Human Impact Project

ICE arrested the mother of a 9-year-old boy at a school bus stop in Austin, Texas, leaving the child alone and crying. A video of the arrest, described as heartbreaking to watch, was shared by Leonardo Pelaez.

A 26-year-old refugee known only as Adam, who fled forced military conscription, was granted protection from removal by a US immigration judge but was secretly deported to Equatorial Guinea in November 2025 under a third-country removal deal. He has been confined alone in a hotel room under armed guard for nearly a year, and was recently handcuffed and beaten by security officers who warned him not to speak out.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case brought by Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian citizen who has lived in the US for over 20 years, challenging the Trump administration's policy of indefinite detention without bond hearings. Barbosa da Cunha, who owns a home and business in Massachusetts and has a wife and two US-born children, was arrested by ICE while driving to work and detained in Buffalo, New York. Lower courts sided with him, ordering a bond hearing, but the administration is appealing to the Supreme Court. Judges in nine of eleven federal appeals courts have rejected the government's reinterpretation of the detention statute.

Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian immigrant who entered the U.S. without documentation around 2005, applied for asylum in 2016 and received a work permit. In September 2025, he was detained by immigration authorities following a traffic stop in Norwood, Massachusetts, after the Trump administration issued an administrative warrant for his arrest and held him without bond under a disputed interpretation of a 1996 immigration law. Da Cunha challenged his detention in federal court; a district court judge ordered his release, and the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld that ruling, finding mandatory detention did not apply to him. On October 1, 2026, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the Trump administration's appeal, which seeks to determine whether immigrants facing deportation proceedings can be held indefinitely without a bond hearing, a policy that has already been applied to thousands of people.

The brother of Zolia Virgen Verduzco, who had lived in the United States for 45 years, was detained and deported to Mexico despite having legal counsel and ongoing documentation processes underway, according to Verduzco. She said her family had paid thousands of dollars in legal fees to try to keep him in the country. Verduzco shared her brother's story while attending a community rally in Tallahassee supporting other detained immigrants.

A group of roofing workers was intercepted by ICE agents at a gas station in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Enrique Hernández Díaz, owner of the roofing company, told N+ Univision that one of his employees was detained and taken away by agents who said they were looking for a person with a criminal record connected to the vehicle. Hernández Díaz, a lawful permanent resident, said he was also handcuffed and held because he did not have his green card on him, and that agents threw him to the ground, injuring his elbow, knee and forehead, prompting a hospital visit. His wife, Roxanna Álvarez Cruz, arrived minutes later with his residency card; she said agents told her they would not release him until they confirmed his immigration status, and he was later released.

Reginaldo Quej, Erwin Orlando Xoy Acaham, and Catherine Migdalia Rax Sis, who worked at Chile & Chili's Taqueria in northwest Tallahassee, were detained on September 25, 2026 after ICE and Florida Highway Patrol attempted to stop a vehicle near West Tennessee Street suspected of carrying someone without legal status. The vehicle pulled onto the restaurant's property, and the occupants fled on foot before being caught and handcuffed. ICE said the taqueria was not the target of the operation. Owner Shannon Tenorio described the three as 'good people trying to make a living' and said they were in the process of finalizing their immigration paperwork; she said remaining staff quit days later out of fear and harassment, prompting the location to close. An immigration attorney said none of the three had a serious or prior criminal history, though Quej has a final removal order from March 2025, Xoy Acaham has requested voluntary departure, and Rax Sis remains in ongoing proceedings; all three stayed in ICE custody. Community members launched a GoFundMe that raised nearly $13,000 for the workers' families, and the Tallahassee Immigrant Rights Alliance organized a protest rally at the restaurant, calling it part of increased ICE enforcement in Florida.

ICE agents arrested Welington Leonel Almara-Diaz at Meriden Superior Court in Connecticut after Judicial Marshal Services received a Warrant of Removal/Deportation stemming from a final removal order issued in October 2023, following his apprehension by Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, in September 2022. Witnesses said about ten agents, some masked, entered the courthouse around 1 p.m., and video showed marshals blocking advocates as a woman fell to the ground during the confrontation. Advocates, including Middlesex Immigrant Rights Alliance member Miguel Castro, gathered outside after learning ICE was near the courthouse, and at least one person was injured during the chaotic scene. ICE said marshals impeded the arrest and protesters blocked officers' exit, prompting agents to use their training to 'gain control of the situation.' Connecticut officials and the ACLU are investigating whether the arrest violated state law restricting civil immigration arrests on courthouse grounds without a judicial warrant and rules on mask use by officers.

Mario Mata Cruz, a Salvadoran national with a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application and no criminal record, was arrested by ICE on Long Island in October 2025 while driving to work with his brother. He had crossed the border at age 17 and obtained SIJ status in 2019, putting him on a path toward a green card. ICE transported him to Texas and deported him to El Salvador without a final removal order from an immigration judge or signed voluntary departure paperwork, which his attorney Ed Cuccia says was illegal. His lawyers sued the Trump administration, and the government agreed to return him from El Salvador over the summer, but instead of being released to New York where his brother lives, he has been held in detention facilities in Louisiana, New Jersey, and Virginia with no ties to those states. An immigration judge in New Jersey denied him bond, and a hearing on his green card application was scheduled. His case is part of a broader pattern NY1 documented of at least 132 cases where people were deported without final removal orders.

