Human Impact Project

A man detained under immigration law filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted his petition on April 7, 2026. The court ordered respondents to immediately release him from custody and return all personal belongings and identification documents confiscated during his detention. The court enjoined respondents from detaining him for seven days following his release based on 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225 or 1226. If the government seeks to detain him after seven days, it must provide a bond hearing within 48 hours or his remedy will recur. The petitioner may submit a motion for attorney fees within 60 days of the order.

Armando Gonzalez Procopio, 49, a Mexican citizen who worked as a handyman and house cleaner in Big Bear, California for over 20 years, was detained by ICE agents on March 31, 2026, while on his way to work on Big Bear Boulevard. He was placed in removal proceedings at the ICE Desert View Annex Detention Facility in Adelanto. Gonzalez's three daughters—Adriana, 20, Citlalli, 26, and a 16-year-old—are now caring for their mother, Erika, who has Stage 4 brain cancer and is in hospice care. The daughters describe their father as the family pillar who put them through college and ensured their mother reached medical appointments during her five-year cancer battle. DHS cited a 2011 infraction for operating a vehicle without a valid driver's license (Gonzalez pleaded guilty and paid over $400 in fines), though court records show no conviction. A court granted Gonzalez's temporary restraining order and ordered his immediate release from immigration custody.

Ever Alvarenga Rios, a 32-year-old Honduran immigrant who had been seeking citizenship for eight years, was injured when an ICE vehicle allegedly rammed his van on Thursday morning in Baltimore. He suffered significant injuries to his head, chest, back, and hands and was hospitalized. His wife, Lurbin Vasquez, said her husband has no criminal record in Honduras or the U.S., operates his own flooring business, and obeys all laws. After his release from the hospital, Alvarenga Rios was taken into ICE custody. His attorneys reported being denied private access to him while he was hospitalized and raised concerns about whether all his injuries resulted from the vehicle collision or from physical interaction with ICE agents.

Brian Jose Morales Garcia, 25, was deported by ICE after being detained during a traffic stop near Fredericksburg, Texas on April 3, 2026. Garcia claims he is a U.S. citizen born in Denver and provided documents including a birth certificate, hospital records, and baptismal record to support his claim. Despite his assertions of citizenship and documents at home, ICE deported him four days after his arrest after he allegedly made an admission of illegal entry under what he says was intimidation.

A Cuban citizen who entered the United States from Mexico on March 24, 2022, was issued a Notice to Appear for removability under immigration law. She was released on her own recognizance and complied with all conditions of her release. She filed applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture; an immigration judge denied her asylum application, and her appeal remains pending. On April 3, 2026, local police in Odessa, Texas arrested her for an alleged local ordinance violation, and ICE took her into custody on April 6, 2026, transferring her to the Otero County Processing Center. The petitioner, who is approximately ten weeks pregnant and has been diagnosed with diabetes during detention, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her continued detention without a bond hearing. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico granted her petition, finding that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) governs her detention and that continued detention without a bond hearing violates her Fifth Amendment due process rights. The court ordered her immediate release and prohibited re-detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral Immigration Judge.

Sunday Goshit, a University of Iowa adjunct assistant professor and Nigerian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 2000, was approved for naturalization in October 2025 after passing his citizenship interview. His naturalization ceremony scheduled for January 16, 2026 was canceled without explanation less than a month before the date. Goshit and his wife filed a lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in federal court challenging the halting of their naturalization application.

John Bol Ajak, a 26-year-old former Syracuse University basketball player, was taken into ICE custody in early March 2026 following his arrest in Syracuse on charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. His student visa had expired in 2023 after his graduation. He was held at Buffalo Federal Detention Facility and Moshannon Valley Processing Center for over a month. During a virtual hearing with Elizabeth Immigration Court in New Jersey on April 2-3, 2026, an immigration judge found that Ajak had overstayed his visa. Ajak agreed to voluntary deportation to South Sudan and was scheduled for removal within 60 days.

Two immigrant truck drivers detained by Iowa State Patrol and ICE officers along Interstate 80 are suing the federal government, alleging violations of due process rights. The detentions occurred as part of 'Operation ICE Wall,' a national immigration enforcement effort where state troopers stop drivers at weigh stations and ICE officers arrest them. Both drivers had work authorization and pending asylum applications at the time of their arrests.

An undocumented immigrant entered the United States without authorization in 2020 and was recently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal proceedings. He is currently held at the Florida Soft Side Detention Facility in Ochopee, Florida. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), which mandates detention without a bond hearing, arguing he should instead be subject to § 1226(a)'s discretionary detention scheme where he could be eligible for release. The court agreed with his statutory interpretation argument, finding that § 1226(a) applies to noncitizens already present in the United States, not § 1225(b)(2). The court granted his petition in part and ordered the government to provide him with a bond hearing as required under § 1226(a), but denied his request for immediate release.

