Human Impact Project

Karam, a detainee with a chronic stomach ulcer, was transferred from Mesa Verde ICE facility to the California City ICE Detention Facility in late August 2025. Despite informing intake staff of his ulcer, prescribed liquid diet, and daily medications, he received no medication during his first 24 hours and subsequently received wrong pills infrequently. As his health declined, he began a hunger strike on September 18th. By September 22nd he was vomiting blood; he fainted the next day, triggering a medical emergency. Staff conditioned his medication on ending the strike. After ending the strike, he was told to "go back" to his country for medical care and has not received proper treatment. Three months later, his condition has worsened with mouth ulcers, continued blood vomiting, and blood in stool. He has gone on three additional hunger strikes since September.

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested during a civil disobedience protest inside 26 Federal Plaza in September 2025, where ICE maintains holding cells for recently detained immigrants. Lander and 10 state lawmakers were taken into custody while demanding access to detention cells to draw attention to conditions at the facility. Federal prosecutors offered to drop obstruction charges if Lander avoided arrest in federal buildings for six months, but he rejected the plea deal while the lawmakers accepted. Lander proceeded to a bench trial, stating he took the case to trial to insist that the rule of law apply to all people facing removal proceedings. He was found not guilty of obstructing elevators and the elevator lobby at 26 Federal Plaza.

Carmen Aracely Pablo Sequen, an asylum-seeker, was detained at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco and held in harsh conditions including small, cold rooms with no beds, limited hygiene supplies, and restricted access to counsel. She was held for extended periods—sometimes up to six days—despite the holding cells being designed for stays under 12 hours. The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit on September 18, 2025, challenging ICE's detention practices and courthouse arrest policies, alleging unconstitutional conditions and violations of due-process protections.

Wesley Powers, a U.S. Navy veteran and U.S. citizen, was shot with chemical agent by ICE agents while protesting at Minnesota's Whipple Detention Center in January 2026. He was detained for 9 hours in an overcrowded cell, had his lawyer calls monitored, and was photographed by agents using personal phones before being released without charges. Powers reports subsequent incidents including vehicles at his home and lost work income.

Denny Lener Abad, a Venezuelan actor and singer known on social media as Lener Abad, was detained by ICE agents on September 18 while traveling from Miami to Orlando for work commitments. He has lived in the U.S. for more than four years, has a pending immigration case, and holds a valid work permit and driver's license, according to people close to him. He is currently being held at the Indian River County Jail in Vero Beach, Florida. Abad is known for appearing in the Puerto Rican reality show "PR La Casa del Campo," and family and friends say he has no criminal record and are requesting help spreading information about his case.

Ligia Garcia, an asylum-seeker from Colombia with no criminal record, was arrested by ICE on July 31, 2025, after attending her immigration court hearing in San Francisco and detained at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street. She was held in harsh conditions including small, cold rooms with no beds, forced to sleep on the floor under bright lights, limited hygiene supplies, and restricted access to counsel after 3 p.m. and on weekends. She was held for extended periods despite the holding cells being designed for stays under 12 hours. On September 18, 2025, the ACLU and immigrant rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Garcia and three other plaintiffs detained at the same facility, challenging ICE's detention practices and courthouse arrest policies and alleging unconstitutional conditions and violations of due-process protections.

Martin Hernandez-Torres, a noncitizen who has lived in the United States for 30 years and has cancer, was arrested Wednesday during a "reasonable fear" interview at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. He was held in harsh conditions including small, cold rooms with no beds, forced to sleep on metal benches or the floor with only thin plastic or foil as blankets, bright lights kept on all night causing sleep deprivation, open toilets, limited hygiene supplies, and restricted access to counsel and medical care. He was held for extended periods—sometimes up to six days—despite the holding cells being designed for stays under 12 hours. The ACLU, alongside the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights and CARECEN, filed a class-action lawsuit on September 18, 2025, on behalf of Hernandez-Torres and three other asylum-seeker plaintiffs, challenging ICE's detention practices and courthouse arrest policies and alleging unconstitutional conditions and violations of due-process protections.

Santos Reyes Banegas, a Honduran man, died on September 18 at the Nassau County Correctional Center on Long Island, New York, where he was held by ICE. During intake at 11:22 a.m. on September 17, a nurse noted he was experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Two hours later, a doctor evaluated him and prescribed medications for withdrawal but the ICE report does not specify which medications or confirm they were administered. Reyes was found unresponsive in his cell at 6:25 a.m. the next morning and declared dead 20 minutes later. DHS reported the preliminary cause as liver failure complicated by alcoholism. Medical experts noted that timely hospital care could greatly reduce life-threatening risks from alcohol withdrawal.

