Human Impact Project

Community organizers and immigration attorneys report an uptick in detainments at the Dallas ICE Field Office during routine check-in appointments. Multiple immigrants, including those with pending asylum cases and proper documentation, have been detained during check-in appointments. The office has become one of the busiest in the country, averaging about 100 arrests per day, and reporting indicates most of those arrested in 2025 did not have criminal convictions. One case highlighted by the Dallas Morning News involved an asylum seeker from El Salvador with no criminal record who was arrested at a scheduled appointment in October 2025 and transferred to a detention center in Georgia.

Two U.S. citizen women were arrested by Border Patrol agents in Charlotte after allegedly honking their horn to alert others of agents' presence in the area during Operation Charlotte Web. An agent used an assault rifle to break the driver's window, and both women were handcuffed with zip ties and removed from the vehicle. They were taken to an FBI building and released later that day, charged with 18 USC 111 for allegedly impeding a federal officer.

Chanidaphon Sopimpa, a Thai national and wife of retired Marine Staff Sergeant Samuel Shasteen, was arrested by ICE agents during her final green card interview on November 18, 2025, and detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center. Sopimpa had overstayed her visa but the couple had been pursuing her green card through marriage to a U.S. citizen spouse, which includes a federal law exception for such cases. ICE stated the arrests were for visa overstays, but immigration attorneys note this enforcement action at green card interviews is unprecedented in recent history. Sopimpa has no criminal history and is scheduled for a bond hearing.

An NYPD sergeant named Atickul Islam was charged with posing as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field director and ordering a victim and their family to report to an ICE facility by April 15. Islam pleaded not guilty to personation of a federal officer and was released on an unsecured $25,000 bond. The NYPD suspended him without pay and seized his badge and service weapon.

Britania Uriostegui Rios, a Mexican transgender woman who entered the U.S. in 2003, was deported to Mexico on November 11, 2024, despite a federal judge's March order blocking her removal based on findings that she faced a substantial risk of torture. Uriostegui Rios is a trauma survivor who was sexually trafficked by cartels as a young person and faces significant threats in Mexico due to her transgender identity. She was deported without medications, identification, money, or a cell phone and went into hiding in Tijuana. ICE and Department of Justice officials acknowledged the deportation violated the immigration judge's order and was improper. The Trump administration offered to allow her to voluntarily return to the U.S., where she would be placed back in ICE custody while the government seeks an alternative country for deportation. Her legal team filed suit to prevent her return to federal custody and to secure her release under supervision, arguing the government cannot be trusted to follow court orders.

Border Patrol arrested a 23-year-old woman named Fatima Issela Velasquez-Antonio in Raleigh, North Carolina. The arrested woman is a high school graduate and homeowner with two traffic violations on her record.

A man in a white truck impersonated an ICE agent by displaying a fake badge and clipboard while harassing an Uber driver and passenger near USC in Los Angeles. The man yelled racist slurs, spat at the vehicle multiple times, and chased them for several blocks before fleeing. The incident lasted approximately 20 minutes and was reported to 911 and the Newton Community Police Station.

Twenty-five Virginia and national organizations have called for the closure of Farmville Detention Center, a privately operated ICE facility, citing pepper spray misuse, medical neglect, withheld medication, improper solitary confinement and food contamination. Rep. Don Beyer, after an August 8 oversight visit, wrote to new facility owner CoreCivic detailing overwhelmed medical staff, unclear staffing numbers and detainees waiting days for basic medical requests, including a case his office had to personally intervene in to secure medication access. CoreCivic, which completed its purchase of the facility in July, said it is working with ICE to respond to Beyer's letter and affirmed that detainee health and safety remain a top priority.

Jeffrey Suazo, 26, a Honduran national who came to the United States four years ago fleeing persecution, was detained by federal immigration agents on November 25, 2025, during an operation at his home in St. Paul. Suazo, who works as a house painter and is the breadwinner for his household, was leaving for work at the same time as a tenant who was the target of the operation. According to his family, agents surrounded both vehicles in unmarked cars and pursued Suazo when he drove back to his house; he was held inside for five hours while more than 200 community members gathered outside to protest. His family stated that agents did not present a warrant, threatened to force entry, and used manipulation tactics including taunting Suazo in Spanish and mentioning his girlfriend's 6-year-old sister to pressure him to leave the house. Federal immigration officials filed a criminal complaint charging Suazo with assaulting a federal officer. His family describes him as a devoted partner to his girlfriend Deylin, a caring person with no criminal involvement, and essential to his household's financial stability.

Manuel Ndongala, an asylum seeker from Angola, was detained by ICE on November 18, 2025, during what he expected to be a routine check-in at the Scarborough, Maine ICE office. His car was left in the office parking lot and was towed under Maine's abandoned vehicle law while he was detained for over 80 days. The incident prompted Maine's Secretary of State to temporarily adjust the state's process for transferring ownership of abandoned vehicles to better protect detained immigrants.

