Human Impact Project

Matías Alejandro Pourrain, a 34-year-old Argentine soccer player for Miami United FC and youth coach, was detained by ICE agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on August 6 while preparing to travel with his team to a championship match. He had lived in South Florida since 2019, held a work permit, Social Security number, and Florida state ID, and said he had no criminal record. Pourrain was transferred across multiple facilities, including Krome, one in Miramar, and one in Laredo, Texas, describing being shackled for extended periods, held in overcrowded rooms, and given little or moldy food. His teams, Miami United FC and Club de Lyon FC, described him as an exceptional player and beloved member of their organizations, while his wife, Stefi Almandoz, remained in Miami during his detention. His attorney, Regina Borges, secured a bail hearing, and he was released on a $20,000 bond on August 28 after nearly three weeks in custody, opting for phone check-ins instead of an ankle monitor so he could continue coaching. DHS said Pourrain had overstayed his authorized six-month stay and disputed his claims of inhumane conditions.

The petitioner is currently detained at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center and has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging his ongoing detention without an individualized bond hearing. He is being held as an applicant for admission subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). The court found that, on the face of the petition, he may be entitled to relief and ordered the government to show cause by September 18, 2026, why the writ should not be granted. The petitioner may reply by September 21, 2026, and either party may request a hearing. The court further ordered that he not be removed from the United States or transferred outside the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas while the case is pending.

A Colombian mother seeking asylum after fleeing domestic violence says she has suffered months of delayed and inadequate medical care for a serious kidney and urinary tract infection while detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. She crossed the border in the San Diego-Tijuana area in September 2025 and has been held since October while her asylum case, which the government sought to redirect to Honduras, remains on appeal. Medical records show repeated visits for pain, bleeding, and blood in her urine that went undertreated for months, including delayed antibiotics, a delayed ultrasound and CT scan, and two emergency room visits before she was hospitalized and diagnosed with pyelonephritis. She said a guard mistreated her, including a 30-day suspension of her phone privileges that cut off contact with her two children.

Gabriel Johnson, a 55-year-old pastor and father originally from Liberia who had held legal status since age 15, was detained by ICE in Cary, North Carolina in mid-July, which his family described as stemming from a misunderstanding over a missed immigration appointment. His daughter, Gabri Johnson, said officials later pursued his removal under a broader immigration policy change, and that ICE denied him consistent food, water, and medication for more than 16 days in custody. On July 30, Johnson suffered a stroke that left the left side of his body completely paralyzed. His family said ICE initially refused to let hospital staff contact his daughter and denied the family visits, calls, or health updates, and that he was unable to access needed rehabilitation care while detained. ICE denied mistreatment allegations, stating Johnson was taken to a hospital after showing stroke-like symptoms and remained under medical care. An emergency stay of removal was filed on his behalf, and he has since been released from ICE custody and is moving to a 24-hour rehabilitation hospital for treatment.

Jose Rafael Alambarrio, a Venezuelan national who fled political persecution and arrived in the U.S. in 2023, was detained on January 15, 2026 during a routine annual check-in at the Dallas ICE office while applying for a green card and pursuing asylum. He had no criminal record and had faithfully attended all previous check-ins. He was initially held at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, before being transferred without notice to an ICE facility in Mississippi. His wife, a McKinney teacher and U.S. citizen, has publicly pleaded for his release and continues to fight for him from a distance. Nine months later, Alambarrio remains in detention while appealing the denial of his asylum application, with a decision on his residency process still pending.

ICE agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation in Woodstock, Illinois, arresting six men ranging in age from 23 to 48. Those detained were identified as Alex Francisco Diaz-Quintanilla, 47, of El Salvador; Israel Espinal-Diaz, 48, of Mexico; Daniel Nehemias Martinez-Esteban, 30, of Guatemala; Lazaro Cruz-Morales, 43, of Mexico; Gabriel Martinez-Quintanar, 26, of Mexico; and Jayson Josiel Ruiz-Figueroa, 23, of Honduras. At least one man was taken into custody in the parking lot of Woodstock Automotive Service. ICE said Diaz-Quintanilla had a 2024 weapons conviction, and all six remain in custody pending removal proceedings, with several held at the Clay County, Indiana Jail and one at Miami Correctional Center in Indiana. A separate federal drug trafficking warrant was served at the same location about two and a half hours later by DEA, Illinois State Police, FBI and local agencies, which authorities said was unrelated to the immigration enforcement action.

Marco was recently detained by ICE, according to his daughter Leire, who is raising money to cover immigration legal representation and attorney fees. The family is working to secure his release and asked for donations, prayers, and help sharing their story.

Jorge was detained by ICE agents who followed him until he stopped his vehicle on his way to work. His brother Geovanni describes him as a hard worker with no criminal record who has lived in the U.S. almost his entire life, and a devoted father whose four children depend on him. The family is raising funds to hire a lawyer to fight his deportation and seek his release on bail while he remains in detention.

Roxana Valladares, a 29-year-old Salvadoran woman, spent the night at a hospital in Homestead, Florida with her 6-year-old son, who had a fever and was struggling to breathe, before rushing to line up outside the Miami immigration court for a mass hearing. She arrived by Uber at 4 a.m. with a blanket, a change of clothes, a cooler with water and snacks, and a folding beach chair, ending up third in line for a 1 p.m. hearing amid crowds stretching around the building. Her son slept on a blanket on the sidewalk while she fanned him as they waited. Valladares said she had originally been scheduled for a hearing in September 2027 but received a notice the week before to appear instead. She said she crossed the border two years earlier to seek asylum after fleeing domestic violence and fearing for her life and her son's, and that she was told missing the hearing could result in an automatic deportation order.

