Human Impact Project

At least 41 immigrant construction workers, natives of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries, were detained by ICE agents on September 2 as they left a Danville, Pennsylvania construction site for an $880 million Geisinger Medical Center expansion, where they were building an 11-story tower. The workers were employed through Whiting-Turner, the project's construction manager, and EwingCole. Advocates from the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition and Centre County Rapid Response Network said ICE agents used drones, set up highway checkpoints, and followed workers to their homes, with Danville police assisting and, according to one witness, helping intimidate workers. ICE returned on September 8 and detained about eight to nine more workers, bringing the total to nearly 50, with most remaining in custody, some held at Clinton County Jail in Lock Haven. Geisinger Medical Center said the enforcement activity did not occur on its property. The Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition described it as the largest workplace raid in the state to date.

Peta-Gaye Chambers, 35, who came to the United States from Jamaica as a child, had been granted 'withholding of removal' by a U.S. immigration judge in 2013 after he found she would face persecution in Jamaica. Despite that protection, ICE deported her to Equatorial Guinea in June without notice. Chambers says she and other deportees were dragged from their rooms at gunpoint, handcuffed, assaulted and threatened by armed guards at the decommissioned Hotel Bamy in Malabo, where she remains held.

Jose Mejia Hernandez, a 45-year-old Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 18 years, was walking to work along Columbia Pike in Arlington, Virginia on August 11 when plainclothes ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle approached him without identifying themselves. He fled, was struck by a vehicle, and was shocked with a stun gun before losing consciousness, waking hours later at George Washington University Hospital with two black eyes, facial lacerations, brain swelling, and a subarachnoid brain bleed. He was hospitalized for several days with ICE officers stationed in his room, returned for an MRI on August 14 due to worsening symptoms, and was later fitted with an ankle monitor he says delayed further medical testing. His attorneys, Denisse Gastélum, Carlos Jurado and Margaret Hellerstein, say he now struggles to eat, sleep, speak normally, or work, and have filed a police report seeking criminal charges against the officers and driver, notified federal agencies of intent to sue under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and are pursuing a U visa on his behalf. DHS disputes his account, saying officers used necessary force after he attempted to flee, and cites a prior voluntary return to Mexico and a 2020 public intoxication conviction. He has been placed in deportation proceedings with a hearing scheduled for September 14. Virginia officials including Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Reps. Don Beyer, Suhas Subramanyam and James Walkinshaw have criticized the circumstances of his arrest, and Arlington County Police have opened an investigation. Separately, the Arlington County Board approved $50,000 in emergency grants, distributed through Arlington Thrive, to support families whose primary wage earner was detained during a broader ICE enforcement surge that led to roughly 1,300 arrests across the D.C. area in August.

A Maryland Heights, Missouri man who was commended for his service as a translator for the U.S. Army during the war in Afghanistan was arrested by ICE officers. He is being held in a Ste. Genevieve County prison.

Ramon Avilez-Frias and Maria Del Pilar Moreno-Loredo, longtime employees of Cisco's, Austin's oldest Tex-Mex restaurant, were detained by ICE on September 7 at 6 a.m. as they arrived for work. Both are described as hardworking, tax-paying people with no criminal records who are parents and spouses. A GoFundMe campaign was started to help their families cover legal costs and daily expenses while they remain in ICE custody.

A man referred to as 'John' was detained by ICE after his car was stopped on his way home from work in California, and was forced to agree to self-deport to Mexico within a week of his arrest rather than remain in an ICE detention facility. He was held without legal representation or access to his medication, and his family did not know his whereabouts for three days. John came to California from Mexico 30 years ago, worked in construction, and supported his wife and three children, none of whom had legal status despite having no criminal record. A GoFundMe campaign was launched by a family friend to support John's health and new start in Mexico and to help his family, who remain in the U.S. struggling emotionally and financially.