An 11-year-old U.S. citizen girl recovering from a rare brain tumor was deported to Mexico on February 4, 2025, when immigration authorities arrested her undocumented parents at a checkpoint while the family traveled to Houston for her emergency medical checkup. The girl had undergone surgery to remove the tumor and requires specialized care every three months. Since deportation, her health has deteriorated significantly, with worsening seizures, muscle spasms, and loss of neurological functions. She has received only one MRI scan instead of the recommended quarterly monitoring. Four of the family's five children are U.S. citizens. The family filed humanitarian parole applications through the Texas Civil Rights Project, but USCIS has not yet responded. Congressional members including Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Sylvia Garcia, and Joaquin Castro are advocating for the family's return.

A Senegalese national who entered the US in 2006 and applied for asylum in 2007 was detained without bond on September 17, 2025 for removal after an immigration judge denied his asylum claim in 2012. ICE initially planned to remove him to Gabon, but when that country refused travel documents, they arranged for his removal to Ghana without allowing him to assert fear-based claims about that country. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his removal until he receives a fair hearing.

Three women were found not guilty of conspiracy to dox an ICE agent on February 27 after a week-long trial revealed they did not know they were following the agent to his home and never disclosed his address during their livestreamed protest. Two of the women were convicted of stalking, a charge their attorney argues represents an unprecedented application of federal law, as the incident occurred over a single day within an hour and a half rather than involving repeated behavior.

Costa Rican content creator Julián Valverde, known online as Julián Valjota, was detained after being stopped by Orlando police while driving. The 26-year-old, whose full name is José Julián Valverde Meneses, had lived in the United States for more than five years after leaving Costa Rica for work opportunities. He was held for nearly 24 hours without appearing before a judge, and the reasons for his detention have not been made public. Costa Rica's Foreign Ministry said it is making inquiries with U.S. immigration authorities, and a Costa Rican lawmaker called on the government to protect Valverde and other Costa Ricans held by ICE.

Joe Botello, a U.S. citizen born in Texas, was handcuffed and detained by federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Elgin on September 16, 2025. Agents forcibly entered his home, breaking down doors, and placed him in a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle before releasing him after scanning his driver's license. The operation, part of a larger immigration enforcement blitz in the Chicago area, also resulted in the detention of his roommates.

A 73-year old East Bay grandmother, Harjit Kaur, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during a routine check-in this week. Today, her family and an expected 200 community members will stage a protest demanding her release.The protest will be held at 5 p.m. today (Friday, Sept. 12) at the intersection of Appian Way and San Pablo Dam Road in El Sobrante (below the El Sobrante Gurdwara).Kaur has lived in the East Bay for more than 30 years. She currently lives in Hercules but worked for two decades at a small business, Sari Palace, in Berkeley and regularly attended the El Sobrante Sikh Gurdwara. She was detained on Monday after ICE asked her to come to the San Francisco office to turn in additional paperwork. On Tuesday she was taken to a detention center in Bakersfield.“It’s just been a total nightmare. I don’t feel like this is real,” Manji Kaur, Harjit Kaur’s daughter-in-law, told Richmondside. Kaur has two -grandsons and three granddaughters.

ICE agents detained two American citizens near an El Super grocery store in City Heights, San Diego, after they began recording a federal enforcement operation. Brooke Benner said she was handcuffed within 14 seconds of starting to film, while a second woman was tackled to the ground and handcuffed after witnesses said she kicked a federal vehicle. Both women were taken to a federal building downtown, held for about seven hours, and released without charges. DHS said the two were 'agitators attempting to impede operations,' while Benner said agents targeted her for criticizing them.

Brooke Benner, an American citizen with a young daughter, was detained by ICE agents in the parking lot of an El Super grocery store in San Diego's City Heights neighborhood after she began filming agents who had just detained another man. Within seconds of recording, agents grabbed and handcuffed Benner, telling her she was being arrested for "impeding" their operations. Shortly after, agents detained a second American citizen steps away in the same parking lot, after witnesses said she kicked a federal vehicle; community patrollers recording the encounter said two agents pinned her against a car before one tackled her to the ground, while another agent pointed a taser at bystanders. Both women were taken to a federal building downtown and held for about seven hours before being released without charges. Benner said the experience frightened her and that she plans to continue monitoring ICE activity in her community.

