Human Impact Project

Detainees held at the Adams County Correctional Center, an ICE facility near Natchez, Mississippi operated by CoreCivic, reported smelling gas on August 8, followed by a power outage beginning August 10 that left the facility without air conditioning for about two days. Detainees said they were evacuated into afternoon heat approaching 100 degrees for hours, suffered headaches and other symptoms, and were denied medical care, with cells meant for two people holding three. One detainee's wife said detainees were also denied tablet devices during the disruption and feared retaliation, including solitary confinement, if seen as organizing. CoreCivic disputed the accounts, stating no gas leak was found, the outage lasted about two hours with generators functioning, air conditioning was never interrupted, and no one was denied medical care. A subsequent inspection found 23 use-of-force or restraint violations, resulting in a downgrade of the facility's rating.

A man was reportedly detained by ICE agents while waiting for a bus to go to work in the South Ward of Newark, New Jersey. Video footage shows officers wearing tactical vests marked "POLICE" apprehending the man near a residential street. The incident has generated concern in the local community.

Immigration agents arrived in unmarked black vans around 8 a.m. on Friday, August 14, at a food vendor corridor on Sunset Avenue and Amar Road in La Puente, California, near the Don Chilaquiles stand. Witnesses and vendors, including David González and Gabriela Hoyos, said a fellow vendor selling chicharrones spotted the agents and alerted others, allowing workers to flee to their vehicles before any arrests. Two Don Chilaquiles employees told reporters that no one was detained this time because workers received the warning in time. The same location saw Border Patrol agents detain three workers in December 2025, and vendors say fear of enforcement persists even as they continue working to support their families.

Multiple armed ICE agents in at least four vehicles arrived at the Morris Law Group, an immigration law firm in North Natomas, claiming to have a list from Washington, D.C. listing the building's address as a primary mailing address for numerous people. The agents requested to tour the office for beds, stating they could return at 3 a.m. to break windows and enter if they received follow-up orders. Law firm owner Raissa Morris instructed her staff to deny entry without a warrant. After approximately one hour, building manager Daniel Azurduy arrived and told the agents they were trespassing; they left shortly after. UC Davis Law Professor Kevin Johnson noted the tactic was unprecedented and questioned its legality, stating agents would need a warrant to search for evidence.

Guillermo Perez Ayala, a 52-year-old from Guanajuato, Mexico, was abandoned in Naco, Arizona during a border crossing attempt. According to his family, Perez Ayala last communicated with them on July 30, 2026, informing them he would wear camouflage clothing for the journey. He was allegedly left behind on Highway 80 in Arizona after injuring his foot and being unable to keep pace with the guides. His family is seeking information about his whereabouts.

Juan Francisco Monroy Turuy, a 54-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who has worked as a restaurant remodeler in the U.S. for more than two decades, called 911 after witnessing a man fire a gun into the air in a Home Depot parking lot on West Sam Houston Parkway South. He stayed at the scene to help identify the suspect, but before Houston police finished interviewing him, ICE agents arrived and detained him over his immigration status. Houston Police Department said it had not contacted or coordinated with ICE, and Home Depot denied cooperating with the agency. He has been held for more than three weeks at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe, and his attorney says no one has contacted him about pursuing a U-visa. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the detention could discourage witnesses from cooperating with police, and advocacy groups including FIEL, PSL, and CRECEN questioned how ICE located him so quickly. Monroy has long sent money home to support his wife, who suffered a stroke, and his three children; his son Wilmer said his father 'risked his own safety to help stop a criminal.'

Abraham Domingo and Maria Leiva, a Guatemalan couple who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years, were pulled over and detained by Border Patrol agents on August 9, 2026, while driving with their five children near Greenacres/Lake Worth, Florida. Domingo worked as a plumber and electrician, while Leiva managed the household; agents said the family's car had a license plate flagged as belonging to a non-citizen. Their 18-year-old daughter Wendy, a U.S. citizen who had just turned 18 and was driving because her parents could not, was left in charge of her four younger siblings, ages 3 to 16. A video showing the children crying and hugging their parents goodbye circulated widely online. The parents are now held in separate detention facilities in Broward County, and an immigration judge has ordered Leiva deported. Wendy said she now plans to work two jobs to support her siblings instead of attending college classes she had been accepted into to study to become an ultrasound technician, saying, 'I never thought both my parents would get taken away at the same time, leaving me in charge of my four siblings.'