At the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, operated by GEO Group, detainees have filed more than 3,500 complaints describing contaminated food with worms and metal, foul water, black mold, denied medical care, and reports of staff abuse and sexual assault. Mergensana Amar, a 40-year-old asylum seeker, died by suicide in November 2018 after nearly 11 months in custody, and Charles Leo Daniel was found dead in March 2024 after more than three years combined in solitary confinement; University of Washington researchers documented at least six suicide attempts between January and March 2024. A former GEO kitchen supervisor testified the company budgeted only 97 cents per detainee per meal. GEO Group repeatedly denied Washington state health inspectors access to the facility, prompting Governor Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown to file suit seeking a court order compelling entry; a federal judge ordered access in July 2026. A federal jury separately found GEO violated Washington's minimum-wage law, ordering $17.3 million in payments to more than 10,000 formerly detained workers. An ICE spokesperson disputed the complaints, saying the state failed to follow proper procedures and that the facility maintains high standards of care. Immigrant rights group La Resistencia has organized hunger strikes, vigils, and protests for over a decade demanding the facility's closure.

Ibrahim Topkaya, a 33-year-old medical doctor from Turkey working as a bioengineering researcher studying diabetes at Upstate Medical University, was detained by U.S. immigration officials after a GPS error rerouted him toward the Canadian border while he was returning from a trip to Niagara Falls with his visiting mother. Canadian border patrol turned him around with documentation confirming he never entered Canada, but U.S. officials detained him upon his return, and he is now held at the Batavia federal detention facility. His friend Omar Alsafadi said Topkaya has an approved asylum case, active work authorization, and a Social Security number, and described him as a well-respected researcher who has authored numerous medical papers. The Department of Homeland Security said Topkaya overstayed his authorized status after legally entering the country in June 2023. Topkaya has requested research materials to continue his work while detained, and his mother, visiting from Turkey for the first time in three years, has extended her stay while awaiting updates on his case.

ICE agents conducted an operation in the parking lot of a Home Depot on 43rd Avenue in west Phoenix, detaining about 10 people early Saturday morning, including day laborers waiting for work and some customers exiting the store. Witnesses said agents disguised themselves as day laborers and unhoused people before making arrests, and cell phone video showed men handcuffed and seated beside the road as agents surrounded them. Erika Andiola of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Clarissa Vela of People First Project said many of those detained did not match the administration's stated focus on people with criminal records, with some detainees having only come to shop. Activists noted ICE Mobile Criminal Apprehension Teams have routinely conducted undercover license-plate-scanning operations at the same location. ICE has not publicly released details about the operation, and protesters and day laborers returned to the store two days later.

A young Venezuelan man, a recent graduate of Orange County Public Schools, was detained by immigration authorities while traveling to start college. His father was also detained around the same time in St. Augustine, Florida. According to the report, the young man never made it to the university.

Ten deportees said officers used force against them after they refused to leave a flight to Liberia, a country several said they had no connection to, according to a New York Times account. Border czar Tom Homan said he doubted the specific allegations but that they would be investigated, while DHS separately called the newspaper's account a hoax. The incident adds to scrutiny over how the government verifies deportees' citizenship or ties before third-country removal flights depart, as the administration expands deals with African nations to accept people who are not their citizens.

Fernando Armando Valdes Perez, a 61-year-old man holding Cuban and Guatemalan citizenship who lived in Kendall, Florida, was arrested at Miami International Airport on July 10 during a joint operation involving ICE, the FBI, and CBP. ICE alleged Valdes had been a Cuban intelligence asset since the mid-1990s, infiltrating Cuban exile and dissident communities, and that he fraudulently obtained lawful permanent resident status by concealing his affiliation with the Cuban government. He was placed in removal proceedings and has since been deported from the United States.

Humberto Castro, a 59-year-old Venezuelan who has lived in Doral, Florida for eight years, was detained by ICE agents while driving to work. His daughter, Arianna Castro, said he holds a work permit valid until 2030 and has a pending asylum application, with no criminal record. He is being held at ICE offices in Miramar while his daughter tries to secure his release on bond. His case comes amid a wave of arrests of Venezuelans in South Florida that prompted two exile organizations to send Congress a report demanding oversight hearings and data on detainees with pending immigration cases.

A Maryland man named Aquino, described by his family as the sole provider for his wife and five children, was taken into ICE custody after being pulled over by police for a broken vehicle light. His family says it remains unclear why he was detained or why he continues to be held. Family friend Kristi Voigt said Aquino has lived in the U.S. for 23 years and called him 'a good man.' A GoFundMe launched to cover legal expenses and household costs raised more than $10,000 from 161 donors within three days.

