Human Impact Project

A Mexican mother experienced a tense week after ICE agents arrived at her home, an episode that culminated in an immigration court appearance. During the ordeal, her child wrote a handwritten letter pleading, "Please ICE, don't take my mom," after agents came to their house.

A 36-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti who fled the country in 2017 after receiving death threats was arrested by local police in Key West and turned over to ICE. He worked as a cook and supervisor at the Half Shell Raw Bar and was described by his manager, Bobby Kuchinsky, as "an excellent worker" and "a family man" who was the main provider for his family. Kuchinsky declined to identify him publicly out of concern for his safety while in ICE custody.

Patricia, a 19-year-old Honduran woman living in Austin, was separated from her 8-month-old breastfeeding son after she called 911 to report abuse by her boyfriend but was instead arrested on an assault charge. Prosecutors later dismissed the charge, but ICE took her into custody and held her nearly six weeks at the South Texas Detention Complex, where she suffered painful, swollen breasts and pleaded for a breast pump while her son stayed with a family friend. Patricia said she fled Honduras two years earlier after being raped by a gang member who continued to harass her, and that she had sought asylum in the U.S. Attorneys with the nonprofit American Gateways sued for her release, and U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio ruled that the government had violated the Constitution by detaining her without a hearing, ordering ICE to release her within two days. She was reunited with her son, but still faces a deportation order that her lawyers are appealing.

Sisi Rose, 33, a member of the Cheyenne River and Sisseton-Wahpeton tribes, was tased and tackled to the pavement by police while protesting outside the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office in Sacramento, California. An officer allegedly shot pepper spray into her mouth and then arrested her for assault after she spit it out, while officers knelt on her neck with their body weight. Rose said she has been protesting for months against what she calls ICE's unlawful detentions of Native Americans and U.S. citizens, saying, "My kids could be snatched up off the streets, and we're from here, and that scares me."

Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, a Nicaraguan handyman who has lived in Key West, Florida for about 19 years, was detained by Border Patrol agents during a traffic stop while driving to drop his car off at a mechanic near a Publix supermarket. Family members said he holds a work permit, Social Security card, and driver's license, has a pending asylum application, and has no criminal record. His son, Navy sailor Joshua Aviles, was more than nine months into a deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East and called his father a 'hardworking, humble man,' describing the arrest as heartbreaking. His wife, Argelia Aviles, said, 'He dedicates himself only to work so he can put food on the table at home. He is a good father,' while his stepdaughter said her half-brother struggled to sleep and eat afterward. DHS said having a family member in the military does not confer legal status or immunity from enforcement. An immigration judge dismissed the case against Aviles days later, and he was released from custody, with his family thanking supporters and asking for privacy. His case is among dozens identified nationally involving parents and spouses of active-duty troops.

Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her 19-year-old daughter Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, Ecuadorian nationals who fled Ecuador three years earlier due to death threats, were taken into ICE custody at HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital near Kissimmee after a highway rollover crash. Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies, operating under a 287(g) agreement with ICE, ran a database check during the crash investigation and said it revealed the women had overstayed their visas, prompting ICE detainers. Grace, still sedated and in a cervical collar, was handcuffed at her bedside, while Giulianna, who has epilepsy, suffered a seizure and was handcuffed in her hospital gown and led out in front of other patients and staff. Family members said agents did not identify themselves or produce a warrant, and the family's attorney said both women had pending asylum claims with valid work permits and visas, though the Sheriff's Office disputed this, said neither had a criminal or gang history, and stated no state charges were filed. Video of the arrest circulated widely, prompting a press conference from local immigrant advocates, while Sheriff Grady Judd said he approved of how deputies handled the arrests. Fearing for her daughter's health in detention, Grace signed voluntary departure paperwork and the pair returned to Ecuador.

Benito Miranda Hernandez, brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a baby, joined the Navy after 9/11 and served three tours during the Iraq War. His mother, Maria Miranda, said he returned traumatized and unrecognizable, later serving years in prison on felony drug and weapons convictions and probation violations. After his green card was reinstated in November 2025, federal immigration agents detained him in June as he left a reentry halfway house in Barrio Logan, San Diego, where he had completed a sentence and was trying to turn his life around. He is now held at Otay Mesa Detention Center facing possible deportation. Advocates including deported Army veteran Hector Barajas and James L. Smith II say he struggles with PTSD from his deployments, and his case is part of a broader trend of immigrant veterans facing deportation despite military service.

