Human Impact Project

Federico Michel Fermin, a 54-year-old Dominican Republic native, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs wholesale without a license. From September 2004 through August 2005, Fermin conspired with others to distribute more than $1.7 million in prescription drugs, altering drug packaging to make them appear legitimately sourced. A jury convicted him in 2011, and he was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment. During his naturalization process, Fermin falsely testified under penalty of perjury that he had never knowingly committed any unreported crime. The Department of Justice alleges he illegally procured his citizenship through misrepresentation and concealment of material facts.

Neeraj Sharma, a 50-year-old Indian native and owner/CEO of staffing company Magnavision LLC in New Jersey, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of fraud and misuse of visas. As an officer of Magnavision, Sharma signed and filed eleven fraudulent H-1B visa petitions with USCIS, falsely representing that visa beneficiaries would be employed with a particular global financial institution and including forged signatures of executives on corporate letterhead. In 2017, Sharma applied for naturalization and falsely asserted under penalty of perjury that he had never committed crimes, provided false information to U.S. officials, or lied to gain immigration benefits. He naturalized in December 2017. The Department of Justice seeks to revoke his citizenship.

Armando Mendoza, a 39-year-old Mexican native, is facing denaturalization after pleading guilty to receipt of sexually explicit images of minors. Beginning in 2009, Mendoza knowingly received such images. During his 2011 naturalization application and interview, he falsely claimed under oath that he had never committed a crime for which he was not arrested. He naturalized later that year. In 2013, Mendoza pled guilty to receipt of child sexual abuse material. The Department of Justice alleges he committed crimes involving moral turpitude during the period required to demonstrate good moral character and willfully misrepresented material facts during naturalization proceedings.

Talman Harris, a 49-year-old Jamaican native, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of securities fraud and wire fraud. Over an eight-year period, including during his 2012-2014 naturalization proceedings, Harris conspired to manipulate stock prices in publicly traded companies, causing more than $54 million in investments and approximately $39 million in investor losses. In 2016, after naturalizing, a jury found him guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. The Department of Justice alleges Harris committed crimes involving moral turpitude during the period he was required to demonstrate good moral character and falsely testified about his crimes during naturalization proceedings.

Tahir Lekaj, a 43-year-old native of Yugoslavia admitted to the United States in 1999, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of sexually abusing a child under age 15. When Lekaj applied for naturalization in 2004, he falsely claimed under oath that he had never committed a crime for which he was not arrested. He naturalized in May 2005. However, in 2022, Connecticut convicted him of two counts of sexual abuse of a child, with evidence showing the victim was 10 years old when abuse began in January 2003. The Department of Justice filed a complaint alleging he illegally procured citizenship through false testimony and concealment of material facts.

Andrea Marroquin, a 44-year-old Colombian national who inherited her major drug trafficker father's assets, is facing denaturalization after obtaining permanent residence through concealment of a bigamous marriage. Between 2003 and 2011, Marroquin conspired to commit wire and bank fraud and money laundering, using her late father's drug proceeds to finance fraudulent real estate transactions in Miami, Florida. She naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2009 while concealing her criminal activities. The Department of Justice filed four denaturalization counts against her, alleging she knowingly lied to immigration authorities and lacked good moral character.

Jean Claude Alfred, a 68-year-old Haitian native who naturalized in 1994, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of sexual abuse of his minor daughter. Alfred began repeatedly sexually abusing his daughter in September 1993, approximately one month before filing his naturalization application, and continued the abuse during his naturalization proceedings. During naturalization, Alfred falsely represented under oath that he had not committed any unreported crimes. A Florida jury convicted him in 1996 of attempted sexual battery and lewd assault upon a child. The Department of Justice alleges he illegally procured citizenship through false testimony and concealment of material facts.

Jose Alejandro Cocmaxsolovid and Jose Luis Mejia Lopez, both Guatemalan nationals, were detained by ICE on June 8, 2026, at their place of work and residence in Waterloo, Iowa. According to immigrant advocacy groups, both men are workers with strong community ties and are not dangerous criminals. The detention is part of ICE enforcement actions following Congress's $70 billion funding increase for immigration enforcement, with advocacy groups expressing concern that the agency is increasingly targeting immigrants with community connections.

Leidys Delmas Garcia, a 54-year-old Cuban native, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Garcia and co-conspirators operated 30 physical therapy clinics in Florida that fraudulently billed Blue Cross Blue Shield approximately $36.7 million for medically unnecessary or non-provided services. During her naturalization interview, Garcia falsely testified under penalty of perjury that she had not committed crimes and had never provided false information to U.S. government officials. The Department of Justice filed denaturalization action seeking to revoke her citizenship.

Thien, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1984 at age 3 and became a permanent resident, lost his green card status at 16 due to a mistake. After serving his sentence, he was placed on an order of supervision rather than deported because Vietnam was not accepting deportees. For 24 years, he complied with every condition of the order, maintained work authorization, built a business, and raised a family. When he attended a scheduled immigration appointment, he was detained within 10 minutes without an interview and is now facing deportation.

Akram Mahmoud Omar, 77, a Palestinian-born lawful permanent resident who lived in the United States for 50 years, was detained by ICE in October 2025 during a routine check-in at Angola prison's ICE detention facility. While in custody, Omar suffered a heart attack and underwent triple-bypass surgery. On May 29, 2026, Federal Judge Brian Jackson ordered Omar's release, finding ICE violated his constitutional rights and due process. However, on June 8, 2026, ICE re-arrested Omar at his home without warning and attempted to deport him to Israel the following morning, directly defying the judge's order. A second emergency court order forced ICE to release him again and prohibited further detention or removal pending a June 24 hearing.