Michael "Sandy" Sims, 42, a Philadelphia man born in Ireland and raised in London, was deported to the United Kingdom after being arrested by ICE outside the San Jose airport while returning from a business trip in September. He was held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California, and was removed days before an Oct. 8 bond hearing he and his wife had hoped would secure his release. His wife, Jennifer Sims, a U.S. citizen, said the couple had believed they were awaiting approval of a green card after filing a family petition following their 2017 marriage; DHS said Sims faced a domestic battery charge in Nevada, but neither Sims' wife nor his immigration lawyer could find any record of such a case, and a search of Nevada court records found none either. Friends and family started a GoFundMe campaign that had raised nearly $21,000 toward legal expenses as of Thursday.

Yasmany Moreno de Armas, a 31-year-old Cuban migrant who arrived in Florida by raft in September 2016 under the 'Wet Foot, Dry Foot' policy, ran a small trucking business hauling freight between Miami and Tampa and helped support his parents near Orlando. His later bid for a green card under the Cuban Adjustment Act was denied because it was filed after his parole had expired, and immigration officials arrested him in May 2025, holding him in ICE custody for about a year. He was deported to the Central African Republic in late July 2026 on a shackled, 21-hour flight, not learning his destination until nearly five hours in, and said, "We cannot leave, we don't have documents and we're suffering and missing our families." He manages asthma and diabetes and said the flight left him ill for days afterward. He was later kidnapped on a street in Bangui by armed men he believed were police officers, paying about $100 with another detainee to secure release. A month later he remained in Bangui without a passport, staying at a hotel he may be forced to leave within 90 days, alongside deportees from Ecuador, Honduras, Nepal, Russia and Vietnam, and said he fears returning to Cuba, where he was previously imprisoned for trying to flee the island. He said he would rather spend months in a U.S. detention center than remain stranded, and his lawyer told him U.S. officials may negotiate his return while his case continues.

Kwadwo, a 57-year-old respiratory therapist who has lived in Daly City for eight years, was arrested by a plainclothes ICE agent at his gate at San Francisco International Airport while waiting to board a domestic flight to visit his cousin in Dallas, who was recovering from a stroke. After clearing security, he was surrounded by officers who chained his feet, waist, and hands in the arrivals area near baggage claim in front of other travelers, before he was taken to a federal immigration building downtown and then transported through Stockton to the Golden State Annex detention center outside Bakersfield, where he has been held for more than two months. Kwadwo fled religious persecution as a Christian in Ghana at age 28, was granted asylum in South Africa, later earned a master's degree in respiratory care in the U.S., and was earning more than $166,000 a year supporting his family, including his son's graduate studies. His detention stems from an expired student visa; his green card application was rejected in June 2024, his first appeal was denied, and a second appeal filed in May 2025 remains pending. He filed a habeas corpus petition on his own behalf, but a judge denied his bond citing flight risk, and he is appealing while continuing to challenge his detention in immigration court. His son said the arrest has been a major financial and emotional stressor for the family, noting, "It feels like they're just trying to find people to fill up prisons."

Augusto Lopes Vemba, a 40-year-old asylum-seeker from Angola, was stopped by masked ICE agents in camouflage gear at the intersection of Acushnet Avenue and Sawyer Street in New Bedford on September 22, 2026. Witnesses and video footage showed him provide his information and attempt to leave before four agents chased him down, tackled him to the ground, and tased him at the neck for about 15 seconds while restraining his hands. Alicia Lopez Gonzalez, co-director of advocacy group Mujeres Victoriosas, witnessed the arrest and said the tactics appeared intended to traumatize the community, while nearby business owners described the scene as aggressive, with one saying she locked her shop door out of fear. Vemba was among roughly 40 people detained during a week of ICE operations in the city. On September 30, federal Judge Angel Kelley ordered the government to grant him a bond hearing within 10 days, a decision the U.S. Attorney's Office did not contest.

Aminata Seck, a 26-year-old graduate student and women's basketball player from Dakar, Senegal, at Kentucky State University, was detained by federal officers at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Aug. 7, 2026, as she prepared to travel with her team to a tournament. Her attorneys said she entered on a student visa in 2019 and never received notice of a September 2025 hearing that led to an in absentia removal order. Seck was moved among at least four detention facilities, suffered seizures requiring hospitalization, and needs surgery for an ACL injury and torn Achilles, with attorneys describing inconsistent medical care. By late September she was found hospitalized and appeared sedated, prompting her attorneys to file a motion to reopen her case and a habeas corpus petition in federal court. A Memphis immigration judge later reopened her case after finding she never received notice of the removal order, though she remained in custody, held in solitary confinement at Grayson County Detention Center. Kentucky State coach Amani Williams and Rep. Morgan McGarvey publicly supported her, with McGarvey saying, 'The Trump administration's cruelty knows no bounds but we will never let this become normal and we won't stop fighting for her.'