Venkata Vasamsetty, a 59-year-old green card holder who moved to the U.S. from India in 1999, works as a special-needs substitute teacher with Wake County Public School System in Cary, North Carolina, and is a grandmother with a husband, two U.S.-citizen daughters, and grandchildren. Her immigration troubles began after a 2022 trip to India to care for her ill father, during which she contracted COVID-19 and remained abroad for more than seven months, prompting DHS to allege she had abandoned her permanent residency. An immigration judge dismissed that case in May after DHS missed a court deadline, but she was detained anyway during a check-in at the Charlotte ICE office her attorney said she was not legally required to attend, and was transferred to the Irwin County Detention Center in rural Georgia. Her daughter Teja, an immigration attorney, said she was shackled during the arrest while family pleaded with officers. Family and her attorney, Helen Parsonage, said her type 2 diabetes worsened in custody, with low blood sugar, weight loss, and the facility largely ignoring requests for an adequate vegetarian diet respecting her Hindu dietary restrictions. After more than two weeks in detention, an immigration judge in Georgia granted her release on a $7,500 bond, citing her long-standing U.S. ties, a home, tax returns dating back to 2012, her teaching job, and her history of never missing a court appearance or check-in.

Gabriel Johnson, a 55-year-old pastor from North Carolina who came to the U.S. as a teenager, suffered a stroke while in ICE custody after more than 16 days in detention facilities in Georgia and Texas. According to his family, he repeatedly requested medical care during his detention, claiming he was denied adequate food, water, prescribed medication, and medical attention. Johnson has withholding of removal status, which bars him from being deported to Liberia. After experiencing stroke-like symptoms, he was taken to a hospital in Texas, but ICE has not provided his family with information about his medical care or condition since his hospitalization. The family has filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General.

A Chinese national entered the United States on a B-2 visitor visa in February 2026, authorized to stay until August 6, 2026. His spouse filed an asylum application in late July 2026 naming him as a derivative beneficiary. On August 24, 2026, after his visa had expired, he appeared with his spouse and children at a USCIS-directed biometrics appointment, where ICE officers arrested him. DHS issued a Notice to Appear alleging removability and detained him under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where he remained held for about three weeks with no bond hearing yet held. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order arguing his detention without a prompt neutral hearing violated due process and seeking immediate release. The court denied the habeas petition, finding he had not shown a due process violation because this was his first ICE detention and he had not yet sought or been denied a bond hearing, and denied the TRO motion as moot.

Fidel, a Guatemalan immigrant working toward U.S. citizenship, was taken into ICE custody Monday morning while driving to work in Stamford, Connecticut. His wife, Olga Guerra, a U.S. citizen, found his car abandoned in the street after friends alerted her that he was seen talking with agents. He was later able to call her from a detention facility in Colorado, expressing worry for their three children. Guerra described him as "a nice husband, a great dad" and "a very hardworking person" who always cares about his family, and has secured legal representation for him.

A man who has lived in the United States since January 2008 was apprehended by immigration authorities in Las Vegas, Nevada in August 2026 and is currently held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada. He is charged with having entered the United States without inspection or parole and is not in expedited removal proceedings, is not subject to mandatory detention based on criminal charges, and has no final or reinstated removal order against him. He has a prior DUI conviction but no other criminal history noted. He has not yet requested a bond hearing before an Immigration Court. As a member of the certified class in Jacobo-Ramirez v. Mullin, he filed a habeas corpus petition asserting that he is being unlawfully detained because DHS and the Executive Office for Immigration Review have failed to comply with the court's declaratory judgment requiring bond-hearing consideration under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). He asks the court to order his release within one day or, alternatively, to require a bond hearing within seven days.