Jairo Isaias Alvarado-Lopez, 38, was booked into Shawnee County Department of Corrections on June 8, 2026, following a traffic-related arrest involving allegations of operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, speeding, and unlawful vehicle registration violations. An ICE detainer was placed on him, designated as "NO BOND." He is scheduled to appear in court on July 15, 2026.

Dy Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who lived in the United States for 27 years, was detained by ICE for almost 8 months beginning in October 2025 before being deported to Vietnam. During his detention at Stewart Detention Center in Atlanta, his newborn son was born, whom he never physically held. His attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund pursued legal action for his release, but the case was delayed for over six months. Nguyen was shackled for 35 hours during flights and spent an additional 30 hours on buses traveling through Vietnam after deportation, separated from his family of five and his church community.

Records show a sharp rise in 911 medical calls to the ICE field office in Miramar, Florida, which has increasingly been used to hold detainees for days despite historically serving as an administrative check-in location. Detainees report being denied access to medications, crowded conditions, and lack of basic hygiene facilities. The surge in emergencies comes as concerns mount over future detention capacity with the end of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants.

On June 8, 2026, plainclothes ICE agents in multiple vehicles conducted an operation near the Will County Courthouse in downtown Joliet at approximately 10:56 a.m. on Jefferson Street. Activists from Warehouse Workers For Justice reported witnessing and confirming an abduction from the courthouse area. The operation involved multiple sport utility vehicles including a blue Ford Edge, a black Ford Escape, and a gray Chevy Tahoe. Joliet police and Will County sheriff confirmed the agents were not their officers. ICE officials declined to provide details about the operation.

Sami Hamdi, a 35-year-old British political journalist and commentator, was detained by ICE at San Francisco International Airport on October 27, 2025, after his visitor visa was revoked on October 24 without prior notice. U.S. officials cited comments he made about the Middle East, Gaza, and Israel during a speaking tour—including an address at a CAIR gala in Sacramento on October 26—as the reason for the visa revocation and detention. Held in an ICE facility with approximately 90 other detainees, Hamdi received minimal contact with his family and was initially denied medical care when he became ill. After approximately two weeks in custody, federal judges found serious breaches of freedom of speech and ordered his release without charge. His wife subsequently warned British citizens, particularly those planning to attend the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., about the risks of traveling to the country under expanded ICE enforcement operations.

Beginning May 25, 2026, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, to support detainees staging a hunger strike over poor living conditions including moldy and expired food, overcrowded cells, and lack of air conditioning. The 1,000-bed facility, operated by the GEO Group under a $1 billion contract and opened in early 2025, became the site of escalating confrontations over several days. ICE agents and New Jersey State Police deployed pepper spray, tear gas, batons, and horses against demonstrators who formed human chains and used makeshift shields. Senator Andy Kim was exposed to pepper spray, a U.S. military veteran providing medical assistance was detained, and an ICE agent supervisor was filmed pushing a photographer off a public sidewalk. At least 80 people were arrested, with some charged with rioting after authorities imposed a curfew, and Congresswoman LaMonica McIver was later charged with assaulting officers. Mayor Ras Baraka announced plans to shut down the facility and to sue the GEO Group, while the state filed a lawsuit seeking unrestricted health inspections.

During an ICE operation at the Port of Astoria on June 7, 2026, federal agents pepper sprayed Astoria resident Stefanie Collar as ICE vehicles departed. Collar, who was not part of an organized observer group, confronted the vehicles at a traffic light and shouted at the agents. Video evidence showed an agent in a minivan attempted to open his door and deploy pepper spray before driving away; two additional vehicles behind the van also sprayed Collar as they passed. An ICE officer later called local police to report that agents had used pepper spray after what they characterized as a crowd swarming their vehicles.

Marco Antonio Mendoza-Cesar, a Venezuelan national, was detained by ICE agents during an operation at the Port of Astoria's Pier 1 on June 7, 2026. ICE conducted the operation on federally controlled port property without notifying Port of Astoria officials or local law enforcement. The operation raised concerns about whether it violated Oregon's sanctuary law, which prohibits state and local agencies from participating in immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.

The petitioner, a Cuban citizen and native of Cuba, is subject to a final order of removal entered in 2018. At that time he was detained for approximately eight months while the government unsuccessfully attempted to effect his removal, after which he was released. He was re-detained by immigration authorities on June 7, 2026 (described as June 6, 2026 in a related filing) and has remained in immigration custody since then. A petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed on his behalf by a relative acting as 'next friend,' arguing his continued detention violates the Due Process Clause under Zadvydas v. Davis and federal immigration detention regulations, and seeking his immediate release. However, the court found that the petitioner had separately filed his own pro se habeas petition in his own name one day earlier, raising the same claims and seeking the same relief against a more complete set of respondents. Because the petitioner was shown to be capable of litigating on his own behalf, the court held the 'next friend' could not establish standing and dismissed this duplicative action, along with pending motions for a temporary restraining order and for entry of judgment. The court clarified that dismissal does not limit the petitioner's ability to pursue his claims in the separately filed prior action.