Border Patrol detained Moises Benitez Diaz, a 27-year-old Raleigh construction contractor, on November 18 during Operation Charlotte's Web. His wife Esmeralda Escobar, who is 8 months pregnant, is now managing the family business while he is held at a Georgia facility. Despite DHS claiming he was a criminal convicted of felony larceny, court records show his charges were dismissed and he completed a misdemeanor diversion agreement.

Harrinson Jose Osuna Benitez, a Venezuelan tattoo artist seeking asylum over fears of torture and persecution, was paroled into the U.S. in September 2024 after ICE found no criminal history, later settling in Portland with his partner, who gave birth to their son in December 2024. He attended multiple immigration hearings through 2025 and had a future hearing scheduled for January 2027, but on November 17, 2025, ICE detained him at a Portland office visit, citing his tattoos as a security concern without providing notice of parole revocation. He spent weeks at the Northwest Immigration Processing Center while his family struggled without his income. On December 30, 2025, a federal judge in the Western District of Washington granted his habeas corpus petition, ruling his detention violated due process and ordering his release.

Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz, an 18-year-old rising senior at Reseda Charter High School, was detained by federal immigration agents on August 8, 2025, while walking his family's dog in Van Nuys. A neighbor said masked agents in unmarked vests labeled "immigration police" took him, leaving the dog loose in an alley. He was held at a Los Angeles detention center before being transferred to a facility in Arizona on August 26, awaiting deportation proceedings. Educators, former teachers and community activists rallied outside LAUSD headquarters on August 19 demanding his release so he could return to school, while his family, including four younger siblings who missed him, started a GoFundMe to support him. An immigration judge granted him bond on November 17, and he was released and reunited with his family just before Thanksgiving after months in custody.

Cristobal Maltos, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was stopped by Border Patrol agents on November 17, 2025, while following a hit-and-run driver and reporting it to police. Agents surrounded his vehicle at an intersection, and when he attempted to move forward, they broke his car windows and removed him from the vehicle, allegedly causing injuries. Maltos was charged with felony assault, resisting arrest, and impeding a federal officer during the enforcement operation dubbed "Charlotte's Web."

Joel Camas, a 16-year-old Ecuadorian student at Gotham Collaborative High School in the Bronx, was detained by ICE on October 23, 2025, during a required check-in at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. Camas had been granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status in April after a Bronx County Family Court judge ruled in December 2024 that remaining in the U.S. was in his best interest following his father's abandonment. Despite his legal protections and approved pathway to permanent residency, he was held in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody while his removal order was stayed. The City of New York filed a brief supporting his release, citing his strong academic record and arguing his detention disrupted his education. His attorneys argued ICE violated federal law and the Constitution by arresting a child with legal status at a routine appointment. After nearly a month in custody, U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel ordered his immediate release on November 17.

A man who had resided in the United States since 2001 with no criminal history and U.S. citizen family members was detained by immigration authorities in November 2025. He was charged with entering without inspection and denied a bond hearing under Section 1225(b)(2). The federal court granted his habeas petition, finding his detention violated due process, and ordered either immediate release or an individualized bond hearing within 7 days.

Heather Morrow, a 44-year-old Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus driver, was arrested on November 16 while protesting at an ICE office on Tyvola Centre Drive. Federal prosecutors charged her with felony assault on a federal officer, claiming she grabbed an agent's shoulders and attempted to jump on his back. Video footage released by Morrow's attorney shows her touching an agent's shoulder before being tackled to the ground.

Antonio Enriquez, 53, a lawful permanent resident, was walking to a store in Melrose Park when federal agents in unmarked vehicles demanded to see his documents. When he told them his green card and documents were at home, agents ignored his pleas and pushed him to the ground, handcuffing him after he resisted. He was taken to an ICE facility and held for six hours until his daughter brought copies of his green card and Social Security card.

A U.S. citizen in his early 20s and his undocumented father were stopped by federal agents while walking to La Chiquita grocery store in Little Village to buy carne asada and beans. Both men were arrested and transported to the ICE facility in Broadview. The son was later released but said agents dismissed his pleas that his younger brother has epilepsy and needs their father's care. The father remains in ICE detention out of state. The son requested anonymity to protect his father from potential retaliation.

On July 4, 2025, roughly a dozen people demonstrated at the Prairieland ICE detention center in Texas, and gunfire erupted during a police response with one officer reportedly injured. Nineteen people were charged with material support for terrorism, rioting, and other federal crimes. On February 17, 2026, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman declared a mistrial during jury selection in the case involving nine defendants, citing an attorney's attire. Jury selection is scheduled to resume on February 24, 2026.