ICE's Boston field office conducted a four-day targeted enforcement operation the week of August 24 in southern Connecticut, arresting 118 people. Officials said many of those arrested had previously been released from local jails after officials declined to honor ICE detainers. Those detained include individuals from Honduras, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala, with charges or convictions ranging from sexual assault against a child, child abuse, weapons offenses, drug dealing, and assault. ICE named one individual, Harvin Rivera-Guardado, in connection with the operation. An ICE field office director criticized Connecticut's sanctuary policies, including the TRUST Act, saying they obstruct enforcement efforts.

The petitioner, an immigration detainee held in ICE custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, was arrested on August 24, 2026. He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus along with a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking immediate release, arguing his detention violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights and the Administrative Procedure Act. Respondents failed to file an opposition by the court-ordered deadline, and when they eventually responded, they stated they were not presenting an opposition argument and consented to relief being granted. The court granted the habeas petition, finding the detention unlawful, and ordered Respondents to immediately release him in the same position he was in before his arrest, including return of his documents and possessions. The court also enjoined Respondents from re-detaining him unless a hearing before a neutral arbitrator determines re-incarceration would be lawful, and barred placing him on GPS or electronic monitoring upon release. Judgment was entered in his favor and the case was closed.

Juan Miguel Aldape (Aldape-Palacios), a Newberg, Oregon resident of about 22 years and devout Catholic, was detained by masked federal immigration agents without a warrant while shopping for construction supplies with coworkers outside a Lowe's in McMinnville. A coworker who confirmed U.S. citizenship was released, while Aldape and another coworker were arrested; ICE described the action as part of a 'targeted enforcement operation.' Family members say he has no criminal record, is a taxpayer, and serves as primary caregiver for his youngest son, who has autism, as well as a grandfather whose grandchildren call him 'Papa Juan.' He was transferred through ICE facilities in Portland and Tacoma before being moved to the Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, and his family said they could not reach him for over a week and struggled to secure legal representation. Advocates from Innovation Law Lab and Unidos Bridging Community, along with relatives including daughter-in-law Ashleen Aldape, said the warrantless arrest violated a February federal court order barring such ICE arrests in Oregon.

Amson Charleston, a 26-year-old soccer coach, IT specialist, and translator at Lincoln Charter School in Pennsylvania, was detained by Philadelphia ICE officers after a traffic stop in West York Borough. Charleston, a Central Penn College graduate originally from Gonaïves, Haiti, is now held at the Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center pending removal proceedings. His fiancé and pastor said he has a valid work permit, a pending asylum case, and had Temporary Protected Status, which ended July 27; DHS said he entered lawfully in 2020 but overstayed. His detention has drawn community support, including a Change.org petition and a GoFundMe that has raised over $13,000 for legal expenses.

Matthew Christian Torres, a 31-year-old security guard employed by Akima Protective Services at Krome Detention Center, was arrested on felony grand theft charges after police say he stole $5,382 from a detainee who was in the process of being deported. Surveillance footage reportedly showed Torres concealing the cash in his jacket, hiding in an employee bathroom, and later putting the money in his pocket without reporting it to a supervisor or logging it in the property book. Torres was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond set at $2,500, and ICE said it takes allegations of misconduct seriously and would investigate.

ICE agents arrested one person in Bridgeport on Monday as part of a broader wave of enforcement activity across Connecticut that also included arrests in Danbury and Stamford. Advocates said little is known about the circumstances of the Bridgeport arrest. Community groups activated an emergency protocol to verify reports and connect affected families with legal support.

ICE agents detained four people in Stamford on Monday who worked for different tree removal companies, according to a report from the group CT Students for a Dream. Agents reportedly entered neighborhoods with large immigrant populations and detained people at random, though several individuals were later released after showing documentation. Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons said she was 'horrified by the cruelty of these actions' and that the city's streets should not see people 'randomly removed' with their rights violated.

At least 16 people were arrested by ICE agents in Danbury on Monday, according to community advocates, with about half detained at a day laborer site and others stopped outside residences or businesses. One detained man requires dialysis treatment, and another is the father of a high school student. Advocates said many of those detained have no criminal or immigration history. Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves said agents appeared to be 'pulling random people' who looked Latino, calling the operation 'fear-driven' and intended to divide the community.