Human Impact Project

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.'

Manuel Alejandro Nadal-Ortiz, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a pending work permit, was detained by ICE agents on September 1 outside a Bloomington Walmart where he worked as a delivery driver for DoorDash, Uber and Walmart. He was detained alongside Cesar Augusto Cepeda Gomez, another delivery driver. His girlfriend, Joanna Hanner, said his mother called her crying within minutes of the arrest, and the family spent the day calling detention centers before Ortiz reached them by phone that afternoon from Chicago, saying he was being transferred to a jail in Michigan. Hanner said Ortiz had no criminal record beyond a paid speeding ticket, closely monitored local ICE activity to avoid it, and was saving money to support his father in Venezuela. On September 24, Ortiz filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court in Michigan, and on September 30 a judge ordered the government to show cause for his continued detention, with a response due October 5. Unlike Cepeda Gomez, whose parallel habeas case led to a bond hearing, Ortiz's case remains in earlier litigation stages.

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.

Claudia Carolina Rodríguez Caglianone, a 28-year-old Venezuelan immigrant who served as captain of St. Thomas University's soccer team and earned bachelor's and master's degrees there, was detained by ICE at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 31, 2026, while trying to board a domestic flight. She had entered the U.S. in 2017 on a tourist visa, applied for asylum within six months, and held Temporary Protected Status until it expired in October. Her family said she was held for eight days at the Miramar ICE field office without being able to shower or change clothes, losing 15 pounds, before being transferred to facilities including the Broward Transitional Center and Pompano Beach. Her former coach praised her leadership and character. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz visited the facility, criticized ICE for detaining 'law-abiding residents like Claudia,' and raised concerns about hundreds of similar detainees, with the resulting public pressure contributing to her eventual release.

Gerson Josué Santamaría Turcios, a Honduran immigrant and Rhinebeck High School graduate who ran his own lawn care and landscaping business, was arrested by ICE as he returned home from work. He had lived in the Rhinebeck community for years, building long-term employment relationships with local residents who describe him as warm and hard-working. A Manhattan judge denied his request for a temporary restraining order, and he was held at Orange County Jail before being transferred to the Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana. A coalition called New York Neighbors Unite launched a fundraising campaign that quickly raised more than $26,000, eventually growing to over $132,000 with support from former employers, teachers, classmates, actor Paul Rudd, filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, and U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan. His attorney, Karen Weinstock, pursued a habeas corpus petition, and a U.S. appeals judge from the Second Circuit granted him a stay of removal after more than a year in custody. Local resident Martha Honey said neighbors remain concerned about his ongoing imprisonment.

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 VA Medical Center and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez on January 24, 2026, during a protest against Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement operation. Witnesses and bystander video showed Pretti, holding only a phone, stepped in after agents shoved a woman to the ground; footage showed agents shoving him, spraying him with a chemical agent, and beating him with a metal canister before shooting him ten times, contradicting initial federal claims of self-defense. Pretti was a legal firearm owner with a carry permit but did not brandish a weapon or attack agents. Officers did not provide immediate first aid, and a pediatrician who tried to help was initially prevented from doing so. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other officials rejected the federal government's characterization of the shooting, and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened an investigation. His death, along with that of fellow protester Renee Good weeks earlier, was among at least 14 shooting incidents during the enforcement surge, which led to the removal of ICE commander Gregory Bovino, the resignation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and deployment of 'border czar' Tom Homan to Minnesota.

Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, mother of three, poet, and legal observer, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7, 2026, while monitoring Operation Metro Surge, 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. Fellow protester Alex Pretti was also killed during the same operation. Protesters who gathered at the ICE Field Office in St. Paul the following day were met with pepper balls, mace, and tear gas. The administration blocked a federal criminal investigation, Noem was later fired, and hundreds of federal agents were withdrawn from Minnesota. Good's family filed two federal lawsuits under Bivens and the Federal Tort Claims Act against the agent and top administration officials, and her case was presented at an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing. DHS agents have shot at roughly two dozen people and killed six since the start of the administration.

Gregory Sanabria Tarazona, a Venezuelan asylum seeker and former political prisoner who endured years in detention in Venezuela, was arrested by ICE during a routine check-in in Houston weeks before his scheduled asylum hearing. He was taken to an ICE processing center despite holding a valid work permit while his asylum case was pending. Amnesty International called for his release, and a Republican congressman formally wrote to the Department of Homeland Security requesting intervention on his behalf.

Jose Felipe Pacheco Bautista, a 21-year-old Fruitland Park man, was stopped by Leesburg police after radar showed his truck traveling 51 mph in a 45-mph zone on State Road 44 and Whitney Road. He and another occupant fled on foot while the vehicle was still rolling, and Pacheco Bautista was apprehended shortly after and charged with resisting an officer without violence. He was booked into the Lake County Jail, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a hold on him.

