Human Impact Project

Daniela lost her three-month pregnancy while in immigration detention custody. She was transferred between detention facilities across multiple U.S. states over nearly four months and reports she did not receive appropriate medical treatment for her pregnancy while detained.

Indoniel Lázaro Barrio, a 15-year-old Cuban boy, was deported from the United States to Guyana with his father. After his father's sudden death, the boy was left alone in Guyana. His mother, Indala Saura, a legal resident in Miami, is seeking urgent help to bring her son back to Florida, where he had lived and studied for the past four years.

The United States has deported hundreds of unaccompanied Mexican children on flights to southern Mexico cities including Tapachula, Villahermosa, and Mérida, where human rights organizations confirm more than 350 cases. Many children lack resources to return home safely and have become stranded in unfamiliar cities with inadequate local support services. Some children have disappeared from shelters, and human rights advocates have received information suggesting possible deaths of at least three children attempting to return to their home communities. The policy, discovered in December 2024, represents a shift from prior practice of rapid deportations at the land border where children received care through Mexico's child welfare system.

Jasmir Urbina, a 35-year-old Nicaraguan asylum-seeker living legally in New Orleans with her husband, was defrauded by a scammer posing as attorney "Susan Millan" affiliated with Catholic Charities USA. Through WhatsApp messages and fake documents, the scammer convinced Urbina she had won residency in a virtual hearing and instructed her to skip her real immigration court check-in scheduled for November 24, 2025. Urbina and her husband paid nearly $10,000 through Zelle for the fraudulent services—money they had saved to purchase their first home. After reporting the fraud to authorities, ICE changed her scheduled December virtual check-in to an in-person meeting. When Urbina appeared for the in-person appointment, ICE agents arrested her, shackled her hands and feet, and deported her to Nicaragua in January 2026. She is now living with her mother in a remote village in Nicaragua, separated from her husband who remains in the U.S. Her case was documented in a ProPublica investigation revealing that immigration scam complaints have doubled since Trump's election, with victims reporting at least $94.4 million stolen over five years.

The petitioner is a 23-year-old native and citizen of Russia who entered the U.S. with his parents and siblings in October 2022 and has remained continuously in the country since, complying with all reporting and immigration court requirements with no criminal history. He and his family applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. He suffers from moderate atopic bronchial asthma requiring inhaled medication and severe, recurrent leg cramps aggravated by confinement. After an immigration judge ruled against him and his family on August 3, 2026 (an appeal now pending before the BIA), he was instructed to report to ICE for a scheduled check-in, where officers took him into custody without prior notice or an opportunity to contest the detention, and denied his requests to contact family or obtain his medication. He was transported to and remains held at Adelanto Detention Facility without a bond hearing. He filed a habeas petition and TRO application seeking immediate release, and the government did not oppose the petition. The court granted the petition, ordering his immediate release and barring re-detention absent notice and a hearing showing materially changed circumstances.

A witness recorded video of ICE agents using a vehicle to pin a Guatemalan man against a fence to detain him on Aug. 10 in Hallandale Beach. The footage sparked outrage among activists from several organizations, including the Guatemalan-Maya Center and 50501, who gathered to protest at Hallandale Beach City Hall. Advocates said the incident occurred amid an escalation in ICE activity across South Broward and North Miami following the end of TPS, and called on the Hallandale Beach Police Department to document federal misconduct and avoid partnering with ICE under 287(g) agreements.

Amina Khalifa, a 23-year-old Seattle resident from Morocco who arrived on a student visa in 2023, was arrested by ICE agents on August 10 as she stepped off a flight at Sea-Tac International Airport, returning from a trip connecting through Houston. Her visa had expired, but she has a pending asylum application, no criminal record, and previously held work authorization while employed as a bank teller; her attorney, Olia Catala, said she fled Morocco over fears of persecution. On August 19, ICE agents removed another traveler from a flight at Sea-Tac gate, a person who had overstayed a visa but had an active immigration application, according to attorney Jane O'Sullivan; both detainees were taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. Attorneys say the arrests are part of a broader Department of Homeland Security crackdown targeting people with pending immigration cases but no criminal history, part of enforcement actions reported at airports nationwide, while the Port of Seattle said its police were not notified of the ICE actions.

On August 10, 2026, ICE agents detained at least 33 people across the Capital Region of New York, including Albany, Schenectady, and Colonie, in more than 15 separate incidents over roughly six hours. Among those detained was an Ecuadoran family of four — parents Kevin Ushiña and Veronica Saquillo and their children, ages 5 and 9 — who had lived in Albany for two years and had withdrawn from the asylum process the previous year over fears of detention at a check-in. The mother and children are being held at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, while the father is held in a facility in western New York. Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs said she was “deeply unsettled” by the increased ICE activity and met with local advocacy coalitions supporting affected families.

A Guatemalan teenager who fled to the US in 2022 at age 16 to escape domestic violence has lived in the country for about four years. He was initially processed as an unaccompanied minor, held by DHS/ORR, and released to his aunt, a vetted sponsor, after being deemed neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community. He currently lives in Daly City with his mother, works at a Korean restaurant, and has no criminal history. On August 10, 2026, four ICE officers arrested him outside his home, handcuffed him despite his complaints of pain, and drove him to a parking structure where he was pressured to sign a document. He filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and a TRO motion challenging the lawfulness of his detention and seeking release plus protection from re-detention without notice and a hearing. The court found he was likely to succeed on his procedural due process claims and granted the TRO, ordering his immediate release, barring removal or transfer out of the district, and setting a show cause hearing for August 24, 2026.