Five men from an extended family were taken into ICE custody during a Labor Day weekend camping trip in Granite Falls, Washington, after individuals who initially presented themselves as park rangers photographed the group's identification under the pretext of a "garbage warning." Around midnight, ICE agents returned, woke the sleeping families by shaking their tents and shouting, and detained the five men, who were the primary financial providers for their households. One of the men who had posed as a park ranger returned armed with a rifle as ICE "backup." The families, which include children ranging from 1 to 14 years old and a pregnant mother, say they were left without income and are now navigating rent, utilities, and legal expenses while raising money to support the five affected households.

Five men from Mexico were arrested around midnight on September 5, 2026, during a family camping trip at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest after Forest Service rangers approached them over a reported trash complaint and later returned with immigration agents. Family members said rangers requested and photographed adults' identification before agents identified themselves, first as police and then as immigration officers. Children ranging from ages 1 to 14 were present at the campsite when the men were taken away, and relatives said they could not reach a lawyer or the detained men until after the holiday weekend. DHS said the men remain in ICE custody at a Tacoma detention facility pending removal proceedings, citing prior voluntary returns, a driving-related arrest, and alleged unlawful entry among the cases.

ICE agents detained Arturo Vasquez, a 48-year-old father with no criminal record, while he was a paying customer getting his family car washed in Culver City, California in June 2025; his teenage son was recorded on video pleading with agents as his father was driven away. In a separate incident in spring 2025, Cuban national Eduardo Nuñez Gonzalez was detained by ICE outside his North Miami home while carrying a bag of household trash to the curb; his family said he had no history of criminal charges. Rather than remain in a New Mexico detention facility for months contesting his case, Nuñez Gonzalez ultimately chose deportation to Spain. Both cases were cited amid a surge in ICE arrests, with Los Angeles-area arrests reaching a rolling average of roughly 100 a day, including a single-day record of 228 arrests on July 11. Data showed Latino immigrants were being arrested at 115 times the rate of other groups.

Jose Antonio Caballero-Nolasco, a 32-year-old Salvadoran national living in the U.S. without legal status, was charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide after allegedly driving drunk the wrong way on the I-270 Spur in Bethesda/Montgomery County, Maryland, causing a head-on collision. The crash killed 46-year-old Musammat Shamima Begum and her 23-year-old daughter Areebah Jahin, and left an 8-year-old girl in their vehicle with life-threatening injuries. Caballero-Nolasco was treated at a hospital before being transferred to the Montgomery County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond. ICE lodged an immigration detainer asking local officials not to release him, though Montgomery County's sanctuary policies and Maryland's Community Trust Act make it unclear whether the detainer will be honored. His attorney said he is a construction worker who has lived in the U.S. for 10 years and is expecting a child with his girlfriend.

Simranpal Singh, an Indian national who entered the United States through Arizona in June 2022 and was later released by immigration authorities, was arrested by an ICE officer during a commercial vehicle inspection at a weigh station in Newberry, Pennsylvania. At the time of his arrest, Singh had an outstanding warrant for wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy out of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and he held a commercial driver's license issued by New York State. He is being held in ICE custody pending transfer to the U.S. Marshals Service before facing removal proceedings.

Molis Augustave, a Haitian immigrant, TPS holder, DoorDash driver, and pastor in York, Pennsylvania, was detained by ICE after West Manchester Township police stopped him for a burned-out headlight and expired registration, then contacted immigration officers under a 287(g) partnership. He was transferred to an ICE processing center in Louisiana, hundreds of miles from his wife, U.S. citizen Omara Nunez, and their two children, ages 9 and 2, while his green card application remains pending. Nunez said their younger child waits by the door asking for his father, and their daughter has struggled with his absence. Supporters describe Augustave as a devoted husband, father, and community pastor who has continued ministering to fellow detainees. Immigrant rights activists, local pastors, and state Sen. Patty Kim held a news conference calling for his release, noting he remains separated from his family and congregation.

Kira Inthisane, who is currently deployed overseas, started a fundraiser after learning her mother had been taken into ICE custody. Kira said she has spent her own resources on legal fees to try to keep her mother from being deported and is seeking donations to continue funding the legal fight.

