Human Impact Project

Darline Jean Baptiste, a 33-year-old Haitian woman, was arrested by ICE in Springfield, Ohio on Aug. 14 while returning home from work during what the agency called a "targeted alien enforcement operation," and has since been held at the Butler County Jail. She entered the U.S. through a Florida airport in November 2023 under a humanitarian parole program, financially supports two children in Haiti, and said she fled her homeland due to daily threats of violence. An immigration judge denied her a bond hearing, ruling he lacked jurisdiction because she was considered an "arriving alien," and later withdrew her bond request entirely. On September 23, 2026, she filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, naming the warden of Butler County Corrections Center as respondent, supported by exhibits including her I-94, employment authorization document, an employer letter, and letters of support. In her court declaration, she said she is not a flight risk or danger to the community and committed to attending all future immigration court hearings if released. The government's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss her petition, and her attorneys filed a response in opposition on October 1, 2026.

Ivan, 27, a construction worker from Guatemala who has lived in the U.S. since 2019 and has no criminal record besides minor traffic violations, was granted release from immigration detention after a federal judge approved his habeas petition. As he walked toward the doors of the Whipple Federal Building hoping to visit a church and see his wife, five federal agents immediately handcuffed him and took him to Freeborn County Jail. His attorney, Steven Appelget, had argued in the habeas petition that agents lacked probable cause or a warrant when they initially arrested Ivan at a gas station and followed him to a Menards parking lot in Columbia Heights before detaining him.

Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian national who entered the U.S. in the mid-2000s, was arrested by immigration officers in September 2025 while driving to work in Massachusetts. Under a Trump administration policy issued in July 2025, DHS classified him as an 'applicant for admission' subject to mandatory detention and initially denied him a bond hearing, though he was later released on bond according to court filings. The Second Circuit rejected DHS's interpretation, ruling his detention was instead governed by a provision permitting release on bond. The U.S. Supreme Court has now granted certiorari to decide whether mandatory detention without a bond hearing can be imposed on noncitizens who entered without inspection but were later arrested in the interior. The ACLU, representing the plaintiffs, warns that millions of noncitizens could be affected by the administration's interpretation.

A man was detained after being chased on foot across three lanes of Interstate 5 in Des Moines, Washington, in an arrest that a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said was most likely carried out by ICE. Video of the incident, showing the man tackled by two vested officers and walked to an unmarked vehicle with flashing lights, was posted to a community site that tracks ICE activity. Washington State Patrol and the King County sheriff's office confirmed they were not involved in the arrest.

Federal agents used high-flying drones to track Abel Ávila Martínez, 48, of Buena Park, California, as he left his home before dawn Thursday, then surrounded his vehicle with about 20 Homeland Security Investigations agents in tactical gear as he prepared to drive away. Ávila Martínez, a Mexican national previously removed from the U.S. in 1999, surrendered with his hands raised after agents blasted him with searchlights and pointed weapons at him. He is charged with using fake Social Security numbers to fraudulently obtain credit, racking up at least $15,964 in debt, including a purchase at Guitar Center, and had filed for bankruptcy last year in an attempt to discharge the debt. He was one of at least four people arrested in a wider operation targeting alleged Social Security fraud schemes totaling over $140,000, which also included Walter Anastacio Castellanos-Pérez, José Alfredo Chávez-Cabello, and Verónica Espinosa-Cortés; a fifth suspect evaded capture and remains at large.

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.

Edgar Vásquez Silva, a DACA recipient born in Mexico who moved to Mississippi with his family at age 3, lost his job as a deputy assistant with the Stone County Sheriff's Office after five years there. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety's Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training (BLEOST) removed his certification because the board requires U.S. citizenship, even though his work focused on transport and jail supervision without carrying a weapon or making arrests. Vásquez Silva said the sheriff told him he tried everything he could to keep him employed, and Vásquez Silva, who said he supports President Trump, expressed hope of asking him for a path to legal residency.

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.

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.