Monica Ryadi, a 30-year-old nurse from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was detained by ICE agents at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 15, 2026, as she arrived with her husband, Steven Sary, and their 3-year-old son for a Disneyland trip. Ryadi has lived legally in the U.S. since age 9, after fleeing religious persecution in Indonesia with her family, and was granted Withholding of Removal in 2010, which allows her to live and work in the country. Officers handcuffed and chained her and threatened to place her son in child protective services when her husband protested, according to court filings. Her attorney said she was never given a warrant or documentation explaining her arrest and that ICE indicated she could be deported to an undisclosed third country. After 15 days in custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, a U.S. magistrate judge ordered her released with a GPS ankle monitor, and she was reunited with her husband and son that night.

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.

A man identified by the initials OBP, a Mexican citizen previously removed from the U.S. in 2022, was approached by Border Patrol agents near Washtenaw Avenue and Pittsfield Boulevard in Ann Arbor on the night of May 28. He fled, tripped, and struck his face on the pavement, sustaining cuts and a contusion, and was taken to Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital for treatment while remaining in custody. Nurse Chloe Renae Freeman, 33, has been criminally charged with helping him escape after allegedly directing staff to keep him in a CT scan room, removing his IV, and guiding him out through the ambulance bay doors. Freeman told investigators she disagreed with ICE's practice of separating families and acknowledged the man could have died from his untreated injuries. He has not been located since his disappearance.

Mark Louis Santiago Mabasa, son of slain Filipino radio broadcaster Percy Lapid, was detained by US immigration authorities in Los Angeles, California. He is currently being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, according to the ICE Online Detainee Locator System. His uncle, Roy Mabasa, confirmed the arrest but said the family has not yet received details about the reason for it. The family had been in the process of seeking political asylum in the United States after Lapid was ambushed and killed in the Philippines in October 2022.

ICE conducted a multi-day operation called 'Operation Safe Community - Kansas' from September 22-25, 2026, arresting about 104 people in Dodge City, Garden City, Liberal, Hutchinson, Larned and other southwest Kansas communities, including workers at meat processing plants like National Beef and Cargill. Liberal Vice Mayor Janeth Vazquez witnessed agents detain a mother with a baby in her car, and a community volunteer arranged for a family member to retrieve the child. Viridiana Boron, a legal permanent resident from Mexico who came to the U.S. after her family was threatened, spent days delivering meals cooked by her mother and sister to roughly 200 families too afraid to leave their homes, and said she herself felt frightened despite having proper documentation, describing agents stopping cars based on whether someone appeared Hispanic or Latino. Advocates said many detainees had no criminal records, while the U.S. Attorney's Office named five arrestees with convictions including homicide, kidnapping, and sexual assault, disputing claims the operation amounted to discriminatory sweeps. The operation caused widespread disruption, with 120 students absent from one elementary school and businesses closing for the week. Officials did not release a full roster of those arrested or disclose their detention locations.

Frank Duran, a Cargill meat plant worker in Dodge City, and his 20-year-old daughter Guadalupe Navarrete, who works at National Beef in Liberal, were pulled over by an ICE vehicle with sirens while driving home from work in southwest Kansas. An officer approached Navarrete, who was driving, demanding identification but did not respond when she asked if he had a warrant or why they were stopped. Both are U.S. citizens who have lived in Kansas their entire lives, and Navarrete was left shaking and crying after the officer scanned her identification. She told her father, "We're both born here in Kansas. We're legal citizens, Dad. They profiled us." Duran said he believed they had been racially profiled. They were not detained and were allowed to leave after the stop, which occurred amid a broader ICE enforcement action targeting meat processing plants in the region.

An Iranian woman in her early 30s who fled Iran after converting to Christianity was detained by ICE and ultimately deported to the Central African Republic, a country she had never visited and that the U.S. government warns citizens to avoid due to violent crime and civil war. She entered the U.S. without authorization at the southern border in 2024 and had settled in Atlanta before being held at Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia. Speaking to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after learning of the planned deportation, she said, "I just started shaking. I was just so scared. I don't have anyone (over) there. I don't know the language, or anything." She was deported only three days after her arrest, one of the few Iranian nationals removed since fighting between the U.S. and Iran began, as deportations of Iranians have otherwise nearly halted because Iran and other countries have been unwilling to issue travel documents.

Elder Chavez Carranza, an 18-year-old junior at Asbury High School in Albertville, Alabama, was detained by ICE on December 30, 2025, after a state trooper stopped him for speeding and driving without a license and contacted immigration officials. Chavez Carranza, originally from Copan, Honduras, fled violence and poverty and entered the U.S. at age 14, later being granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, though a separate deferred-action and green card application remains unresolved. He is held at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, where he says he has lacked adequate food and dental care, works as a painter earning $1 per day, and shares a room with 54 other men. His sister and legal guardian, Maryuri Chavez Carranza, a former teacher, said he calls her daily and misses his teachers, friends, senior year activities, and the birth of his nephew. By September 2026 he had spent more than 200 days in detention, as advocates including Angela Del Valle organized vigils across three states and raised concerns about conditions at Winn, where two detainees had died in less than two months.