Lorenzo Chavez Rascon, a 22-year-old Utah man, was arrested on February 23, 2026, on suspicion of selling drugs, but the substances were determined to be dried pinto beans. He was released from initial criminal custody but subsequently detained by ICE based on a detainer, despite holding deferred action status from a pending U-visa petition. On March 11, 2026, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking his deportation and ordered the government to explain why he should not be released, ruling that his continued detention violated his constitutional due process rights. As of March 14, he remained in federal custody.

A 14-year-old Brazilian national was detained by ICE agents in Marlborough, Massachusetts on March 10, 2026, during an operation targeting suspected gang members. She was transferred to a juvenile detention facility in New York without following proper legal procedures. A federal judge ordered her immediate release on March 12, 2026, finding the detention and out-of-state transfer violated constitutional protections and questioning why she was not turned over to state child welfare authorities instead. She was reunited with her aunt and uncle in Massachusetts but received a notice to appear in immigration court and now faces deportation to Brazil. Her attorney plans to challenge the deportation and petition for special immigrant juvenile status.

An asylum seeker who entered the U.S. as a minor in 2021 was detained by ICE after being stopped by police while driving to work in Key Largo, Florida on March 12, 2026. He had been living in the community with a pending asylum application and no criminal history for five years. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated constitutional due process rights.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the case of Luis Alfredo Chavelas Rosas, a Mexican citizen detained by ICE on July 16, 2025, in Aurora, Colorado. The court ruled that the detainee was improperly detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) without a bond hearing and determined that the default rule under § 1226(a) applies, requiring the government to provide a bond hearing. The court concluded that § 1225(b)(2)(A) does not authorize detention for noncitizens who have been present in the country for years and are not actively seeking admission.

Five Venezuelan construction workers with valid work permits were detained by federal immigration authorities on March 6-7 while working on Buffalo Bills stadium construction. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, two of the men crossed the border illegally and three overstayed their visas. All five are being held at Batavia Federal Detention Facility awaiting removal hearings.

On March 9, 2026, ICE detained and deported two 12-year-old twin sisters who are U.S. citizens born in Orlando, Florida, after their mother attended a scheduled immigration appointment at an ICE facility. ICE invoked a "family unity" policy to take the children into custody and deport them to Guatemala. The mother had previously submitted paperwork requesting the children remain with their grandmother, though ICE stated she verbally requested to take them with her. A federal court granted a habeas corpus petition filed by the grandmother, ordering the children's immediate return to the United States at ICE's expense and restraining ICE from rearresting them.

Christian Jerez Andrade, a Honduran construction worker, was detained by ICE agents on March 11, 2026, during a traffic stop in South Burlington after agents claimed he rammed their vehicles. ICE supervisor David Johnston announced plans to prosecute him for assault on a federal agent. However, more than four months later, the U.S. Attorney has brought no federal charges. Jerez Andrade's 19-year-old nephew, who was a passenger, disputed ICE's account, telling VTDigger that an ICE vehicle hit their car from behind, causing Jerez Andrade to panic and speed away. South Burlington police completed a separate investigation and found evidence to charge him with leaving the scene of an accident and grossly negligent driving, but the case has languished with local prosecutors. Jerez Andrade was imprisoned for eight days after his arrest and released on bond by an immigration court judge while facing deportation proceedings.

A Honduran man was detained by ICE agents during a March 11 enforcement action outside a residence on Dorset Street in South Burlington. A federal judge determined the arrest violated his Constitutional rights. On March 19, an immigration judge granted him release on $10,000 bond, which the Vermont Freedom Fund will post. Deportation proceedings against him remain ongoing.

Two sisters with pending asylum claims, Camila and Johana Patin Patin, were detained by ICE on March 11 during a South Burlington raid targeting a different individual. They were released after approximately 10 days in custody, along with a Honduran man, despite not being targets of the operation and having no arrest warrants. A federal judge found the arrests violated Constitutional rights, and their attorney stated ICE appeared to rely on racial profiling in detaining them.

Deyvi Daniel Corona Sanchez, an undocumented Mexican man who had been deported to Mexico five years earlier following a criminal trespass charge in Texas, was detained by ICE agents on March 11, 2026, during an enforcement operation on Dorset Street in South Burlington, Vermont. When federal officers attempted to stop his vehicle as it left a home, Corona Sanchez rammed a federal agent's car before crashing in a wooded area and running into a nearby house. Hundreds of community members and protesters gathered at the scene in a hours-long standoff to block agents from entering the home. ICE agents forced their way through the crowd and took him into federal custody around 5:30 p.m. Corona Sanchez had been facing a pending driving-under-the-influence charge from January in Middlebury. He missed a May court hearing where he had been offered enrollment in a court diversion program that would have allowed the charge to be expunged. A federal judge previously found that the ICE arrests violated Constitutional rights, though deportation proceedings remain possible.

