Human Impact Project

Maycon Souto Dos Reis, 54, a Brazilian national, was arrested by ICE during a targeted operation at Westborough District Court in Westborough, Massachusetts. He had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2024 and was released into the country, later coming to ICE's attention after a May 2025 arrest for unlicensed driving in Southborough. ICE said he had been convicted in Brazil and sentenced to over 14 years in prison, with an arrest warrant issued after he fled to the United States. He remains in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings.

Cesar was arrested by ICE on August 3, 2025, after 9 years in the U.S. and transferred to Imperial Detention Center. He had previously been arrested by ICE around 2019 and released on parole under an order of supervision. ICE has now moved to enforce a previous removal order. His wife and two daughters (ages 16 and 6), one of whom has cerebral palsy requiring specialized medical care, are left without his income and struggling to afford rent, groceries, and medical expenses.

Three women known as "Las Tres Guerreras" or the "Baldwin Park Three" (Akalei Brown, Cynthia Saragoza, and Sandia) were charged by the Department of Homeland Security in September 2025 for documenting an ICE agent during a community watch patrol. They face charges including conspiracy and doxxing with potential sentences exceeding 10 years in federal prison, with trial scheduled for February 24, 2026. Sandia is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles awaiting trial.

Orlais Lores Mayeta, a Cuban national, was detained by federal officers near his home in Stockbridge, Georgia on August 2, and is being held at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. His wife, Kayla Lores Mayeta, a U.S. citizen who is five months pregnant, says the detention stems from a paperwork error in which their attorney submitted his Cuban Adjustment Act application to USCIS instead of the immigration court, despite his open immigration case. An immigration judge denied him bail, and his final hearing is set for September 30. Kayla says the detention has left her covering household, pregnancy, and legal expenses alone, and the family has launched a fundraising campaign for support.

A federal judge dismissed charges against Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, a 36-year-old TikTok creator and U.S. citizen arrested at an August 2 protest against immigration enforcement, after finding the government acted in bad faith. Redondo-Rosales had spent six months in jail awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting a Federal Protective Service officer with a cloth hat. The judge noted discrepancies in the officer's statements, that video evidence contradicted the assault claim, and that prosecutors sought dismissal to avoid disclosing problematic officer records rather than address legitimate legal issues.

A visibly pregnant U.S. citizen and her undocumented mother were arrested by federal agents outside a health clinic in Los Angeles.

Customers at a gas station in Maryland witnessed armed, masked agents in vests marked only 'POLICE' emerge from an unmarked black Kia, chase a man named Samuel, and swiftly handcuff him. One agent repeatedly asked him in Spanish, 'Why were you running?' then demanded to know whether he was 'legal or illegal' and asked for his papers. One witness said, 'I felt like I was watching someone being kidnapped.'

In New Mexico, a father was en route to a school event when his vehicle was surrounded by agents in a supermarket parking lot. Agents smashed his window with a sledgehammer. His partner and two young girls slipped out the passenger side as an armed agent hovered beside the car. ICE, which was assisted by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, claimed that when officers first tried to stop Jorge Martín Ortiz-Rosalez's vehicle earlier that day, he fled at high speed.

In the San Diego area, a mother was arrested by federal agents outside an elementary school as students arrived. Her two children were in the car with her. The school district confirmed the children were students at the school.

A man in his mid-30s who came to Huron as a teenager without legal status was detained by ICE outside his home in August 2025 and subsequently deported to Guatemala. His wife, a U.S. citizen, and their two children (ages 2 and 9) were left behind. The family had consulted multiple lawyers about obtaining legal status for him but found no feasible options under current law. The man now lives with his parents in Guatemala while his family struggles financially and emotionally in South Dakota.

Pablo Sequen filed a habeas corpus petition challenging unlawful detention by immigration authorities. The case involves a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction proceedings. A judge granted a preliminary injunction on September 16, 2025, halting the petitioner's deportation.

Sharareh Moghadam, a legal green card holder from Iran working toward U.S. citizenship, was detained by ICE on August 1, 2025, after reporting to immigration offices as instructed. She had traveled to Iran to visit family members with serious health issues and was detained upon her return to California. She is currently held in a facility in Phoenix, Arizona, with a court date scheduled for September 12.