A short time after the raid on an Elgin home, ICE agents stopped a driver on Route 31 a few blocks away and took him into custody. This stop was one of several ICE detentions made in the Chicagoland area on September 16, 2025, as part of DHS Operation "Midway Blitz," which targeted Illinois and Lake County, Indiana.

On the morning of September 16, 2025, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem led a military-style raid on an Elgin home, with camouflage-uniformed agents and helicopters breaking down the front door at approximately 5:30 a.m. Four people were taken into custody, but two of them were apparent U.S. citizens who were released shortly afterward. One released man stated he was relieved he had his wallet and ID and that he cooperated with agents. ICE claimed the detainees were violent criminals wanted for crimes including assault and DUI, though the accuracy of these characterizations was disputed by community members.

Roberto Lacoss, a former lawful permanent resident from the Philippines, was arrested by ICE in Pearl, Mississippi on September 16, 2025, following a criminal conviction for statutory rape. After being ordered removed by an immigration judge, Lacoss complied with the deportation order and departed the United States for the Philippines, with ICE deportation officers present to confirm his departure.

A 5-year-old U.S. citizen girl with autism was surrounded by ICE agents outside her family's home in Leominster, Massachusetts, while agents attempted to arrest her father, Edwards Hip Mejia, a Guatemalan national who had lived in the U.S. for more than two decades. Video showed the girl sitting in the driveway near an SUV as agents asked her father, who had fled into the house, to come outside. Her family and attorney said ICE used the child to pressure Hip Mejia into surrendering, while DHS said he abandoned his daughter in a car while fleeing agents after a traffic stop. Local police responded, and the girl was taken to a police station before being reunited with her grandmother after about three hours. Hip Mejia was detained by ICE two days later and is currently held at a detention center in Plymouth; his attorney said prior domestic-abuse charges cited by DHS had been dismissed, and a judge later granted him bond.

A single father of six U.S. citizen children applied for a special visa but was deported by ICE. The case involved family ties and legal efforts to prevent deportation.

Cristina Osornio, a legal permanent resident and mother of six who has lived in the U.S. since infancy, was stopped by police in Rogers on September 15, 2025, for driving without insurance and with a suspended license. She was arrested on a warrant for missing a court appearance in a misdemeanor domestic violence case and held at Benton County Jail on an ICE hold for four days before being released without explanation. Osornio said the detention was "very scary" and exacerbated her health conditions. Her husband, Edwin Sanchez-Mendoza, was deported to Mexico after a misdemeanor arrest months earlier, leaving the family without their primary breadwinner and forcing them to lose their home.

The government of Ghana announced that 14 West Africans (13 Nigerians and 1 Gambian) who were deported from the US have been sent to their home countries. US lawyers filed a lawsuit arguing the deportations violated immigration protections and that the Trump administration used Ghana as a third country to circumvent US immigration laws.

ICE agents detained at least two Venezuelan men in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on Monday, including one pulled from his car at 24th and Albany despite claims of legal status. Witnesses say agents hit the car before the man exited, then left his wife and two small children crying in the intersection without providing a warrant or information about his location. The Little Village Community Council, which had distributed whistles during Sunday's Mexican Independence Day parade to alert neighbors of ICE presence, is now working to secure legal representation as detentions increase and fear spreads through the community.

Immigration agents moved a car off the road after breaking its windows and detaining someone on the southwest side. The car was returned to family. Agents abandoned several other vehicles during arrests around Chicago.

Federal immigration agents conducted a raid at a carwash in California. A social media post documented the incident, describing agents detaining workers at the location.

ICE agents raided the Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on Saturday, detaining seven workers (four women and three men). The workers, from Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico, had various forms of legal status according to the manager, but agents allegedly confiscated or dismissed their immigration documents. The detained workers have been processed at facilities in Santa Ana, Adelanto, and Los Angeles.

An undocumented father, Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez, was involved in multiple federal immigration enforcement incidents in suburban Chicago. In one incident at a Sam's Club parking lot in Cicero, federal agents pepper-sprayed Villegas-Gonzalez and his 1-year-old daughter at close range, though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security disputed that pepper spray was deployed. Subsequently, Villegas-Gonzalez was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Franklin Park, Illinois during an arrest attempt. DHS stated the agent fired after Villegas-Gonzalez resisted arrest and attempted to drive his car into agents. Villegas-Gonzalez's attorney noted he had no criminal record, only minor traffic violations between 2010 and 2019.