On March 11, ICE conducted an enforcement operation in South Burlington to detain a man who had re-entered the country. Burlington police provided mutual aid assistance with crowd management, resulting in clashes with protesters, use of chemical agents and flash bangs, and six arrests. Three protesters arrested by Vermont State Police will not face charges after review of body camera footage.

The Burlington Police Department was cleared of policy violations by the city attorney on June 5, 2026, regarding its response to an ICE operation on March 11 in South Burlington. Over 100 citizen complaints were filed after three individuals were detained during the incident, though none matched the warrant's target. The Police Commission disputed the city attorney's findings, arguing the department's actions constituted support for an unlawful federal enforcement operation.

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction halting construction of a planned ICE detention facility in Washington County, Maryland, finding the federal government improperly used a categorical exclusion from environmental review requirements. The judge upheld Maryland's arguments that the facility could overwhelm local water and sewer infrastructure and harm waterways and protected species like the green floater mussel. Interior repairs including HVAC and drywall work may proceed, while a decision on the proposed security fence is pending.

Andrei Bankevich, a Belarusian asylum seeker granted relief from deportation to Belarus under the Convention Against Torture, was arrested on a drunken driving charge in Minnesota in February 2025 and transferred to ICE custody. After ICE detention facilities filled during Operation Metro Surge, he was transferred to Muscatine County Jail in Iowa in December 2025. ICE claimed it had been working on potential third-country removals for Bankevich since September 2025, but provided no documentation. Federal Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger ruled on March 11, 2026, that ICE illegally detained Bankevich beyond the six-month limit in violation of federal law and his due process rights, calling his jailing "prolonged and seemingly interminable" and ordering his immediate release.

Pío Figueroa, a Latin convenience store owner in Russellville, Alabama, was detained by ICE on January 30 while transporting $21,000 in cash to a bank for his money transfer business. The funds, collected from community members sending remittances to Latin America, have not been accounted for since his arrest. His legal team notes that ICE agents do not use body cameras, making it impossible to track what happened to the money. Figueroa was held at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana and now faces deportation proceedings.

A 12-year-old Venezuelan boy was arrested at gunpoint during a home raid without a warrant by federal agents and transferred to a family detention camp in Dilley, Texas, allegedly without his inhaler. He has health concerns related to his respiratory condition. A federal judge found that the government produced no warrant to justify the arrest and ordered the boy and his father released. The boy and his father were returned to Minnesota by January 22, 2026, but remained detained for three additional days in violation of the court order.

A man from Nicaragua who surrendered at the southern border in 2022 held a valid work permit, was employed as a landscaper in Minnesota, and had a pending asylum application when immigration courts summoned him to a hearing. ICE officers arrested him in the courthouse hallway immediately after the hearing ended. His labor union helped him file a lawsuit that ordered his release, though he was held for six additional days. He now fears he cannot trust the federal government to give him a fair hearing.

A 50-year-old Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. for over three decades without criminal history was arrested by immigration officers on March 10, 2026 while going to work. Officers claimed he had a court order regarding a domestic violence case but never showed him the order. He was placed in the Adelanto Detention Center and the court ordered his immediate release, finding he was denied due process protections.

Leonardo Espartaco Martinez, a U.S. citizen and community watcher with VC Defensa in Ventura County, was violently detained by ICE agents on March 10 after responding to aid a fellow community member who had been pepper-sprayed. Video footage shows ICE agents in three vehicles ramming Martinez's minivan as he attempted to reverse away from the scene. When agents broke his window and dragged him out, he sustained injuries to his knees, shoulders, and wrists. At Los Robles Regional Medical Center, hospital staff and federal contractors kept Martinez handcuffed to his bed for 45 minutes while his lawyers attempted to determine if he was in custody or what charges he faced. No warrant or identification was provided. This is the third time ICE agents have rammed Martinez's vehicle; a previous incident on October 16, 2025, in Oxnard also resulted in his detention and transfer to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

ICE officers abducted a mother dropping her child off at Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Jaime Eliceo Castro Guaman was arrested by ICE agents during a carpool to work on March 10, though agents stated they were looking for someone else. He held a pending asylum application, valid work permit, and no criminal history. Federal Judge William K. Sessions III ordered his immediate release on March 20, finding the detention may have violated his constitutional rights and stating the stop appeared pretextual. An immigration court bond hearing was scheduled to set conditions for his continued residence in the community.

