Human Impact Project

Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez, who had resided in the United States for 35 years, were arrested and deported to Colombia in February 2025 after being detained by ICE during a routine immigration court check-in in Santa Ana, California. The couple entered without authorization in 1989 and had a 2000 deportation order. They maintained clean criminal records and had complied with regular check-ins throughout their time in the country. They had three U.S. citizen daughters and were involved in church work and volunteering. They were held for three weeks before deportation.

Maksym Chernyak, a 44-year-old Ukrainian man who fled Russia's invasion and entered the U.S. legally under a humanitarian parole program in August 2024, was arrested in January 2025 on a domestic battery/assault charge and transferred to ICE custody at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade County. In the days before his death, he reported fever, chest pain, an irregular heartbeat, and blood in his stool, but went several days without seeing a doctor and his elevated blood pressure went untreated. On February 18, while held in an overcrowded room with about 30 other detainees, he suffered a stroke with multiple seizures and became unresponsive; staff reportedly took 15 to 40 minutes to call 911 and initially accused him of drug use, though toxicology later showed no intoxication. He was hospitalized at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, where doctors confirmed a hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, declared him brain dead, and he died two days later. His wife said he had been in good health before detention and was pressured to sign documents without a translator. Medical experts reviewing his case for Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights concluded that delays in emergency response and higher-level care likely contributed to his death, and his case was examined as part of a broader look at rising ICE detention deaths.

Mayfreed Durán Arapé, a Venezuelan barber, was detained in July 2023 on his third border crossing attempt and convicted in August 2023 of assaulting a federal officer during a riot at an El Paso immigration detention center. On February 8, 2025, he was transferred without explanation to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base along with more than 170 other Venezuelan men. During his two-week detention at Guantanamo, Durán Arapé alleges he was beaten by guards, denied access to attorneys and family calls, provided inadequate food and water, and stripped of bedding as punishment. He attempted suicide twice and provided photos of bruising and self-harm scars. On February 20, 2025, he was deported to Venezuela. The Trump administration claimed the detainees were members of Tren de Aragua, though court documents show nearly 30% had no criminal records and the government provided no evidence against Durán Arapé.

Jose Daniel Simancas, a 30-year-old Venezuelan construction worker, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2024 with his wife and cousin and was detained in El Paso while awaiting deportation. On February 4, 2025, he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base along with nine other migrants, despite having no criminal history except unauthorized entry. The Department of Homeland Security identified him as a member of Tren de Aragua based on his birthplace and tattoos, which he denied. During his 15 days at Guantanamo, Simancas reported inhumane conditions including minimal food, isolation, and only two showers. He was deported to Honduras on February 20, 2025, along with 176 other Venezuelan nationals. His family was denied information about his whereabouts throughout his nine-month detention.

As a result of the Trump administration's zero tolerance family separation policy announced in May, numerous infants and toddlers as young as 1 year old are being placed in immigration court deportation proceedings without access to court-appointed lawyers. Children are expected to navigate complex legal processes despite their age and developmental inability to understand proceedings. Non-profit organizations and pro bono lawyers attempt to fill the representation gap, but minors are not entitled to government-funded counsel. The administration has refused to disclose the exact number of children separated from their parents since June 26, when an initial estimate of 2,047 separated children was provided.

Sering Ceesay, a Gambian man with serious heart conditions, was detained by ICE on February 19, 2025, after showing up for a routine immigration appointment in New York City. He was shackled and transferred to the Batavia facility, where he went two weeks without his heart medications. He subsequently suffered a stroke-like syndrome. A physician noted that without strict adherence to his medications, he faced risk of recurrent heart attacks, worsening peripheral artery disease, and strokes. A U.S. District Judge later ordered his release.

The Battalion Search and Rescue Organization, based in Ajo, Arizona, conducts regular expeditions into the southern Arizona desert to locate and identify the remains of migrants who died during border crossings. According to the Pima County Medical Examiner, over 150 migrants died in southern Arizona in the previous year. During recent trips in February, the group found 10 and 8 death sites respectively, recovering bone fragments and other remains which are documented and reported to county authorities.

A 21-year-old Venezuelan man, Mayfreed Durán-Arape, was sent to Guantánamo Bay as part of a Trump administration policy to relocate detained migrants to the military base. DHS claimed he was a gang member. A review found he had no criminal record beyond unauthorized entry. His mother disputes the administration's characterization of a detention center altercation that led to his conviction.

Johan, a 1-year-old boy from Honduras, was separated from his father after arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border and placed in immigration court deportation proceedings in Phoenix. The immigration judge expressed discomfort questioning the toddler about his understanding of the case. Johan's father was deported to Honduras after being told he would be reunited with his son if he signed a removal order—a promise that was not kept. Johan was granted a voluntary departure order and the government arranged to fly him to Honduras, where both his parents are located.

Dora Reynosa, an undocumented immigrant and former DACA recipient who goes by the artist name ByZeneth, self-deported to Mexico in January 2026 to live with family. The muralist, who has over 8,000 Instagram followers and has been commissioned by the Texas Rangers and the Adolphus Hotel, faced verbal and physical assault while painting in South Dallas in February 2025, which she cited alongside rising ICE enforcement as factors in her decision. Her recent work includes large protest banners reading "No estan solos," "Solidarity" and "Resist" that have been used at Dallas demonstrations against ICE. Reynosa plans to continue creating art addressing immigrant issues from Mexico, saying she will have greater freedom to speak out without fear of detention or deportation.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent, Andrew Josiah Segura, was charged with assault and evidence tampering following an incident on February 19, 2025, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The charges allege he assaulted a handcuffed detainee and physically threatened CBP employees while performing official duties.