Seven people were arrested during a U.S. Border Patrol immigration enforcement operation at Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on Saturday. The individuals arrested were from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. About 10 unmarked cars blocked the car wash exit during the raid, which resulted in the arrest of several employees. The chief of the Glassport Borough Police Department reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 17 arrests in the borough over a two-week period. Seven workers at Bixby Knoll's Car Wash in Long Beach, California were detained by federal immigration agents on September 13, 2025. During the raid, a woman being placed into a federal vehicle appeared to faint and collapse while in custody. The incident occurred as masked federal agents in tactical vests arrived in dark-colored SUVs and blocked the car wash's entrance and exits, with some workers attempting to flee. Witnesses documented the operation on their cellphones, with one observer describing the scene as impactful.

A man was detained by ICE at a Home Depot location in Orange County. He was admitted to Orange County Global Medical Center. He is a stroke patient who has had six prior strokes and takes multiple medications.

The first state-funded Prairie Thunder saturation patrol resulted in 44 felony drug arrests in Sioux Falls. Federal inmates including ICE detainees had to be moved from Minnehaha County Jail to other facilities to make room. U.S. Marshals and ICE transported 35 people to other regional facilities.

Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old line cook from Mexico, was fatally shot by an ICE agent on September 12, 2025, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois, shortly after dropping off a child at daycare. ICE agents targeted him for an alleged history of reckless driving and positioned their vehicle to block his car. According to federal authorities, Villegas González attempted to flee and struck an agent with his vehicle, prompting the agent to shoot him in the neck. The agent reported serious injuries and claimed to have fired in fear for his life, though local police video later showed the agent walking and describing his injuries as "nothing major." Policing experts criticized the tactical approach as violating standard urban policing protocols, noting the agent reached into the vehicle—a violation of traffic stop safety procedures—and that shooting at a moving vehicle on a public roadway created an uncontrolled hazard. Family members and civil organizations called for an investigation into the use of force. The shooting remains under investigation.

ICE agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old Mexican citizen, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park near Chicago. The Department of Homeland Security claimed Villegas González drove his car at officers, but witness videos and security footage show he was driving away from agents when shot. He was pronounced dead at Loyola Hospital after his vehicle crashed into a semitruck.

José Daniel López Peña, a 26-year-old from Honduras who came to the U.S. in 2020, was detained by ICE agents on Churn Creek Road while dropping off his girlfriend for work. According to his sister, agents showed no warrants and the family still does not know why he was detained. López Peña has never been arrested and has no deportation order but lacks legal status, and organizers say he is the sole caregiver for his 6 young siblings. He was transported to Mesa Verde Detention Facility. Hundreds of people gathered in Redding to protest his detention, and local officials said they had no information about the incident and directed questions to ICE.

Ruperto, a Mexican roofing contractor who lived and worked in Oklahoma for 28 years, was stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrol after his truck blew a tire and overturned on an interstate in Oklahoma City. Troopers, working under ICE's 287(g) program, detained him despite having insurance and deported him to Mexico. His U.S. citizen daughter Karen, a college student majoring in elementary education, and her older brother were forced to leave school and work to support the family and pay the mortgage. Ruperto was transported through multiple facilities in Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Cushing before deportation, and agreed to voluntary removal rather than continue fighting through the legal system. He cannot reapply for reentry for 10 years.

Omar Salazar, a Dallas community leader and SMU graduate, was detained by ICE for seven months following a traffic stop in Lubbock in August 2025 where he presented a Mexican ID and lacked a valid U.S. driver's license. After losing his immigration case, he was ordered deported to Mexico with 60 days to voluntarily depart. Salazar was brought to the U.S. as a minor at age 11, did not qualify for asylum, and missed DACA eligibility by a few months.

Silverio Villegas Gonzalez was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Franklin Park on September 12, 2025. The agent claimed Villegas Gonzalez attempted to run him over. Video evidence contradicts this account. Following his death, Idaho authorities took custody of his two young sons. His family is fighting to reunite with the children and demanding an investigation into the fatal shooting.

On September 12, 2025, an ICE officer fatally shot Silverio Villegas González, a Mexican immigrant, during a traffic stop. Body camera footage shows the injured officer telling police his injuries were "nothing major," including a knee injury and hand lacerations. Federal officials stated he was "seriously injured" and dragged by González's vehicle.

On September 12, ICE officers attempted to arrest Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Mexican immigrant, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois. After the officers approached his vehicle, Villegas-Gonzalez reversed and then drove forward; an officer fired two shots, striking him in the neck. The vehicle crashed approximately 170 feet away, and Villegas-Gonzalez was pronounced dead at a hospital. Video analysis found no evidence of contact between the vehicle and an officer. An officer sustained injuries including a knee injury and hand lacerations.