Luckner Jean Louis, a Haitian immigrant, was arrested by ICE officers on the morning of August 9, 2026, in West Park while on his way to work. Video footage captured the moment officers approached, handcuffed him, and took him into custody. Details about Jean Louis' immigration status, where he was taken after arrest, and the reason ICE targeted him were not immediately available. The arrest sparked concern within the Haitian community, which includes many TPS beneficiaries, asylum seekers, and people with pending status adjustments. Community leaders and immigrant rights advocates called for increased vigilance, urging people to consult immigration attorneys and monitor developments in U.S. immigration policy.

Maria Perez, a Guatemalan asylum-seeker fleeing domestic violence, was arrested by ICE agents at her Nashville home on May 19, 2026, while preparing to take her two young children to a doctor's appointment. Attorneys said agents had come to serve a warrant on her husband but detained her instead, despite ICE policy generally barring detention of nursing mothers absent extraordinary circumstances. She was breastfeeding an infant and had a toddler with Down syndrome requiring ongoing medical care; the children were left in a neighbor's care without a formal plan, causing them to miss medical appointments. Perez, who has no criminal history, passed a credible fear interview, and had complied with immigration requirements since entering the U.S. in 2022, was held nearly 700 miles from home at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, where her sudden separation from her nursing infant compounded her diabetes. Advocacy groups including Sanctuary of the South, the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, ACLU of Louisiana, Amnesty International, and the Kennedy Human Rights Center filed a civil rights complaint with DHS seeking her release. She was released on August 14, 2026, reunited with her children, and continues pursuing her asylum application.

A man was arrested by ICE agents outside his family's home in Florida moments after dropping his younger son off for soccer practice. He was held at the Miramar GSA ICE Processing Center for about 96 hours, with roughly 67 hours passing without any contact with his family, before being transferred to the Broward Transitional Center. Despite his family submitting over 200 pages of documentation, including community testimonies and 20 years of tax records showing no criminal history after more than 25 years in the U.S., his bond was denied on flight-risk grounds. He was then transferred again, traveling more than 27 hours with his hands and feet restrained to the Rio Grande Detention Center in Texas, during which he was fed only about twice. His family describes him as a husband of over 28 years, a father of two, a taxpayer, a maintenance supervisor, and a soccer coach, and is now pursuing a bond redetermination.

Sulma Johanna Munoz-Castro, a Honduran national seeking asylum, was detained by immigration agents outside a home in South Nashville and transported to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. The detention followed a Metro Nashville Police Department welfare check prompted by an unfounded report of child abuse; officers found the child in good health with no signs of abuse. ICE said Munoz-Castro is facing removal proceedings, alleging she entered the U.S. unlawfully in December 2021 and missed two scheduled appointments with federal agents.

A man was detained by ICE agents outside a Home Depot on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, while appearing to experience a stroke or seizure. Video shared on social media shows agents handcuffing him and searching his pockets despite his unsteady head and lack of bodily control. Bystanders reportedly offered him water, which agents waved away, and no medical assistance was provided by agents at the scene.

Adonys Francisco Mata Martinez, a Venezuelan freestyle rapper known as AdonysX who held Temporary Protected Status and had a pending extraordinary-talent artist visa application, was detained by ICE in late May after a traffic stop in Florida in which officers found no violation but identified his immigration status via his license plate. He said, 'We are not criminals for them to treat us this way,' describing five days sleeping on the floor at a Miramar processing center without the ability to bathe, followed by about a month at Krome Detention Center before being transferred with roughly 50 others to a facility in Louisiana. There, he said he works in the kitchen for one dollar a day amid cockroaches and insects, and reported chest pains dismissed as anxiety and a dental nerve problem he tried to self-treat after being denied a dentist. Nearly three months into his Louisiana detention, with his immigration court hearing repeatedly delayed by continuances, he alleged staff are overcrowding detainees—citing 76 people in a single cell—and reported widespread cases of tuberculosis and pink eye, saying in Spanish, 'They're trying to kill us.' ICE denied the allegations, stating that being in detention is a choice.