A 23-year-old Colombian man was detained on March 10, 2026, at an ICE check-in appointment in Eugene based on a pending felony domestic violence assault charge in Linn County. He is an asylum seeker who fled politically motivated violence in Colombia. The alleged victim filed a statement saying she does not fear him and that the arrest does not represent his character as a person or father. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael McShane granted his habeas petition on May 14, 2026, finding the detention unjustified and rejecting the government's broad interpretation of mandatory detention law.

Wulfrano Portillo, a pastor at La Hermosa Church in Tulsa for 24 years, was detained on March 10, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in appointment in Oklahoma City and deported to Mexico the following day. His family, including his wife and four adult children, was not informed of the reason for his deportation. Both Portillo and his wife have been living in the country without authorization since a 2007 deportation removal order was issued after a highway traffic stop.

ICE agents detained Reginald Toussaint, a Haitian with Temporary Protected Status, while he was picking up his wife from work in Birmingham, Alabama. Agents approached multiple unmarked vehicles and removed Toussaint from the family's minivan in front of his children. Toussaint stated he had valid TPS status. He was charged with impersonating a U.S. citizen based on an alleged pistol permit application from August 2025 where he marked the citizenship box. His wife disputes this characterization.

Federal immigration agents arrested a person outside the Culver City Police Department on Monday after the individual was cited and released following arrest for driving under the influence and weapon possession. The Culver City Police Department stated it was not notified in advance of the federal action and did not participate in the detention, emphasizing its commitment to not assisting with immigration enforcement under California law.

A Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States in 2001 was detained by ICE officers on March 9, 2026, while on his way to work and is currently held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California. A federal court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process, and ordered the government to provide a bond hearing within 14 days or release him.

Karla Sáenz, a 26-year-old transgender woman from Venezuela and organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, was detained by ICE on March 9 during a routine immigration check-in at a USCIS office in Phoenix. She was held for a month at Eloy Detention Center in a men's unit, where she was denied hormone therapy, unable to shower for a week, and subjected to verbal abuse and medical neglect by staff. A federal judge ordered her release in April, finding her detention arbitrary and violating her due process rights.

Rogelio, a 39-year-old Guatemalan immigrant married to a U.S. citizen with five U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE for seven months after being stopped by local police in La Belle, Florida. He spent over six months at the Broward Transitional Center in deportation proceedings. A judge approved his cancellation of removal application, allowing him to pursue citizenship and a green card. Approximately 4,000 cancellations of removal are granted nationally each year.

Mahady Sacko, a 50-year-old undocumented Mauritanian national, was arrested by ICE in Philadelphia for illegally voting in seven federal elections between 2008 and 2024. Despite being ordered removed from the country in 2000 and placed under immigration supervision, Sacko remained in the U.S. and registered and voted in multiple elections. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting, with violations carrying fines and up to five years in prison.

Adriana Laya, Miguel Alberto Caicedo, and their two children were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for two months following a routine ICE check-in in January 2026. The family, who entered the U.S. in 2024 under asylum parole, reported poor detention conditions including undrinkable water, constant lighting, and inadequate medical care for their son with kidney issues. Upon their release in mid-February, they discovered they had been evicted from their apartment in Las Cruces, New Mexico and lost their possessions, life savings, pet dog, and jobs. The family is now living in their car, their only remaining possession.

A federal judge in Oregon has restricted federal officers from using tear gas at protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland. The ruling limits law enforcement's use of force against demonstrators at the ICE facility.

Joseph Andrey Londono Rodriguez, a 6-year-old deaf student at the California School for the Deaf, was detained by ICE agents on March 3, 2026, during what his mother believed was a routine photo renewal appointment at an ICE office in the San Francisco Bay Area. His mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, an asylum seeker from Colombia who had been in the country for four years and was under a supervision order, was detained along with Joseph's 5-year-old brother. The family was deported to Colombia within days without access to hearing aids, cochlear implants, legal representation, or accurate information about their location. State officials alleged ICE misrepresented the family's location to obstruct legal intervention. California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and congressional members requested an investigation and humanitarian parole to return the family, citing violations of due process protections.

Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old Venezuelan transgender organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, was detained by ICE on March 9, 2026, during what she believed was a routine immigration check-in in Phoenix. According to an eyewitness account, ICE agents took her to a back room, claimed she had an arrest warrant without providing documentation, and handcuffed her. Saenz was transferred to Eloy Detention Center, located approximately 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, where she was initially placed in the men's unit despite being a trans woman. She contracted COVID-19 during her first two days in custody. Saenz had been a vocal advocate for Arbella "Yari" Marquez, a lesbian detainee at the same facility who was suffering from serious health complications including returning leukemia. Advocates believe Saenz's detention was retaliatory for her visible organizing work against immigration enforcement in Arizona, noting that she had consistently complied with all supervision requirements prior to her detention.

