Human Impact Project

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducted an unannounced raid at a home in North Charleston, South Carolina on July 30, arresting Franklin Arce. Ring camera footage shows an ICE agent pulling a gun on Arce's partner Celeste Hernandez and shoving her back into the house while Arce was being arrested. Arce's family claims the officers never showed a warrant or provided their names and badge numbers, and Hernandez stated Arce was working toward legal citizenship with a court hearing scheduled.

Gloria Barazone, a 46-year-old Colombian national married to U.S. citizen Mounque 'Monk' Barazone, was arrested by ICE on July 30 at Newark Liberty International Airport while traveling from New Jersey to Miami. She had entered the U.S. on a tourist visa and had a pending green card application, work authorization request, and Social Security number application after nearly three years navigating the immigration process with her husband, whom he described as a former airport security chief and polygraph examiner in Medellín, Colombia. ICE said she had overstayed her authorized stay, which ended July 17. She was held in New Jersey before being transferred to Louisiana and then the South Texas ICE Processing Center, with her husband saying the transfers disrupted legal efforts and increased the family's legal costs. Mounque Barazone, 77, said he is partially disabled with worsening heart problems, is postponing surgeries, and is pledging his Social Security payments toward her legal defense. He said Republican lawmakers he contacted for help told him they needed consent forms from her to intervene, and he said he does not regret voting for Trump despite his wife's detention.

Fernando Alves Rocha, a 45-year-old Brazilian theater manager at Juanita High School in Kirkland, was arrested by ICE on July 18 after overstaying a tourist visa he entered in August 2018. He filed an asylum application in February 2019, one day before his visa expired, and has maintained a valid work permit since then. Director Rose Cano described him as well-loved at the high school and a good mentor to students. According to witness accounts, ICE agents pulled Rocha from his vehicle and threw him to the ground during the arrest. ICE alleged he is wanted by Brazilian law enforcement for theft, but his attorney stated they were not shown evidence of any crimes. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 15 raised $36,405 through GoFundMe to support his legal fight and help secure his $10,000 bond. On July 29, Immigration Court Judge Tammy Fitting granted the bond, citing his strong community ties, pending asylum claim, and lack of danger to the community or flight risk. Rocha was released from Northwest Detention Center on July 30.

Carlos Martín Gonzalez, 26, and his older brother Óscar Alejandro Gonzalez, 30, were detained on July 7 after Carlos was pulled over by Florida Highway Patrol in Orlando for a traffic violation (tinted windows and invalid registration). Óscar Alejandro, who was visiting on a valid tourist visa and married to a U.S. citizen, was also detained under unclear circumstances when he arrived to help his brother. Carlos had legally entered on a tourist visa following their mother's death in October. After three days in county jail, both brothers were transferred to the Everglades immigration detention center, known as "Alligator Alcatraz." Their father, Martín Gonzalez, reported that the facility's conditions were inhumane—constant artificial lighting made it impossible to distinguish day from night—and that the brothers were held without case numbers or legal representation, unable to access their lawyer or consulate staff. Mexican consular officials warned of potential civil rights violations. After approximately 20 days in detention, both brothers were released without being charged with any crime and returned to Mexico through diplomatic intervention by Mexican consulates in Orlando and Miami, working with immigration attorneys and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

A Hmong refugee who arrived in the United States in 1978 at age five was detained by ICE on July 30, 2025, during a routine annual check-in and later deported to Laos. She died in Laos, according to a June 26, 2026 statement from the Southeast Asian Freedom Network. Her green card had expired in 1995 and was revoked in 2007, and she is survived by her husband, Scott Bailey, and their four children.

A Korean-born researcher and longtime U.S. legal permanent resident was detained by immigration officials at San Francisco International Airport for a week without explanation. According to his lawyer, he was denied access to an attorney during his detention.

Miguel Angel Ponce Jr., a U.S. citizen from Texas, was detained by ICE agents who mistakenly identified him as a wanted violent offender. He was handcuffed and held for approximately 90 minutes to two hours before agents compared his tattoos to a photograph and realized their error. After his release, agents allegedly suggested he shave his beard to avoid future confusion, a request Ponce found disrespectful and said he would never comply with. Miguel Angel Torres, a 14-year resident of Austin who worked as a cook, was detained by ICE on February 12, 2017, after dropping off their three daughters at school in Pflugerville. His wife, Irma Perez, says ICE officers in an unmarked van mistakenly sought to arrest her brother, Jose Manuel Perez, but detained Torres instead when he said he was not her brother. The family, including Torres's undocumented wife and three U.S. citizen daughters, abandoned their home and dreams of opening a food truck after the detention.

A Laotian refugee who entered the U.S. in 1981 was detained by ICE in July 2025 after 25 years of supervised release following a removal order. The court found the government failed to demonstrate changed circumstances or significant likelihood of removal, violating immigration law. Chief Judge Stephanie Rose ordered his immediate release and restoration to supervised release status.

Tae Heung "Will" Kim, a Korean American green card holder who has lived in the U.S. since age 5 and whose mother is a U.S. citizen, was detained by CBP at San Francisco International Airport on July 21, 2025, upon returning from his brother's wedding in South Korea. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University researching a vaccine for Lyme disease. Kim was held for more than a week without access to legal counsel, his asthma medication, sunlight, or a bed to sleep in, with lights kept on continuously in his holding room, before being transferred to detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. His attorney, Eric Lee, said a CBP supervisor told him the Constitution did not apply to Kim and that deportation proceedings were based on a 2011 misdemeanor marijuana charge for which Kim had completed community service.

Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas, a 26-year-old Honduran national living in Annandale, Virginia, was shot in the shoulder by a Fairfax County police officer after allegedly grabbing for the officer's handgun during a search of a wooded area. Police had responded to a domestic dispute call after Fuentes-Banegas armed himself with two knives, stabbed himself, and fled the home; he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer. Court records show he had faced an earlier felony strangulation charge from an April domestic violence case, which was dismissed after the alleged victim asked prosecutors not to proceed. Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid said her office does not block ICE from acting on detainer requests and that ICE is notified whenever an undocumented person is booked into the county jail. DHS said Fuentes-Banegas entered the U.S. without authorization through Texas in 2022 and was released pending immigration proceedings under the Biden administration; ICE has since lodged a detainer asking Fairfax County not to release him. The officer involved in the shooting was placed on restricted duty pending investigation.

A video posted online shows federal ICE agents detaining people near a Home Depot in Encinitas. A woman driving through the area recorded the encounter and spoke with NBC 7 about witnessing what appeared to be two men in custody with ICE agents present.

Wilmer Roberto Solano Dávila, a 59-year-old Venezuelan journalist and Uber driver with a pending asylum case, was pulled over by Customs and Border Protection agents while driving a rideshare fare near Haulover Beach. He had entered the U.S. legally on a journalist's visa in 2015, held Temporary Protected Status from 2021 until it lapsed in September 2025, and had a valid work permit and Florida driver's license, but was detained and held first at a Dania Beach processing site and then at the Krome North detention complex. He described being packed into an outdoor tent with as many as 250 people and no visible smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, or sprinklers, before being released on $5,000 bond after 19 days in custody and now wears an ankle monitor while his asylum case continues. Solano previously worked as a correspondent covering Venezuelan opposition politics and said he was attacked by government officials while reporting in 2011.

LA County Department of Animal Care and Control has taken in 28 animals from deported or detained families since June 2025, with pet surrenders nearly doubling after a series of summer raids. Children have come to the Carson Animal Care Center for painful goodbyes with family pets including Coco, a pug-beagle mix, and Bruce, a Labrador mix, after their families were ordered to leave the country.

Jorge Willy Valera Chuquillanqui, a Peruvian asylum seeker with no criminal history, was arrested by DHS agents minutes after completing routine immigration court proceedings on July 25, 2025. He had been living in the U.S. since December 2022 after being released on bond. The federal court granted a preliminary injunction ordering his release and prohibiting re-detention without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. The court found that ICE violated his due process rights by detaining him without proper procedural safeguards.

A human smuggler guided a group of undocumented migrants through the Arizona desert in extreme heat and allegedly instructed them to abandon one member who became dizzy and fell into a ravine, resulting in death. U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended the smuggler, Miguel Salomon-Lugo, on June 21.

A Nicaraguan-born superintendent of Winooski schools, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2018, was detained for nearly five hours at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport while returning from visiting family in Nicaragua with his U.S.-born husband. Agents questioned him about his citizenship, marriage and profession, and pressed him for passwords to his personal and district-issued devices; his husband was not told where he was being held or for how long. After the devices were searched, he was released, and his Global Entry membership was later revoked without explanation. Vermont leaders and advocacy groups are now calling for an investigation into the incident, which follows other recent detentions of immigrants in the state.

Jefersson Bladimir Alemán Beltrán, 19, was taken into ICE custody outside a Santa Maria jail on July 24, after being arrested July 21 on suspicion of inappropriate sexual conduct and having the charges dismissed by a judge for lack of evidence. His mother, Alba Beltrán, says masked agents arrived in several unmarked vehicles and beat her son after he declined to answer questions about his immigration status and asked for a lawyer. Beltrán, who is herself undocumented, says she hid on the floor of her car out of fear while watching the arrest, and alleges the sheriff's office tipped off ICE ahead of her son's release, a possible violation of California's sanctuary law. Jefersson, who entered the U.S. in 2019 at age 14 as an unaccompanied minor, graduated from Santa Maria High School, and works picking strawberries alongside his mother, remains held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where support workers say he has shown bruising, a swollen neck, and back pain; his mother says the accusation against him arose from a dispute over a romantic relationship.

Rutilio Zelaya Franco, a fencing industry worker who had lived in the country for 14 years without prior police trouble, was driving a delivery truck when he was pursued by ICE agents. During the chase, his truck crashed into a home; he fled on foot and turned himself in at the Loudoun County Courthouse two days later on July 24. After a judge released him on bail, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office deputies presented him with an ICE warrant, handcuffed him, and escorted him to waiting ICE agents. He is married with two children. Zelaya Franco is being held at a detention center in Cibola County, New Mexico, pending removal proceedings.

Animal shelters across Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties are seeing a rise in pets surrendered due to immigration enforcement. Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control has received at least 19 pets this year as a direct result of immigration arrests, including an 11-year-old poodle who is sick and partially blind. Rescue organizations have taken in animals like Mud, a terrier mix found starving in a locked backyard weeks after a family was deported, as well as Nino, a dog returned to the shelter he was adopted from two years earlier, and Bruce, a pit bull mix left behind when his family was forced to leave. The Doral shelter has been operating at nearly double its designed capacity, and groups like Good Karma Pet Rescue and Lady Luck Animal Rescue say they have limited resources to keep up with demand.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand woman living in Washington State, and her 6-year-old son Isaac were detained by US immigration at the Canada-US border on July 24 after attempting to return home from dropping off her other children in Vancouver. Shaw held a temporary immigration document allowing her to travel and re-enter the US. Officials identified an administrative error with her paperwork. The pair were transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Centre in Texas, where they are being held. They do not have access to their personal belongings.