Isreal Cruz Gonzales, a Mexican national, was arrested by ICE agents at Denver International Airport on August 13, 2026, while attempting to board a Southwest Airlines flight to Sacramento. According to ICE, Gonzales entered the country legally on February 16, 2020, but overstayed his authorized departure date of March 16, 2020. He remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Miguel Lorenzana Márquez, known as Mike, was detained by ICE agents after checking in for a scheduled USCIS appointment on the morning of his daughter's 8th grade graduation in Bell Gardens, California. His family had been preparing to celebrate the milestone but instead faced unexpected separation when he was taken into custody by ICE agents shortly after his appointment began.

Ivan, the oldest of three siblings, was taken into ICE custody after a routine immigration check-in in Charlotte, NC, and is now held at a detention center in Atlanta, GA. He and his family fled Venezuela in 2023 seeking asylum and settled in Raleigh-Durham, where Ivan worked to help support his family. Friends describe him as someone who translates for others who don't speak English and looks out for those around him, even while detained. His bond request was approved, with a bond hearing scheduled before an immigration judge.

The petitioner entered the United States in 2012 as an unaccompanied minor and was detained by immigration authorities at that time before being released on his own recognizance. His immigration case was administratively closed in 2014, and he has no final order of removal. On August 12, 2026, while driving to work, he was detained again by immigration authorities and has since been held at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. He alleges he has not received a pre-deprivation individualized assessment of flight risk or dangerousness. He filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus arguing his detention violates due process, seeking release or, alternatively, a bond hearing, and also sought a temporary restraining order to prevent his transfer out of the district or removal from the country. The court denied the TRO motion but ordered that he not be removed or transferred outside the El Paso Division pending further proceedings, and ordered Respondents to show cause by September 2, 2026, why the habeas petition should not be granted.

Luis Alfredo Morales Pérez, 50, a Venezuelan pastor who leads four Seventh-day Adventist congregations in the Houston area, primarily in Pasadena, and has served the Texas Conference since January 2023, was detained by ICE agents on Aug. 6, 2026, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport as he and his wife, Karina, prepared to fly to New York to see their daughters. His wife said two agents approached the couple by name and arrested him before they passed through security. Morales entered the U.S. in 2020 and was granted Temporary Protected Status in December 2023, which ICE says was terminated in November 2025 after the Supreme Court allowed DHS's termination of TPS for Venezuelans to take effect; his wife and attorney say he has a pending asylum case and no criminal record. The Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists said he holds valid employment authorization and described his 'commitment to our mission and the families he serves' as 'unwavering,' asking congregants to pray for him and his family. He is being held at an ICE detention center in Livingston, Texas, where he has been able to speak with his family by phone while his legal team gathers documents to request bond; his case is reported to be at least the third involving a Texas pastor detained at an airport in the past month.

A Cuban detainee is currently held at the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana. He filed a habeas petition along with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, seeking to enjoin the government from removing him from the United States, prohibit his transfer to a facility outside the court's jurisdiction, obtain an expedited briefing schedule, and secure his immediate release or a bond hearing. The court found it lacked jurisdiction to block his removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g), which bars claims connected to the execution of removal orders. The court also denied the request to block a facility transfer, finding no evidence a transfer was likely and noting that jurisdiction attaches upon filing and is not destroyed by transfer. The court declined to expedite briefing beyond its standard procedures. Finally, the court denied the request for immediate release, characterizing it as an improper attempt to resolve the merits of the habeas petition through injunctive relief rather than through the normal litigation process.

More than 140 detainees at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma are on a hunger strike to protest insufficient and unsanitary food, lack of medical care, and poor detention conditions. According to La Resistencia, detainees are being denied adequate meals and medical attention by GEO Group, the private company operating the facility, with meal times delayed for hours and food quality described as unacceptable. The detainees are demanding better food and medical care.