Iliana Noeli Lick, 30, an Argentine national who legally entered the U.S. on a tourist visa and was awaiting an asylum interview with USCIS, was arrested by ICE at Philadelphia International Airport on July 11 while attempting to travel to Kansas City to watch the Argentina national team play in the World Cup quarterfinal. Lick has worked as a nanny caring for three young children in South Philadelphia for two years and has no criminal record. She was transferred between multiple ICE detention facilities in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, where she was held with nine others in a small cell with one window and one toilet. After one month in custody, Lick was released on a $10,000 bond and required to surrender her passport and license and wear an ankle monitor. She is awaiting a court date to determine whether she will be deported or allowed to remain in the country.

Haitian immigrant Monsanto Maler, who has lived in the U.S. since 2023 and said he left Haiti because he no longer felt safe there, collapsed to the ground in tears after leaving an ICE check-in appointment in Blue Ash, Ohio on Sunday while wearing an ankle monitor. Maler had reported to ICE after his Temporary Protected Status ended following a June 25 Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to terminate TPS for roughly 350,000 Haitians, with Haiti's designation formally expiring July 27. Photojournalist Carol Guzy captured the moment as community advocates, including Vilès Dorsainvil of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center, rushed to comfort him; Dorsainvil said Maler was confused and repeatedly asked how long he would have to wear the device. Those fitted with monitors face restrictions barring travel beyond 75 miles from home without ICE permission, and hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the office in support as the video drew national attention, including from the King Center.

Britney Ramirez-Corona, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen, was handcuffed by ICE agents on Tidewater Drive in Norfolk after they reportedly questioned the authenticity of her Virginia ID and Social Security card. She had gone to retrieve a truck belonging to her fiancé, Oscar Amaya Bueso, who was detained along with his brother and another man during a targeted operation; the couple had been due to marry the following week. Ramirez-Corona, whose young sister was present at the scene, said an agent shoved her and that she was held despite repeatedly stating she was born in Norfolk. She was later released after her citizenship was confirmed, and said she now fears future encounters with immigration agents despite carrying her documentation.

Laurentino Matuz Reyes, 39, a Mexican national, was detained by ICE agents at the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo after his lawful entry authorization expired in 2022. Local law enforcement encountered him at the event, and he was taken into ICE custody along with two other individuals. He remained in custody pending removal proceedings.

Melqui David Lopez Diaz, a 22-year-old Mexican national, was detained by ICE agents at the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo after local law enforcement encountered him at the event. His lawful entry authorization had expired in 2023. He was taken into ICE custody along with two other individuals at the rodeo and remained in custody pending removal proceedings. His family described his detention as their worst nightmare.

Oscar Amaya Bueso, Osman Amaya Bueso, and Arnold Antonio Mendoza Garcia were arrested by ICE during a targeted operation on Tidewater Drive in Norfolk on Friday. According to ICE, the three men were arrested for illegal entry to Virginia from Honduras. Mendoza Garcia had previously been arrested by Customs and Border Protection in July 2021 but was released by the Biden administration.

Eric Ornelas, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen, says ICE detained him after he recorded an immigration enforcement operation. According to Ornelas, ICE used him as bait to apprehend his father. ICE has not responded to media inquiries about the specific details of Ornelas' encounter.

A Lake Worth Beach couple, Maria Leiva and Abraham Domingo, were detained by Border Patrol agents on Aug. 9 as their family drove home from church and planned to buy their children shoes for the start of school. Their five U.S.-born children, ages 3 to 18, were present during the stop near Greenacres, and the encounter was recorded and widely shared online. The eldest daughter, who turned 18 the day before, is now the primary caregiver for her four younger siblings. The Department of Homeland Security said Leiva had an outstanding removal order and Domingo had a past domestic battery charge, though court records show that charge did not result in a conviction.

Gabar Choli, a 40-year-old Kurdish filmmaker and activist, has described being shackled, wrestled to the floor, and force-fed twice daily through a 60-centimeter nasal tube while held in a solitary confinement medical cell at the Port Isabel detention center in Texas. He said the daily procedure involved five staff members restraining him and inserting the tube, causing pain and internal bleeding during his hunger strike protesting detention conditions after his asylum application was denied. Choli said the ordeal led to a mental and physical collapse so severe that he wrote what he called an apology letter to his own body. A Guardian investigation found ICE obtained court orders for involuntary medical treatment for 18 hunger strikers between January 2025 and August 2026; Choli was later deported and now lives in Canada.

A Filipino national from Cebu, identified in recent reporting as Raul Raagas, was arrested by ICE during a traffic stop in Jersey City following a July 24 family court hearing, and has since been transferred from the Elizabeth, New Jersey facility to a detention center in Mississippi. According to the Philippine Consulate General in New York, he entered the United States decades ago on an athlete visa through the Gintong Alay sports program, and the Consulate reported he is in good spirits and good condition. Raagas, 30, is the father of two U.S. citizen children, and Hudson County officials are investigating possible cooperation between county employees and ICE in connection with his detention. His bond hearing, originally set for Aug. 20, was postponed twice before finally taking place on Sept. 30.

Juan Quim, 19, was deported to Guatemala on August 9, less than two weeks after being detained during a traffic stop in Littleville, Alabama, and transferred to ICE custody under a 287(g) agreement. Quim came to the U.S. from Guatemala at age 10 and grew up in Russellville, where he graduated with honors from Russellville High School, excelled in the welding program, volunteered at his church, and worked at a local restaurant. The Department of Homeland Security said Quim had an outstanding final order of removal over three years old due to his failure to appear at immigration hearings. An advocate who organized a GoFundMe for Quim said he is now safe with relatives, and he is described as deeply missed by his parents and two siblings.