Undocumented day laborers in Los Angeles are preparing to help clear debris and rebuild homes after wildfires. ICE has conducted multiple raids across major U.S. cities and is planning large-scale enforcement operations. Workers like Luis and Jonathan are volunteering to help their communities rebuild while facing potential deportation.

Domingo Juan Juan, a 49-year-old immigrant from Guatemala living in the U.S. without legal status, was detained by ICE on Feb. 12, 2025, in connection with a March 2024 crash near Seymour, Indiana that killed 27-year-old Brad Castner of Holton. Jackson County Prosecutor Jeffrey Chalfant said he contacted ICE to request Juan's detention, and deportation proceedings have since been initiated. Juan, who had never obtained a driver's license, was charged only with driving without a license; his detention was carried out under the Laken Riley Act, which mandates ICE custody for individuals facing charges tied to crimes resulting in serious injury or death. Castner's family attended a news conference on the case but did not speak.

A Congolese woman entered the United States on February 15, 2025 and was placed in removal proceedings. On December 4, 2025, an Immigration Judge denied her asylum application but granted withholding of removal to both Congo and Senegal. She has remained detained since her final order of removal, with no apparent efforts made to remove her to a third country. The court ordered respondents to answer her habeas corpus petition seeking release from custody.

Tarlis Marcone De Barros Gonçalves, a transgender asylum seeker from Brazil who fled threats to her life, entered the U.S. near El Paso on February 15, 2025, and was detained at the Otero County Processing Center before being flown to a U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In a declaration filed as part of the lawsuit Espinoza Escalona v. Noem—brought by the ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights, and International Refugee Assistance Project to stop ICE from sending immigrants to Guantánamo—she said she was housed with five men despite objecting, searched by male guards, allowed outside only 25 minutes a day, and given just one set of clothes with little food. She said guards communicated only in English, which she does not speak, and that she had no privacy using the bathroom or showering. She was later transferred to an ICE facility in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, where agents shackled her so tightly during the flight that she was in pain for days afterward.

Sergey Kostenyuk, a longtime Spokane resident who came to the U.S. from Ukraine as a child refugee more than 30 years ago, was arrested by ICE agents who posed as customers on Facebook Marketplace seeking to buy a chicken coop from his shed-building business. He was detained for over two months based on two 2018 felony theft convictions before a judge ruled he did not meet federal criteria for deportation and ordered his release. Kostenyuk runs the business with his partner of more than 20 years, Mary Lesotti, with whom he has two sons.

Duran Valdivias, a Mexican citizen working for a local property manager, was arrested by ICE agents on February 13 after a Great Falls Police Department detective called an ICE agent to a suspected trespassing scene. According to court documents, ICE discovered that Valdivias had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol five times in 2012 and had been ordered to stay out of the country.

Families filed an ACLU lawsuit against the Trump administration after their relatives were transferred to a newly established 30,000-bed immigrant detention camp at Guantanamo Bay without attorney access or communication with the outside world. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of holding civil immigration detainees at the offshore facility and argues they are being denied due process rights. At least seven military flights from El Paso have transported detainees to Guantanamo, including individuals such as 25-year-old Yoiker David Sequera who have no criminal records beyond immigration violations.

Harpinder Singh Chauhan, a 56-year-old British entrepreneur and father of two on an E-2 investor visa who had lived in the United States since 2016, was detained by ICE on February 11 despite lawful presence and serious medical conditions including diabetes, pancreatitis, asthma, and heart issues. He was shackled and transported seven hours to Krome North, where he spent nearly four days in overcrowded, freezing processing cells with no beds, showers, or privacy. ICE officers confiscated his insulin and asthma inhaler, which his family had delivered to the facility, and denied him prescribed medications and his dietary regimen. He contracted a respiratory illness amid an uncontained tuberculosis outbreak. At FDC, officers locked him in a cell without a functioning toilet or air conditioning and threatened him when he requested to move. On April 20, after nearly a week without insulin, Chauhan collapsed while standing in a dinner line at BTC and was hospitalized with signs of cardiac distress. His son Aaron could not obtain information from facility staff and discovered his father had been admitted under an alias name, "Hank Campbell." Officers transferred Chauhan back to BTC after three days in the hospital. Throughout detention, when he repeatedly asked about his personal possessions including his passport, staff responded with hostile all-caps messages. An officer mocked his name during roll call; the officer was briefly suspended with pay but returned to duty. In mid-May, facility staff informed Chauhan that his passport had been lost, further delaying his deportation. He was deported to the United Kingdom in June.

Maria Gonzalez, a 32-year-old Venezuelan mother, and her two children (ages 7 and 9) were deported to Mexico within hours of being stopped for a traffic violation in Tucson, Arizona, on February 15, 2025. Tucson Police conducted an SB-1070 immigration check during the stop, leading to expedited deportation by U.S. Border Patrol without court hearings or a chance to seek asylum. The family had fled Venezuela in 2022, crossing the Darién Gap jungle before reuniting in Tucson, where they had found support through a local church congregation. Gonzalez's husband and two older sons, ages 12 and 14, remained in Tucson, separated from her and the two younger children after the deportation.