An man who was in ICE custody escaped from an ICE agent's vehicle near Chambers Drive and Sigman Road in Rockdale County, Georgia on Monday afternoon. The man had been arrested by Conyers Police on Saturday for a traffic violation and was being transferred by ICE when he jumped from the vehicle and fled. Law enforcement from multiple agencies established a perimeter and captured the man shortly after 3 p.m.

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, 28, a Colombian asylum-seeker who had lived in the U.S. for approximately four years with no criminal record, attended a routine check-in appointment at ICE's San Francisco office on March 3, 2026, with her two sons, including a deaf child who attended the California School for the Deaf. All three were detained by federal agents. The deaf child was separated from his hearing aids and assistive equipment during detention, despite a family member being present outside willing to provide them. The family was deported to Colombia by March 6. A federal immigration court had placed an order of supervision on Rodriguez Gutierrez that should have prevented deportation. Her attorney stated ICE misled his team about the family's whereabouts throughout the week and obstructed access to counsel, preventing the family from invoking humanitarian protections. California officials and immigration attorneys subsequently called for the family's return.

Ruben, 28, a Nicaraguan immigrant who had been living in San Francisco's Mission District with his brother Francisco since October 2022, was arrested on February 17 while arriving for his asylum appointment at the Sansome Street immigration court. Francisco and Ruben had worked together and lived as a unit for three years in the Mission, sharing meals and supporting each other as they built their lives in the United States. Ruben's prior immigration appointment had been changed without his notification, and he failed to file the necessary motion to explain his missed hearing, which proved fatal to his case. He was detained and transferred through multiple detention facilities—Mesa Verde in Bakersfield, a facility in Arizona, and Puerto Isabel in Texas—before being deported to Nicaragua on March 8.

Jefferson Fernando Cando Llano, 29, a father of a 6-year-old boy seeking asylum from Ecuador, was detained by masked Border Patrol agents in unmarked vehicles at a laundromat parking lot in Browne's Addition, Spokane on March 8. Cando Llano came to Spokane three years ago with his wife to escape trauma and violence in Ecuador and has an open asylum case with no criminal record. Friends who witnessed the encounter could not identify the agents and filed a missing persons report with Spokane police, fearing a kidnapping. Cando Llano was held for 10 days at Kootenai County Jail before being released after his attorney filed an appeal against a removal order issued by an immigration judge. The incident raised concerns among local police about the use of unmarked vehicles and masks by federal agents in immigration enforcement operations.

An asylum seeker from Ghana working as a health aide in Central Ohio is facing deportation to Uganda following a recent immigration hearing. The individual is seeking assistance after the government determined she should be removed to a country unfamiliar to her.

A Yemeni national with Temporary Protected Status and father of four U.S. citizen children was detained by ICE on March 6, 2026, three days after his TPS status expired on March 3, 2026. He owns a car dealership in Birmingham, Alabama and his wife is a U.S. citizen pregnant with their fifth child. The court denied his motion for temporary restraining order seeking immediate release from detention.

Jose Ernesto Aparicio Almendarez, a 20-year-old Honduran citizen who entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum, was detained by ICE after being stopped for driving without a license in Orlando, Florida. He had previously been released by ORR to a sponsor and has a pending asylum application. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process. Jose Alberto Cuellar, a 51-year-old landscaper from El Salvador who has lived in South Florida for 30 years, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop near Davie and Griffin roads early Tuesday morning. According to his son Justin, who was driving the landscaping truck, ICE agents approached the vehicle after it was pulled over for an allegedly obstructed license plate, and agents asked his father in Spanish whether he had papers or was "legal," using a racial slur. Cuellar has no criminal record and has worked as a landscaper six days a week for decades while attempting to legalize his immigration status since the early 2000s; his family has been unable to locate him in any detainee system and are raising funds for legal representation.

Juan, a Honduran national who came to the U.S. seven years ago seeking asylum, was arrested by ICE during a traffic stop on a Virginia highway while driving to work. He had an active asylum case, work permit, and marriage petition to a U.S. citizen at the time of his arrest. After spending one month detained at Farmville Detention Center, Juan was released on bond following a habeas petition but now faces an uncertain asylum process with declining approval rates under the current administration.