ICE agents detained Willian Gimenez in Little Village on September 12 while he entered a barbershop with his wife. ICE refused to disclose his location and denied his attorneys access to him. Gimenez is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Home Depot and off-duty Chicago police for targeting immigrant day laborers.

Denis Omar Rivera Martinez, a 42-year-old parent from Honduras, was arrested by ICE agents outside Gerald E. Talbot Community School on September 11 and deported to Honduras on October 8. An immigration judge ordered his removal before Rivera Martinez could appear in court for a pending domestic violence charge, preventing him from responding to the allegations. The District Attorney stated ICE did not notify her office of his deportation status, and a scheduled court hearing on Thursday found neither prosecutors nor the judge aware of his whereabouts.

Cary López Alvarado, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by ICE while nine months pregnant after exiting immigration court in New York City alongside her husband, a Guatemalan immigrant. ICE detained her overnight but released her after discovering her citizenship status. She experienced sharp stomach pains immediately after release and gave birth days later. She has filed a claim against the federal government seeking $1 million, citing unlawful arrest and unconstitutional conduct. Her husband has since been deported, leaving her without income and uncertain about childcare arrangements.

Satvir Singh, an Indian national from Punjab who lived in New Jersey and worked as an interstate truck driver, was arrested by ICE's Boston field office on September 11 at a commercial-vehicle inspection station in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. According to ICE, Singh legally entered the United States in 2017 but later remained beyond the period authorized by his admission, living and working in the country for over eight years. The agency did not allege any criminal charges or traffic offenses against him. He remains in immigration custody pending removal proceedings.

Two 17-year-old U.S. citizens, including Luis Ochoa, were detained by ICE agents in Alamo, Texas, after stopping to record an immigration enforcement operation on their way to a Marine Corps recruitment office. Video showed an agent repeatedly hitting one teen and agents using pepper spray while pulling him from his car and handcuffing him; Ochoa said his wrist was broken and he told agents he was a U.S. citizen, to which an agent allegedly replied, "I don't give a damn. Your parents can't help you now." The teens were held for eight hours before being released. Ochoa's mother, Teresa Ochoa, said the experience was traumatic and that officials refused to provide information about her son's whereabouts, while DHS described the teens as "anti-ICE agitators" who obstructed and assaulted officers.

A young man was pulled from a vehicle, thrown to the ground, and punched in the face by ICE agents on a frontage road in Alamo, Texas, according to video shared by the group Stop ICE. The driver of the vehicle was also taken into custody during the incident, which occurred in the middle of the road as bystanders in traffic recorded and tried to alert others nearby. The group reports that ICE and Border Patrol activity has been increasing in the area, with drivers targeted in stops based on vehicle registration information.

As ICE increases patrols in Washington, D.C., immigrant neighborhoods have organized "walking school buses" where groups of parents escort children to school. The initiative was established in response to Trump administration immigration enforcement targeting residents who entered the country illegally.

In December, a Salvadoran day laborer named Josué was detained by masked agents outside a Home Depot in Signal Hill. The incident was captured on video by a Long Beach Rapid Response patroller. Josué has since spent months in the Adelanto Detention Center, while his partner Maria and her daughter Sara seek answers and legal representation for his case.

Mariela, a mother of three, was denied proper medical care while in immigration detention and is now facing a possible cancer diagnosis. She is seeking urgent medical care, housing, and legal support to address her health condition and provide stability for her children.

Alan Phetsadakone, who arrived in the United States as a toddler, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in in Tukwila, Washington in July 2025 and released in September following an order by US authorities. As deportation flights to Laos resume for the first time in years under a new immigration enforcement effort, Phetsadakone now faces renewed threat of deportation despite decades of residency in the country.

A Honduran asylum seeker was detained by federal immigration authorities on or about September 10, 2025, and has since been held at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas. He filed a habeas corpus petition along with applications for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, seeking an order barring his removal from the district, production of his detention records, a show-cause hearing, an expedited individualized custody hearing, and his release. He argued that his detention without a bond hearing violates due process and that he faces practical prejudice in preparing his asylum application while detained, raising a right-to-counsel claim. The court found he was not likely to succeed on the merits, citing statutory authorization for detention during removal proceedings and holding that right-to-counsel claims must be raised before the court of appeals on review of a removal order. The court also found no showing of irreparable harm, noting he did not demonstrate how a transfer or his continued detention would harm his asylum claim beyond ordinary hardships of detention. The court denied the TRO application and held the preliminary injunction request in abeyance.