Human Impact Project

A long-term law-abiding resident of the United States, a noncitizen, was detained at the Western Tennessee Detention Facility pending removal proceedings without receiving a bond hearing. He filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus challenging his detention as violating due process rights. The court noted that he, described as a long-term law-abiding resident of the United States, had been held in mandatory detention. Following the Sixth Circuit's decision in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft, which established that noncitizens are entitled to a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), the respondent agreed that a custody redetermination hearing was required. The district court granted the habeas petition to the limited extent of ordering that he receive a bond hearing within ten days or be released from custody, finding that Section 1226 guarantees only a hearing opportunity, not automatic release.

Jessica Trevino, a 34-year-old DACA recipient who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico at age six or seven and has lived in Texas her entire life, was arrested by ICE agents on December 28, 2025, as she left church with her family in the Rio Grande Valley. Agents rammed the family's vehicle in a Home Depot parking lot, struck her husband Juan with a baton, and shoved her 14-year-old daughter Sarah against the car hard enough to bruise her. Trevino's DACA status was valid and not set to expire until spring 2027. She worked in an elementary school cafeteria and had no criminal record. After nearly 90 days in ICE custody, an immigration judge granted voluntary departure; Trevino claims she did not consent to this order and did not sign the forms. Despite federal law protecting active DACA recipients from removal and the errors in the judge's statement regarding her DACA expiration date, Trevino was deported to Matamoros, Mexico on March 25, 2026. Her three U.S. citizen children—ages 16, 14, and 13—remained in Texas in the care of relatives. After deportation, USCIS notified her of intent to revoke her DACA status and work permit. Her family has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the deportation as unlawful and seeking her return and restoration of DACA status.

A Mexican national who fled Mexico in 2024 due to extortion threats and entered the U.S. without inspection was detained by ICE on June 18, 2026, pursuant to a warrant issued June 8, 2026. He had arranged for his young son to join him in the U.S., and the son was detained by immigration authorities upon entry in January 2026 before being released to his father's care as ORR sponsor. During the June 18 detention, approximately five vehicles surrounded the father and his son as they left their home; agents pointed guns and arrested him while his son remained in the vehicle. The court granted his emergency motion for temporary restraining order, ordering his immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

Daniel, a man with severe intellectual disabilities (IQ of 47) and limited English proficiency, was arrested by ICE agents on June 17, 2025, while collecting recyclables in his east Los Angeles neighborhood. Under the conservatorship of his siblings for decades, Daniel understood Spanish but struggled with English and could not cope with loud noises or routine disruptions. Despite his inability to understand removal proceedings or consent documents presented in English, and without involvement of his conservator or judicial review, he was deported to Mexico under claimed voluntary departure. His nephew Christopher, a U.S. citizen, launched an extensive search using ICE's online tracker and contacted federal authorities, eventually working with legal aid group ImmDef to locate Daniel at Adelanto detention center. Daniel ended up in a hospital in Tijuana with no awareness his family was searching for him. After more than nine months, lawyers secured his parole and return to the U.S. A federal judge subsequently issued a temporary restraining order blocking ICE from detaining him if he returns, ruling that his deportation raised serious due process concerns.

All detainees at the South Florida Detention Center, a facility in Florida's Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz" that opened in July 2025, were transferred to other facilities in mid-June 2026. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security cited hurricane season safety concerns as the reason for the transfers. However, immigration advocates and lawyers dispute this explanation, noting the facility operated throughout the previous hurricane season without prior closures. Approximately 800 detainees have been transferred, with families and legal representatives reporting difficulty locating them and unclear information about their current status. The facility had faced persistent criticism and lawsuits over poor conditions, including worms in food, non-functioning toilets, flooding, denial of medical care, solitary confinement, and inadequate legal access.

Montgomery County Sheriff Maxwell Uy admitted that his office improperly transferred a person to ICE custody on June 18, 2026, in violation of the Maryland Community Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from transferring individuals to ICE without a judicial warrant. After receiving backlash from Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González, Uy stated the transfer did not meet the act's exceptions and pledged to implement additional measures to prevent similar incidents.

Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident and president of Wisconsin's largest mosque, was detained by ICE on March 30, 2026, after being pulled over by armed plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles. He was held for 80 days in Clay County Jail in Indiana on an administrative warrant. During detention, his unmonitored diabetes caused significant health deterioration, he faced religious liberty restrictions and inadequate medical treatment, and he lost over 30 pounds, describing the experience as dehumanizing. On June 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon ordered Sarsour's immediate release, finding he had raised a substantial First Amendment claim and that ICE detained him in retaliation for his public advocacy for Palestinian rights. The judge rejected government arguments about foreign policy and national security threats, noting that immigration officials had been aware of his prior convictions from the 1990s for 25 years and had previously approved his legal permanent residency application. The Trump administration continues to seek his deportation, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio citing his activism as grounds for removal.

Dionicio Miguel Francisco-Gutierrez was arrested by ICE on Friday, June 14, 2026, while waiting at a bus stop in North Bergen, New Jersey, in front of his two children who were in school uniforms. The arrest was recorded by a bystander. According to federal officials, Francisco-Gutierrez has a prior criminal conviction for violating Pennsylvania's Controlled Substance Act, with previous arrests on drug charges in 2022 and 2023. Following his arrest, his two children were placed in the custody of a legal guardian that he had designated. North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco and Commissioner Hugo Cabrera condemned the enforcement action, with Cabrera stating that "the trauma inflicted on young children witnessing a parent or caregiver being detained is profound and lasting."

Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno self-deported to Peru in March 2026 after receiving a final deportation order and was approved for CBP Home incentive payments ($2,600) in April verifying his departure. In June 2026, ICE mistakenly identified him as a suspect in a violent incident in Stafford Township, New Jersey, where an officer was struck by a vehicle during an enforcement operation on Route 72. Federal prosecutors later charged a different man, Eduardo Cruz Garcia, with the assault. Castillo-Ormeno expressed concern that the misidentification could harm his reputation and affect his ability to legally return to the United States, as well as his U.S.-born daughter's documentation.

Olga Perez, a 47-year-old indigenous Mam language interpreter and community leader in Palm Beach County, Florida, was arrested during a traffic stop on I-95 in November 2025 and placed in ICE custody in Arizona. After seven months in detention and nine delayed immigration hearings, an immigration judge ordered her deported to Guatemala by July 6, 2026. She was released on her own recognizance pending voluntary deportation and made a surprise visit to her family and the Guatemalan-Maya Center in Lake Worth Beach before being deported. Perez had spent 30 years in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, volunteering as an interpreter and translator for indigenous communities in the region. Her deportation leaves behind four U.S. citizen children, ages 13 to 21.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 72 Haitian asylum seekers, including 21 children and a 2-month-old baby, to Port-au-Prince on Monday, three days after President Biden suspended deportation flights to Haiti. The deportations occurred despite Biden's 100-day moratorium on deportations, which was limited to convicted criminals and suspected terrorists. The action followed a January 26 federal court injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton that blocked Biden's moratorium, which ICE used to resume deportation operations.

Mostly young Honduran men at the La72 migrant shelter in Tenosique said they are heading to Monterrey instead of the U.S., understanding they are not welcome. Some still attempt dangerous maritime crossings into the United States; others are captured, detained, and deported, only to try again weeks later. Some likely never arrive and their fates remain unknown.

Diego was arrested and is currently detained by ICE. His wife Rosali, who is four months pregnant with their second child and caring for their daughter full-time, is struggling to meet basic household expenses including rent, utilities, groceries, and transportation while her husband fights his case.

Polina (born 2002) and Alexandra (born 2005), sisters from Belarus, have been detained at the California border for over 9 months. Their initial lawyer failed to properly defend them in court and stopped cooperating with the family. The sisters were denied habeas corpus twice due to legal errors and now face deportation to Belarus while awaiting a new asylum application. They have documented health issues and are seeking legal and financial support to continue their case.

A man was detained by ICE during an interview at the immigration office in Philadelphia while applying for adjustment of status (green card). He had a final exclusion order issued 30 years prior but no criminal history in the intervening decades. Under current immigration policies, ICE is detaining anyone with a final exclusion order who applies for adjustment of status, and he has been denied access to habeas corpus relief. His family is seeking legal options to prevent his deportation.

An older Russian man who crossed at a port of entry and requested asylum in August 2024 was hospitalized days later for stroke-like symptoms while detained at Otay Mesa. He was cuffed to his hospital bed despite half his body being paralyzed, and upon return to detention received no mobility support until other detainees filed grievance reports on his behalf. He continued to lose consciousness regularly and was eventually released on parole in February 2025 after six months in detention.

Carol Black, a Jamaican-born lawful permanent resident who moved to New York in 1983, was detained by ICE in 2019 for seven months without a bond hearing following a 2000 sex abuse conviction for which he had completed probation. Unable to obtain a hearing to post bond while deportation proceedings continued, Black filed a federal habeas petition arguing the detention violated his constitutional due process rights. During the proceedings, Black sold his home and business and voluntarily left the United States after 40 years of residency. His case is now before the Supreme Court, which will decide whether ICE can hold lawful permanent residents indefinitely without bond hearings.

A 39-year-old Russian man held at Otay Mesa Detention Center for 17 months filed multiple grievance reports documenting severe sanitary conditions, including only two working urinals and one sink for over 100 detainees, which led to an outbreak of eye infections. He also filed grievance reports on behalf of other detainees, including an older man who needed mobility support after a stroke. He was released in 2026 after exhausting oversight channels that were subsequently gutted under the Trump administration.

Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, a 22-year-old mother born in Laurel, Maryland, was detained by ICE near her Baltimore home on December 14, 2025, stemming from a 2023 CBP encounter in Arizona where she was recorded claiming Mexican citizenship. Despite her family and attorneys presenting a Maryland birth certificate, hospital birth records, and fingerprints, DHS maintained she was not a citizen and pursued removal proceedings against her. A federal judge blocked her deportation days after her arrest, but she remained in custody for 25 days, transferred five times through facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and New Jersey, spending Christmas away from her young son. She was released on January 7, 2026, with an ankle monitor and reunited with her 5-year-old son. Her attorneys maintained the documentation clearly established her citizenship. On June 17, 2026, DHS dismissed her deportation case after confirming her birth in Maryland, and she obtained a U.S. passport.

A 22-year-old woman was detained by police in Hamilton, Tennessee, who then contacted ICE, leading to her transfer into immigration custody. She was moved to a jail in Etowah County, Alabama, before being transferred to a facility in Louisiana after three days. Her girlfriend, who organized a fundraiser to cover legal and bond costs, described her as hardworking, cheerful, and always willing to help others; she also cares for her 14-year-old brother.