Jose Espinoza Hernandez was arrested and detained by ICE outside his home in the early morning of April 2, 2026, when he was leaving for work. He is currently in removal proceedings and has a pending U-Visa application. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated due process. Jose Espinoza was detained by ICE on April 2nd in the morning just outside his home as he was heading to work. His family launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to support his case and bring him home.

A Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. on a B-2 visa in 2016 and filed for asylum within one year was detained by ICE on April 2, 2026 when she appeared for her scheduled asylum interview at the Los Angeles Asylum Office in Tustin, California. Despite maintaining lawful employment and having no criminal history over nine years, the interview was not conducted and she was instead transported to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The court granted her temporary restraining order application, ordering that she receive an individualized bond hearing within three days.

A Cuban national with a final removal order from November 1987 was re-detained by ICE on April 2, 2026, after not being in immigration custody since that time. ICE sought to hold him under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) and evaluate him for third-country removal to Mexico without his consent. The court found ICE failed to demonstrate changed circumstances justifying revocation of his release and did not comply with procedural requirements. The court ordered his immediate release to the conditions he was subject to prior to detention.

Kaleth, a 2-year-old boy, was detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas after his entire family reported to a routine ICE check-in appointment in California in March 2026. The family had never missed a required immigration appointment since seeking asylum in 2024. Kaleth's father was handcuffed and transferred to an adult detention facility in California, while Kaleth and his mother Joani were transported over 1,000 miles away to Dilley. Separated from his father, Kaleth became despondent and stopped eating for 12 days; facility staff attributed his refusal to eat to depression. When his mother tried to force him to eat, he vomited and eventually stopped having bowel movements. After two weeks in detention, ICE released Kaleth and his mother in April following legal intervention, reuniting them with his father. His legal representative reported that Kaleth had not eaten solid food during his entire detention; in the car from the airport, he devoured four packets of applesauce and has since recovered.

A Venezuelan national with Temporary Protected Status was detained by ICE on April 2, 2026, after being stopped for speeding. She had been granted humanitarian parole in October 2022 and subsequently received TPS status. The court granted her habeas corpus petition and ordered her immediate release, finding her detention violated due process rights.

Luzvin Garcia Moran, a 28-year-old noncitizen from Guatemala, was arrested by Arlington County Police on April 12, 2026, for attempted sexual assault. According to ICE, Garcia approached a woman waiting for a rideshare, made sexually explicit comments, grabbed and pushed her into a wall, and physically assaulted her. The victim briefly escaped but he approached and assaulted her again before two bystanders intervened and called police. Garcia fled but was quickly apprehended by responding officers. ICE lodged a detainer requesting he not be released from custody. According to the agency, Garcia has an arrest record spanning 2020 to 2026 that includes charges for public intoxication, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and probation violations.

Suzy Gerónimo, a transgender activist and community organizer in North Carolina, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop in Franklin County and transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. Gerónimo is recognized for founding and directing Fuerza y Unión Múltiple (FUM), an organization supporting transgender people in rural areas. A fundraising campaign was launched to support her legal defense and detention-related expenses, with Raleigh Immigration Law Firm providing legal representation.

A federal judge ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents violated a court order during a July 2025 enforcement operation at a Sacramento Home Depot parking lot by conducting warrantless arrests without individualized assessments. Judge Jennifer Thurston found that agents submitted virtually identical detention forms for 11 people, detaining them based on assumptions about their immigration status rather than reasonable suspicion or probable cause of flight risk.

California House members Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs conducted an unannounced oversight visit to the Otay Mesa ICE detention facility in San Diego on May 11, 2026, following a federal court ruling that struck down a Trump administration policy requiring seven days' notice for congressional visits. During their visit, ICE handed Levin a letter outlining a new policy requiring two days' advance notice and written consent from detainees before members of Congress can speak with them. Levin criticized the new restrictions as an attempt to obstruct congressional oversight, stating that advance notice allows the facility time to prepare and conceal actual conditions.

Chicago area officials accused ICE of violating Illinois state law and a Cook County court order that prohibit immigration arrests at courthouses. ICE agents allegedly appeared at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse on Thursday and arrested a woman there on March 13, defying protections signed into law by Governor Pritzker in October.

Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam, a 64-year-old legal permanent resident from India, won an immigration hearing to remain in the United States after his 1980 murder conviction was vacated in 2024 following over 43 years in prison. Immigration Judge Adam Panopoulos ruled that Vedam's lengthy wrongful imprisonment, spotless prison record, and demonstrated rehabilitation outweighed prior drug convictions from the early 1980s, finding he poses no danger to the community and possesses good moral character. Vedam had been taken into ICE custody after his conviction was dismissed and was days away from naturalized citizenship when the deportation case was heard.