Detainees at a South Florida immigration detention center nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" have been on a hunger strike for ten days, protesting living conditions. One detainee, Pedro Hernández, was hospitalized during the strike but continues to refuse food, citing conditions and treatment. Civil rights groups have filed lawsuits stating detainees lack access to legal counsel, food, hygiene, and medical care.

An immigrant man who lived in Maryland with his wife and children was deported to Mexico on August 1 despite a 2024 immigration judge ruling that granted him protection under the Convention Against Torture, finding he faced likely torture or death there. The man had cooperated with federal prosecutors, providing 'substantial assistance' by testifying against defendants affiliated with Mexican drug cartels. He was detained during a routine ICE check-in in January, held for six months at a Louisiana detention facility, then deported first to Guatemala (which refused him) and then to Mexico (which also refused him) before finally being deported to Mexico again after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Acting ICE Director David Venturella intervened to override his torture protection. A federal judge later ruled the deportation violated his due process rights and ordered his return, but as of the report he remained in hiding in Mexico.

Mireille Desormeaux, a Haitian green card holder, became a U.S. citizen in early August after suing the federal government with Project Citizenship over delayed naturalization. USCIS had frozen naturalization proceedings for applicants from 39 countries deemed 'high risk,' including Haiti, Venezuela, and Côte d'Ivoire. Twelve of the 14 plaintiffs in the lawsuit have since become citizens after months of unexplained delays.

Daysi Munoz and her husband were arrested by Burleson, Texas police on suspicion of shoplifting while back-to-school shopping at a Walmart in August 2025, an arrest that led to their transfer into ICE custody. About 40 days later they were deported to Honduras, leaving their two U.S. citizen daughters, 19-year-old Dulce Zepeda and 13-year-old Maria, on their own in Fort Worth. Dulce has since taken on parental responsibilities for her sister, cooking, driving her to school, working at McDonald's, and selling her mother's jewelry to pay bills. Munoz said she repeatedly asked ICE to let her take her daughters with her to Honduras, but was told she would have to spend four or five more months in detention if she wanted that option.

Benjamin, 16, and his brother Dennis were stopped by Buffalo police in August 2025 during a traffic stop; DHS agents then arrested both brothers despite their possession of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Deferred Action protections from deportation. ICE officers questioned them, told them the U.S. would pay $2,000 for self-deportation, and presented them with English-language papers without explanation; Benjamin signed, believing he had no choice. Dennis, who had just turned 18, was deported to Ecuador while Benjamin was transported to a shelter in Texas, then moved to a shelter in Groton, Connecticut, where he spent two months unable to understand why he was being held despite having been previously vetted and approved for release to his father. Benjamin wrote that he felt "trapped" and "like a delinquent," confined to three rooms with no outdoor access without staff supervision. He was released 143 days after his arrest, four days after lawyers filed a lawsuit challenging his detention.

The Trump Administration opened Camp East Montana, the largest immigrant detention facility in the country, at Fort Bliss military base in West Texas in August 2025, designed to hold up to 5,000 people. The facility was awarded to Acquisition Logistics, a Virginia-based company with no prior detention experience whose CEO operated from a modest suburban house in Richmond. Detainees arrived at an active construction site with non-functioning toilets, sporadic running water, toxic sanitation conditions, and no outdoor recreation—one Cuban detainee reported not seeing sunlight for a month. ICE failed to register the contractor in Texas, withheld facility location information from families and lawyers, and disabled the detainee locator system.

Beata Siemionkowicz, a 57-year-old with a valid permanent resident card since 2003, was detained by ICE in August 2025 while working in her daughter's garden in Illinois. An immigration judge issued a deportation order in December 2025; DHS cited two petty theft convictions from the early 2000s and claimed an arrest warrant from Poland, though her daughters provided documentation from Polish authorities showing no criminal record. Her appeal of the deportation order is pending, with a final decision expected in summer 2026.

In August 2025, a 6-year-old New York City public school student and her mother, an Ecuadorian family who had sought asylum, were deported after being detained during an ICE check-in on August 12 and removed on August 19. The family's asylum application had been denied with a deportation order issued in June 2024. The student's older sibling, age 16, remains in the United States. New York officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, condemned the deportation.