A Colombian woman who entered the United States on a B-1/B-2 visa in December 2020 was detained by federal law enforcement on September 4, 2026, while attempting to board a flight at the San Juan airport. She has a pending derivative asylum application tied to a petition filed by her father with USCIS. After her detention, ICE officers at the Guaynabo office reportedly told her that if she did not accept voluntary departure, a Notice to Appear would be filed; she declined and was placed in civil immigration custody at the San Juan Staging Facility in Guaynabo. She requested a bond hearing on September 7, 2026, but before it was resolved, ICE informed her she would be transferred to a detention facility in Florida. She filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing her detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and seeking to block her transfer and secure her release. The district court granted in part her TRO request, ordering that she not be transferred out of Puerto Rico and that she be given a bond hearing before an immigration judge by September 23, 2026, while denying her request for immediate release and holding the underlying habeas petition in abeyance.

Oscar Sanchez-Corona, who was brought to the United States at age 1 and attended Shawnee Mission schools, was detained by ICE agents on August 18 while pouring concrete at a construction site in Lawrence, Kansas. He was transferred through three facilities — Leavenworth's Midwest Regional Reception Center, Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, and Camp East Montana in Texas — before being deported to Juarez, Mexico, separating him from the two elementary school-aged children he shares custody of in Johnson County. His removal was carried out through reinstatement of a prior removal order tied to a teenage misdemeanor property-damage charge and probation violations; DHS also cited a 2013 deportation after he failed to comply with a voluntary departure order and later re-entered illegally, along with convictions for drug paraphernalia possession, criminal property damage, and driving without a license, and arrests for DUI and illegal entry. A family friend, Skylar Roush, described him as "a regular American guy" who lived a peaceful life as a worker and father, and his daughter drew a picture asking ICE not to take him away.

Deng Deng, a 19-year-old Southern Connecticut State University basketball player originally from Aweil, South Sudan, was arrested by ICE agents at Tweed New Haven Airport on September 4, 2026, while boarding a flight to visit his girlfriend in North Carolina. Deng attended high school in New Jersey and was lawfully admitted to the U.S. as a minor on an F-1 student visa; he has a pending asylum application based on fear of persecution in South Sudan and holds a valid Employment Authorization Document. A witness described the arresting officers as "very aggressive." His attorneys, Glenn Formica and Steven Strom, filed a habeas corpus petition arguing an officer falsely claimed Deng was violating Temporary Protected Status he never held, that he has no criminal history, and that the arrest violated his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. A federal judge barred his transfer to any ICE facility beyond 150 miles of the Connecticut border, though the case was later moved to the District of Massachusetts; he remains held at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island. SCSU said it is in contact with him and assisting where appropriate.

Five men from Mexico, described as fathers and husbands who serve as their families' primary breadwinners, were arrested by ICE agents during a Labor Day weekend camping trip with their extended families at a campground in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Western Washington. U.S. Forest Service rangers first visited the campsite under the pretext of a trash complaint and photographed the men's identification, and armed ICE agents returned around midnight, shook the families' tents, and shouted for the men to come out before handcuffing and taking them away, leaving women and children stranded without cell service. Four of the five men had no criminal record; one had a 2016 misdemeanor negligent driving conviction. The men are being held at an ICE detention facility in Tacoma, and their families are trying to raise about $100,000 for legal fees while fearing the men will be transferred out of state.

Federal ICE agents arrived around 6 a.m. Thursday, September 3, 2025, near Stoneybrook Court and Schaffer Drive in Frederick, Maryland's Taskers Chance neighborhood, searching for a man who had fled a vehicle stop. Agents occupied the area for nearly 40 hours, prompting residents to stay inside and skip work, while observers from the Western Maryland Immigrant Rights Collective monitored the scene. On Friday night, when agents ordered the block cleared, a couple dozen residents and observers linked arms and sat down to block a doorway, chanting 'We shall not be moved.' ICE vehicles drove onto a sidewalk, nearly striking City Council Vice President Katie Nash, and agents used batons, grabbed and pushed people, and dragged protesters off a porch, injuring several, some requiring hospitalization. No arrests were made, and it did not appear anyone inside the targeted home was taken into custody. Frederick police who responded did not assist the federal agents. City Council President César Díaz and Vice President Katie Nash said observers were not violent, with Nash stating, 'It's nuts. Now people are just not leaving their houses.' Frederick Mayor Michael O'Connor, Díaz, and the county executive publicly objected to the tactics, and a local representative called for a full investigation into the agents' use of force.