Lianyong Wei, a 51-year-old Chinese national who had lived in Saipan since entering the U.S. in 2019 on a two-week parole authorization, died in ICE custody at the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Corrections. Local police had arrested Wei on August 21, 2026, on criminal charges including an alleged attack on a family and assault with a dangerous weapon, and he was transferred to ICE custody the next day to face removal proceedings. He was found dead with a bedsheet tied to his bunk and around his neck, with reports differing on whether he was discovered unresponsive during a routine morning check less than a day after entering custody or two days later; resuscitation efforts at a hospital failed. It remains unclear whether he received a required medical intake screening. Corrections Commissioner Anthony Torres extended condolences to Wei's family and said the department is reviewing its procedures. His cause of death remains under investigation, and the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles has demanded a thorough inquiry, noting he is at least the fifth Chinese national to die in ICE or Border Patrol custody since March 2025. His death has been recorded among dozens of detainee deaths reported by ICE since 2025.

Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban migrant and father of four who suffered from asthma, bipolar disorder and anxiety, died on January 3, 2026, at Camp East Montana, an ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, following a physical altercation with guards. Fellow detainee Antonio Frometa Ascón, who knew Campos from their time together at Guantánamo, said he watched guards beat and handcuff Campos as he begged for his inhaler before he was taken away and never returned; other witnesses heard him scream 'I can't breathe!' and 'You're suffocating me,' with his last words reportedly being 'I cannot breathe, may God bless me.' The El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression, citing hemorrhages and abrasions on his chest and knees. DHS maintains Campos was attempting to harm himself and that guards were trying to save his life, while ICE's account of the incident changed multiple times. A federal GAO report found the facility's contractor failed to provide required use-of-force and death reports and that evidence was missing or destroyed. No one has been charged, and an ICE internal investigation is on hold pending an FBI criminal investigation. His death was among 37 detainee deaths in ICE custody reported since last fall, the deadliest year on record for the agency.

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by federal agents on January 24, 2026, while peacefully observing and filming a protest against Operation Metro Surge immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. Witnesses and bystander video showed agents shoving him, spraying him with a chemical agent, and beating him with a metal canister before an agent removed a gun from his hip holster and shot him ten times; footage contradicted federal authorities' initial claims of self-defense. Although Pretti was a legal firearm owner with a carry permit, he did not brandish a weapon or attack agents. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other officials rejected the federal government's characterization of the shooting. Pretti's death, along with that of fellow protester Renee Good weeks earlier, was among at least 14 shooting incidents during the enforcement surge and led to the removal of ICE commander Gregory Bovino, the resignation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, deployment of 'border czar' Tom Homan to Minnesota, and congressional scrutiny of use-of-force policies.

Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, mother of three, poet, and legal observer, was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7, 2026, while monitoring an immigration enforcement operation on Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis. Good had blocked the street with her Honda Pilot to warn neighbors of ICE's presence when Ross fired three shots as her car turned away from officers. Her wife, Becca, said they were simply warning neighbors. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump called her actions 'domestic terrorism,' but video evidence, a New York Times analysis, Human Rights Watch, and an independent autopsy found she posed no imminent threat. Protesters gathered at the ICE Field Office in St. Paul the following day, where agents responded with pepper balls, mace, and tear gas. Good's death, alongside that of fellow protester Alex Pretti, contributed to a shift in the administration's public enforcement approach; the administration blocked a federal criminal investigation, Noem was later fired, hundreds of federal agents were withdrawn from Minnesota, and Good's family filed a federal tort claim with her case presented at an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing.

Musa Sheriff, a Liberian citizen who was admitted to the U.S. as a refugee in 1999, has been held since ICE arrested him on March 2, 2025 at a scheduled check-in, after facing deportation over a criminal threatening charge filed five years after his arrival. He is detained in the ICE section of the Federal Correctional Institution at Lewisburg, and in August filed a habeas petition arguing his prolonged 19-month detention violated his due process rights. U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann ruled in his favor, finding his confinement conditions were indistinguishable from criminal punishment, and ordered the government to release him on his own recognizance or provide an individualized bond hearing by October 9.

Julian Curo-Churata, a 47-year-old man from Peru, died in ICE custody on September 29, 2026, at Ochsner LSU Health Monroe Medical Center in Monroe, Louisiana. He was arrested by ERO Baltimore during a targeted enforcement operation on June 27, 2026, and later transferred to ERO New Orleans custody, where he was held at Richwood Correctional Center. After being found in medical distress on September 28, he was taken to the hospital but was pronounced dead the following morning; the cause of death has not yet been determined. An immigration judge had denied his applications for relief and voluntary departure on September 18, 2026, and ICE notified his spouse, attorney, and the Consulate General of Peru following his death.