Two young men were stopped by ICE agents at a stoplight in Alamo, Texas. One was taken by agents while the other, who was driving, was pepper sprayed. Both were taken into ICE custody, and a local politician intervened to secure their release; both are now reported to be home.

A 16-year-old minor was chased by several ICE agents in Livonia, Michigan, and climbed onto a residential rooftop with his hands raised while an agent pointed a gun directly at him. Video shared by @metrodetroitnews shows additional agents then climbing onto the roof and taking him into custody.

ICE agents in unmarked vehicles boxed in a car near San Diego City College on September 8, 2026, and arrested the driver, identified as Renatho Kemsley Casseus. A passenger fled onto campus grounds, and agents pursued him before retreating after realizing they had entered college property. The San Diego Community College District said both individuals were City College students, though a DHS spokesperson disputed that Casseus was a student, saying he entered the U.S. without authorization through El Paso, Texas, in May 2023. District Chancellor Greg Smith denounced the incident, and officials said City College, SDCCD, and campus police do not cooperate with ICE enforcement. The college offered counseling and legal support to affected students, who organized a rally in response, and elected leaders condemned the arrest.

Samson Birhane, 47, arrived in the US as an Eritrean refugee at age 13 and lost his immigration status after a robbery conviction in 1988, though he had already served his sentence and had been regularly checking in with ICE as required. A US immigration judge had previously ruled he faced a risk of torture if returned to Eritrea, but he was instead deported to Equatorial Guinea under a $7.5 million agreement between the countries. On September 11, 2026, Birhane and fellow deportee Ahmed Soliman were arrested and allegedly beaten, blindfolded, and pushed down a staircase by police after helping document abusive conditions at Hotel Bamy, a site used to detain US deportees, with officers accusing him of property damage and seizing his phone. He was transferred to a prison in Malabo, where he has limited access to medical care and his whereabouts have been kept from other detainees.

An unidentified immigrant man with an active work permit was detained by ICE agents in a West Palm Beach parking lot on September 11, according to the nonprofit Guatemalan-Maya Center. His two U.S. citizen children, one of whom is deaf, were left without a parent because their mother was already in ICE custody. The nonprofit's assistant director rushed to the scene to provide legal guidance and care for the remaining family members.

Ainara Andreina Calderon Pena, a woman from Ecuador who legally entered the U.S. through New York City in August 2022, was arrested by ICE agents at Tweed New Haven Airport on September 11, 2026. A DHS spokesperson said she is being held for overstaying her visa and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. State court records show no pending criminal cases or convictions associated with her, and she has filed a sealed petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts contesting the legality of her arrest and detention.

Six employees of GLC Property Maintenance, a landscaping company in Highland Township, Michigan, were stopped by nine ICE vehicles while driving to work. The company says all six workers are legally employed in the U.S. on H-2B visas, and agents released them after reviewing their paperwork. Company owner Tyler Ralko, whose parents founded the business 25 years ago, said the employees are hardworking and pay taxes, and he has contacted an immigration attorney and U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin's office seeking clarity on why they were stopped.

A former Guilford County detention officer, Michael Diehl, was charged with 20 counts of felony forgery after allegedly submitting fake magistrate signatures on ICE detainer forms. The forged documents allowed the jail to hold inmates beyond their release time so ICE could take custody, even though the inmates had not been properly presented to a magistrate. Diehl was fired and arrested, and the investigation into additional forged documents is ongoing.

Pietro Graza de Lima, a gay Brazilian man who lived in Orlando, Florida for about seven years running a small services business, fled Brazil after corrupt police shot him over his sexuality, an attack that cost him a kidney and left lasting physical damage. After his student visa expired and he was arrested for drug possession, ICE detained him for nearly two years, including time at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. On April 16, 2026, an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to Brazil under the Convention Against Torture, but ICE continued holding him while seeking another country to deport him to. After he refused to sign a document accepting removal to Liberia, he was shackled for roughly 36 hours and flown to Liberia—where he and other detainees refused to disembark—and then to Equatorial Guinea, a country with which he has no ties. His attorney said he was denied the interview he was entitled to under CAT protections before being sent there. He and about a dozen other deportees have been confined at a decommissioned hotel, Hotel Bamy, in Malabo, where armed officers confiscated his phone on September 8, 2026 after he spoke with journalists, cutting off contact with his attorneys and leaving him unreachable since September 9, 2026.

Julian David Palacios Obregon, a 27-year-old Colombian human rights activist and lawful permanent resident with ties to Canada, spent about 650 days in ICE detention at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. During his detention he suffered from a severe gastrointestinal bacterial infection causing vomiting, diarrhea and fecal incontinence that required him to wear diapers, saying he had no health problems before entering custody. Staff errors caused him to miss three scheduled colonoscopy appointments recommended by a gastroenterologist, forcing him to choose between receiving medical treatment and attending his asylum hearing. Representing himself, he filed two federal habeas corpus petitions and five humanitarian requests with ICE; a federal court had previously found his removal to Canada reasonably foreseeable but ordered he be given a chance to have his fear of removal reviewed by an immigration judge, while denying earlier requests for expedited release or bond. On September 11, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ordered his release, finding that the deficient medical care had made his detention 'punitive' in violation of due process.

Marta was taken into ICE custody after arriving for a routine biometrics appointment at the USCIS office in Gardena, California. Video showed her being seated in a room before ICE agents detained her shortly afterward. Her nephew, Victor Jimenez, started a GoFundMe campaign titled "Help Bring Marta Home" to help cover her bills and provide family stability, noting she may lose the job she worked hard to get. The family says they are heartbroken and uncertain how long she may remain detained, and are asking the community to donate or share the fundraiser.