A Vietnamese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1991 as a lawful permanent resident was arrested by immigration authorities outside his home on March 5, 2026. He had been living in the community on supervised release since 2006 after his removal to Vietnam proved impracticable following a 2004 conviction. The court ordered his immediate release, finding the government failed to demonstrate his removal was reasonably foreseeable and violated procedures for revoking his supervised release.

An Iranian citizen born in Germany in 1990 who has lived in the United States for over 20 years since entering at age 15. He is employed full-time as a Project Manager for J.T. Construction Group and works as an In-Home Supportive Service provider caring for his parents, who are now U.S. citizens. In 2012, he was ordered removed to Iran but granted withholding of removal, and was placed on an order of supervision (OSUP). On March 5, 2026, ICE officers arrested him at Burbank Airport without providing meaningful notice or opportunity to be heard, claiming his case was under review for removal to an unnamed third country. ICE detained him at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. A federal magistrate judge granted his habeas petition, finding no showing of changed circumstances for revocation, violation of due process procedures, and inadequate third-country removal safeguards. The court ordered his immediate release subject to his prior OSUP conditions and prohibited removal to a third country without written notice and a minimum 10-day opportunity to raise fear-based claims.

Mirna Yesenia Alvarado Benitez, a citizen of El Salvador who entered the U.S. in July 2024, was initially detained and then released with conditions. On March 5, 2026, she appeared for a routine ICE check-in appointment, at which point the government placed her in expedited removal proceedings and detained her. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing her removal while her habeas corpus petition is pending. Mirna Benitez, a Salvadoran woman who had been living in the U.S. for nearly 13 years and working as a school custodian, was detained by ICE after attending a scheduled appointment at an ICE office in North Chesterfield on December 7, 2025. Despite having attended regular ICE check-ins for years, applied for asylum with legal representation, and obtained a temporary work permit, Benitez was taken into custody without warning. She was transferred through multiple detention facilities—Riverside Regional Jail in Richmond, an ICE facility in Texas, and another in Louisiana—over 10 days, during which she reported mistreatment by officers, inadequate medical care, unsanitary conditions, and denial of access to legal counsel. She ultimately chose to accept deportation to El Salvador rather than remain detained, departing before Christmas.

A native and citizen of El Salvador who has resided in the United States since 2005. In 2014, an Immigration Judge ordered him removed but granted his application for withholding of removal to El Salvador. Because his removal order was not effectuated, he was placed under an Order of Supervision (OSUP) on February 2, 2016, and remained released on supervision while attending regular check-ins with ICE for approximately 10 years. On March 5, 2026, at a scheduled check-in, ICE revoked his OSUP and arrested him, providing only vague boilerplate language about enforcing his removal order without specifying concrete reasons or the destination country. The informal interview required by regulations occurred the same day as his arrest, preventing him from meaningfully responding to the revocation notice. On April 8, 2026, a federal judge granted his motion for a temporary restraining order, finding that ICE likely violated its own regulations by: failing to provide adequate notice of the reasons for revocation, conducting the informal interview immediately upon arrest without allowing time to respond, and having the revocation decision made by a Supervisory Detention & Deportation Officer rather than the required Executive Associate Director or District Director. The court ordered ICE to immediately release him under the same supervision terms that applied before his detention and enjoined ICE from re-detaining him unless it complies with proper procedures.

Hai Nguyen, a Vietnamese national who has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and worked in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, was detained by ICE during a routine appointment. His detention stems from a decades-old marijuana charge from college that was expunged from his record. He now faces possible deportation despite previously being considered non-deportable because Vietnam would not accept deportees who arrived before 1995.

Two separate ICE detention cases involved individuals serving critical caregiving roles. Maher Tarabishi was detained while being the sole caregiver for his son with Pompe disease, who is completely immobile and dependent on his father for all daily care. Josué, a day laborer from El Salvador, was detained by ICE agents and reported that his heart condition went unaddressed during detention, with medication withheld and inadequate medical attention provided despite his history of heart attacks.

Axel Pecero, 25, a former Los Angeles County foster youth and advocate for youth in child welfare and juvenile justice systems, was detained by ICE in August 2025 after being stopped by Burbank police. After nearly eight months of detention at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, an immigration judge denied his bond request. Pecero agreed to voluntary departure to Mexico, leaving behind his 4-year-old son in the United States.

Over 1,100 Afghan refugees, many of whom served alongside U.S. forces, are at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. Since February 28, 2026, residents have experienced missile attacks and are housed in shipping containers. President Trump suspended their refugee resettlement program in 2025. The refugees remain in Qatar with unresolved immigration status.