At least three people were detained Friday after immigration officials conducted a raid at a roofing job site in Morristown, according to a statement by the company. Limited details were provided about the individuals involved.

Zoilo Viloria, a 66-year-old Colombian asylum seeker who worked in building maintenance in Tacoma, Washington, was detained by ICE agents in the parking lot of a McDonald's while stopping for coffee on his way to work. His daughter, Stephany Viloria, said agents had been scanning license plates in the lot to check drivers' immigration status and took her father away in handcuffs after he nervously handed over his documents. She described him as a hardworking man with no criminal record, not even a traffic infraction, who entered the U.S. legally in 2018 on a tourist visa and later filed for asylum after receiving threats in Colombia, obtaining a work permit and driver's license while paying taxes. Days after his arrest, he was transferred, shackled at the hands and feet, to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, where he was able to contact his family again but has struggled with cold conditions and uncertainty about his care.

A Global X ICE Air charter flight carrying as many as 78 detained Haitian nationals departed from Alexandria, Louisiana and Opa-locka Executive Airport in Florida, bound for Cap-Haïtien. The flight was the third in three weeks following the Supreme Court's decision allowing the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 Haitians, even as litigation over the termination continues. DHS publicized the flight with images and video of shackled deportees boarding, drawing outrage from Haitians and immigrant rights activists, as the deportations proceed despite ongoing gang violence and massacres in Haiti.

Renan Hédouville, a lawyer, human-rights advocate and former head of Haiti's Office of Citizen Protection (ombudsman), was arrested by U.S. immigration authorities while visiting Montgomery, Alabama, after Haitian police issued a warrant for him on corruption allegations. Hédouville, who entered the U.S. lawfully in May 2025 but overstayed the terms of his admission, asked to voluntarily return to Haiti and was aboard a deportation flight that departed Opa-locka Executive Airport for Cap-Haïtien. Investigators in Haiti have accused him of obstruction of justice, unlawful contracting, and claiming over $127,000 in expenses tied to fictitious missions and payments to family members while he led the agency responsible for safeguarding human rights.

José Serrano Salgado, Ecuador's former interior minister under President Rafael Correa, fled to Miami in 2021 on a tourist visa and applied for asylum months later. ICE agents arrested him outside his Miami home in mid-2025 for overstaying his visa, and he spent nearly a year in detention at Miami's Krome North Service Processing Center, where a source said he lost about 25 pounds and his prediabetes worsened into diabetes. In May 2026, Immigration Judge Romy Lerner denied his asylum claim but granted him deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture. Despite that order, ICE deported Serrano to Ecuador on a private jet in late August 2026, where he faces murder charges over an alleged role in the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. A source said he is now being abused in an Ecuadorian jail, including having his fingernails smashed and being denied food.

A joint operation by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and ICE swept through farmland and roadways near Oberlin, Ohio, arresting two men on criminal human trafficking charges and detaining roughly 50 other people on civil immigration violations. The yearlong investigation targeted a suspected smuggling network accused of recruiting workers under false pretenses and transporting them to agricultural businesses using shell transportation and contracting companies. Law enforcement conducted traffic stops of at least six vans and used a drone to track movement during the operation; three U.S. citizens were left behind in a Walmart parking lot after others nearby were detained. Oberlin city officials said they had no advance knowledge of the operation, which conflicts with the city's longstanding sanctuary policy limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Adnero Pinto Sebastiao, an Angolan national with a pending asylum application, was arrested by ICE agents as he returned from lunch to his job at a bank in the Lewiston area. He had entered the U.S. legally on a tourist visa in March 2024 before applying for asylum, and his immigration case remains pending. His attorneys filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus arguing the detention was an unlawful warrantless arrest lacking individualized assessment. A federal judge issued an indefinite injunction barring ICE from removing him from the U.S. or transferring him out of the District of Maine, and ordered the government to justify the detention. A DHS spokesperson said Sebastiao overstayed his visa and that a pending asylum application does not confer legal status.