Elisthene Petit Kat, 38, a Haitian national living in Springfield, was arrested Aug. 15 as a passenger in a vehicle stopped by North Hampton police officers acting under an agreement with ICE, allegedly for missing a hearing he was never informed about. He lawfully entered the U.S. in June 2023 with humanitarian parole after fleeing violence with his partner and young daughter, applied for asylum, worked at an auto parts assembly factory, attended church regularly, and was the sole provider for his family in Springfield while also supporting a 7-year-old son who remains in Haiti. U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett ruled Sept. 30 that ICE must release him from the Butler County Jail or provide a bond hearing within a week, rejecting the agency's argument that he was subject to mandatory detention as an 'arriving alien' despite having lived in the U.S. for years, and writing that the court was 'puzzled' by ICE's position. Petit Kat's petition noted he was not assessed for flight risk or danger, was not promptly served with a warrant, and did not speak with an ICE officer for days after being jailed. The ruling comes as half a dozen other Haitian citizens have challenged the legality of their ICE detention at the same jail, with advocates expecting more detainees in southwest Ohio to file similar challenges.

Gedion Masunsu, 42, a Waltham resident who spent 16 years seeking political asylum after working for American military contractors in Iraq and completing the Waltham Police Department's Citizens Academy, was deported to Uganda on September 30, 2026, after 19 months in ICE detention, most of it at the Strafford County jail in Dover, NH. He had been arrested on assault charges involving his now-wife that were dismissed by a Massachusetts judge within three months, but his paralegal, Rosette Serwanga, said the charges were not promptly removed from his record and likely influenced his case; an immigration judge denied him bond twice even after he was granted withholding of removal. A federal judge denied his habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without prejudice in December 2025. After the government appealed his withholding of removal, the judge issued a removal order and the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed his case on September 15, 2026, reportedly because his former attorney filed the appeal late. Masunsu said ICE removed him within hours of an inquiry from an aide to Sen. Edward Markey, despite telling officials at a Burlington, MA holding facility that he still had 15 days to appeal. He suffered an untreated rotator cuff injury during an ICE transport van ride, married his partner, Sylvia Mamutabi Mugisha, while detained, and her daughter Paris Kirunda wrote that he 'embraced my siblings and me with genuine love, kindness, and respect.' Fellow detainees described him as a devout Christian whose daily prayer meetings calmed tensions at the jail. He is now in a Kampala hotel with no family or friends remaining in Uganda, relying on financial assistance from the Ugandan community in Boston.

Five people were taken into ICE custody in Moroni, Utah, after immigration agents rode along with North Valley Police Department officers conducting traffic stops for infractions like speeding or broken lights near the town's turkey-processing plant. Deputy Chief Logan Ludvigson said local officers performed the stops and transport while ICE decided whom to detain, with the five first brought to the police station before being turned over to ICE. The North Valley and Gunnison Valley police departments signed 287(g) task force agreements with ICE in August, allowing local officers to make immigration arrests during routine duties. ICE confirmed the five arrests and said the operation did not target the turkey plant business, describing it as part of ongoing nationwide enforcement by its Enforcement and Removal Operations officers, but did not release the identities of those arrested or confirm whether they worked at the plant. The arrests spread fear through Moroni's Hispanic community, with some residents avoiding stores and keeping children home from school.

Alicia Labrador, a Venezuelan dermocosmiatrist and founder/CEO of the Aliestetic beauty and MedSpa brand, was detained by federal immigration authorities on September 30, 2026, while dropping off her 16-year-old daughter at a friend's home in Doral's Ibis Villas neighborhood. She also serves as vice president of the Hispanic Women's Chamber of Commerce of Doral. Her attorney, Ros Ana Guillén, says Labrador has a pending asylum application, valid work authorization, and a current driver's license, and family members say she entered the U.S. legally on a visa in 2016 with no criminal record. Her son, Héctor Sánchez, said he learned of the detention when his mother called him while she was with officers, telling Telemundo, 'I couldn't even speak.' Reports conflict on her location, with some saying she was transferred the same evening to a detention facility in Texas, while her attorney says she may be held at a CBP transit facility in Florida where she has not been permitted to visit her. She now faces deportation proceedings, and her family says they are focused on bringing her home.

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.

Anyi Hernandez-Escobar came to the United States from Honduras in 2018, eight months pregnant and fleeing what she described as a desperate situation, and was detained for four days before being granted parole to remain temporarily. She later married U.S. citizen Patrick Keating, who became a father figure to her son Daniel, and the couple had a daughter together in May 2025. A Houston immigration judge rejected her request to temporarily close her removal proceedings while she pursued a green card through her marriage, a decision her attorney said followed a June agreement between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Department of Justice ending a Biden-era policy that allowed such closures. Without that option, her attorney says she may need to leave for Honduras to pursue an immigrant visa, and her seven-year-old son Daniel may be unable to go with her because his biological father has not surrendered custodial rights.

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."