Leonardo Sánchez, a 49-year-old Cuban national and lawful permanent resident who arrived in the U.S. in 2010 under the Cuban Adjustment Act and worked as a welder, was deported to Liberia and then Equatorial Guinea after ICE detained him at a gas station. Sánchez suffers from a severe abdominal hernia caused by a stabbing that once left him in a coma for 40 days, and had reconstructive surgery scheduled at Jackson Memorial Hospital before his removal. He said agents refused to remove his shackles or let him use the bathroom during the 14-hour flight, and when he refused to disembark in Liberia out of fear of being abandoned, agents allegedly threw him down the aircraft steps and knelt on his exposed hernia. In Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, doctors refused to treat him without documents, leaving him only paracetamol for pain, and he is now held with five other deportees at a former hotel under armed guard, unable to contact family. His mother and sister in Florida say a lawyer they hired to help him was a scam, and Equatorial Guinea has no asylum framework, leaving him facing indefinite detention or return to Cuba. DHS said Sánchez was ordered removed following a cocaine possession conviction and denied mistreating him.

An 81-year-old Iranian immigrant is set to be released from ICE custody following a months-long legal battle. Family members reportedly described themselves as 'thrilled and ecstatic' upon learning of the decision.

A driver was arrested by ICE agents in North Brunswick, New Jersey after fleeing a traffic stop, running a red light, and crashing into another vehicle on Route 130. The second vehicle, reportedly carrying the wife of East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, sustained heavy front-end damage, and both of its occupants were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. ICE agents pursued and detained the driver following a foot chase, according to police, who said local officers only responded after the crash occurred and were not involved in the federal operation.

Luis Ivan Campos was detained by ICE while driving to work and subsequently deported on September 3rd, according to his son Christian Campos. He was not pulled over for a traffic violation or detained by local law enforcement before being taken into ICE custody. Campos was the primary caregiver for two of his children with disabilities: a 17-year-old with severe Hemophilia Type A who uses a wheelchair and was recently hospitalized, and a 4-year-old with Down syndrome who also has severe Hemophilia Type A. His family, including his wife Karina, started a fundraiser to help cover expenses and support the children following his deportation.

Eduardo, known as Walter, was detained by immigration agents while resting during his lunch break at work and sent to a detention facility in Georgia. He has since been repeatedly transferred between ICE facilities, limiting contact with his family to two-minute daily phone calls. Walter, described by his family as faithful and headstrong, had a pending case for legal residency and a work permit. His wife and daughters are raising money for legal fees and a possible bond ahead of an upcoming court hearing.

Set Salvador Esquivel Alvarado, who came to the United States at age 12 and has no criminal record, was detained by immigration agents outside his home while preparing to leave for work. His community describes him as quiet, respectful, and hardworking. Set is the primary financial provider for his parents, including his disabled father who cannot work. He has since been transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, and his family is raising funds to cover an estimated $20,000 bond and legal fees.

Vic Bud, who has lived in the United States since 1987, is being held in ICE custody at the Northlake Detention Center under a final deportation order to Romania. He is married to a U.S. citizen and has five U.S. citizen children, ages 2 to 14, who depend on him as the family's sole breadwinner. His wife launched a fundraiser to cover rent, daily expenses, and relocation costs as the family prepares to move to Romania to stay together.

The petitioner, an immigration detainee, filed a habeas corpus petition arguing he is not subject to mandatory detention under immigration law and is entitled to an individualized bond hearing. He is currently held at the Florida Baker Correctional Institute. Along with the petition, he filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his transfer outside the court's jurisdiction while the case is pending. The court found he showed a substantial likelihood of success on his claim that his mandatory detention is unlawful. The court granted the TRO, barring immigration officials from removing him from the Middle District of Florida through September 21, 2026, and construed part of his request as a motion for preliminary injunction. The court ordered the government to respond by September 11, 2026, and consolidated the injunction request with merits review of the habeas petition.

The petitioner, born in a Philippine refugee camp to parents who fled Laos, entered the United States as a refugee at one month old and later became a lawful permanent resident. He has lived in the U.S. for over 40 years, is the primary breadwinner for his family as a certified glazier, and cares for his U.S. citizen partner, her three children, their shared five-year-old autistic son, and his elderly disabled U.S. citizen mother. After a 2002 robbery conviction, he was ordered removed to Laos in 2017 but released on an order of supervision because Laos would not accept him as it does not recognize stateless former refugees as citizens; he complied with ICE reporting requirements without further arrests for nearly nine years. In March 2026 a state court vacated his underlying conviction as unconstitutional, and he filed a pending motion to reopen his immigration case. On September 3, 2026, he was abruptly re-detained at a routine ICE check-in after Laos reportedly issued a travel document that ICE refused to show him or his attorney, and he was denied a proper informal interview before being served a removal warrant. He filed a habeas petition and TRO motion the same day seeking immediate release and protection from removal, and the court granted the TRO, ordering his immediate release, barring re-detention without notice and a hearing, and prohibiting his removal pending further proceedings, with a preliminary injunction hearing set for September 21, 2026.

Leo Garcia Venegas, a U.S. citizen born in Florida who works in construction in Baldwin County, Alabama, has been detained by federal immigration officers three separate times in under a year despite presenting a valid Alabama REAL ID each time. In the first incident, armed officers stormed a Foley construction site, pinned him to the ground, and held him for over an hour before verifying his identity; he was later detained again at a job site and a third time outside his own home, where he was tackled, handcuffed, and shackled. A federal judge in the Southern District of Alabama has allowed his lawsuit against DHS officials, including Tom Homan and Kristi Noem, to proceed, rejecting the government's motion to dismiss. Venegas, represented by the Institute for Justice, testified in court that 'I don't feel free.'

Anthony Tyrone Higgs, a Bahamas national who was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident in October 1976, was arrested by ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents on September 3 in Decatur, Georgia. DHS said Higgs has a lengthy criminal history including weapons offenses, grand larceny, armed robbery, domestic violence and assault on a police officer, and has been placed in removal proceedings seeking to revoke his residency status. DHS also said an investigation confirmed Higgs illegally voted in the 2020 election, though the agency did not specify a criminal charge tied to that allegation. He remains in ICE custody while removal proceedings continue.

More than 60 federal agents raided the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato, New York in September 2025, herding roughly 160 workers into a breakroom and arresting 57 of about 100 people questioned, including pregnant women and mothers of young children. Body camera footage later released in a lawsuit showed agents breaking down a locked bathroom stall door to remove a female employee and separating workers by citizenship status, with some told they would be arrested if they asked for an attorney. Argentina Juarez-Lopez, 50, invoked her right to counsel, but an agent falsely claimed she confessed without one; a federal judge called the conduct 'grossly negligent' and suppressed the evidence, yet she was deported after her case was dismissed. Juana Castillo Avelar, a mother of three U.S. citizen children who had lived in the U.S. over 20 years, was granted $9,000 bond but was deported before ICE would release her, based on a false claim she had appealed. Only five of the 57 arrested faced criminal charges, mostly for illegal reentry, and no charges have been filed against the company. The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Worker Justice Center of New York filed a lawsuit alleging officers lacked arrest warrants, exceeded search warrant authority, and violated workers' Fourth Amendment rights; one deported plaintiff has since been allowed to reenter the country while attorneys for another seek his return.

Nayleth Gabriela Martínez Jiménez, a Venezuelan woman, discovered she was pregnant after being detained by U.S. immigration authorities. She says she is experiencing pain and fears for her pregnancy, and is asking to be released from the immigration detention center or returned to Venezuela.

Luis Miguel Chávez, a Venezuelan man, was held for nearly seven months at an ICE detention center before being released. He said he lost his house, car, and job during his detention and is now trying to rebuild his life in San Antonio.

Lorenza Temaj Jiguan, 34, traveled to her native Guatemala in May to complete an interview for a U.S. immigration visa, expecting only a brief trip before returning to her family. Instead, she has remained stranded there since, unable to reunite with her 10-year-old daughter Ariana and her husband, U.S. citizen Samuel Wilbanks. Temaj had lived in the U.S. since entering in 2009 and was seeking to resolve her immigration status through the visa process. Her husband has decided to sue the government over her prolonged separation from the family.

Sean Lopes, a Guyana native, was serving a 14- to 16-year state prison sentence and was not eligible for parole until next February. ICE allowed him to skip the final six months of his sentence so he could be deported. His case was highlighted by ICE's Buffalo office as part of a broader trend of the agency removing people from state custody before their sentences conclude.

Alexandr Dyatchin, a Serbian national, was arrested in 2024 and sentenced last August to five years at the state's Lakeview prison in Chautauqua County, with an earliest release date of July 2029. ICE took him into custody last week, ahead of his scheduled release, to deport him to Russia. His case was cited as an example of ICE removing people already serving state prison sentences before their terms were complete.