Human Impact Project

Phu Nguyen, a 57-year-old Australian citizen born in Vietnam, was confronted by plainclothes ICE agents at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 13, 2026. Video footage shows agents holding him on the ground and attempting to handcuff him while he was in Terminal 3. When onlookers and a TSA officer intervened, the agents walked away, leaving him with a handcuff attached to one wrist. Las Vegas police officers arrived and removed the handcuff after determining there were no outstanding warrants against him. According to DHS, Nguyen's valid two-year visa had expired in 2015. ICE arrested him the following day at Los Angeles International Airport, and he is currently held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center pending removal proceedings.

A driver on Highway 211 near Woodburn, Oregon was pulled over by an SUV using red and blue emergency-style lights on July 17, 2026. Two men got out, one carrying a rifle, identified themselves as ICE agents, forced the driver from their vehicle, searched them, and placed them in the back of the SUV, where a third man assaulted them. The driver was held for 15 to 20 minutes before being released and later sought hospital treatment for injuries. Oregon State Police and the FBI are investigating, and authorities confirmed the men were not actual federal law enforcement officers.

Oregon State Police are investigating a report that three masked men impersonating ICE agents stopped a driver on Highway 211 in Clackamas County, Oregon, on July 17, 2026. Police said two of the men, one carrying a rifle, pulled the driver from their car, searched them, and placed them in the back of an unmarked SUV, where a third man assaulted them before releasing them 15 to 20 minutes later. The victim was treated at a hospital for injuries and later received a text message from a number claiming to be a law firm offering legal help. Oregon State Police and the FBI are investigating the incident as an alleged impersonation of federal agents and assault.

The petitioner, a native of Venezuela, was released under an order of supervision in the United States in August 2011 after applying for withholding of removal, though her exhibits do not confirm the withholding was actually granted. She was detained by ICE during a scheduled check-in appointment on July 17, 2026, and was told her order of supervision had been revoked. She is currently held at Richwood Correctional Center. She filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that revocation of her supervision order violated her due process rights and that authorities were unlikely to deport her to a third country within a reasonable timeframe. She later filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order after being informed she was scheduled for removal to either Venezuela or Mexico, seeking immediate release or an order blocking her removal pending review of her habeas claims. The court denied the TRO motion, finding no threat of imminent harm beyond her impending removal and ruling that federal courts lack jurisdiction over claims tied directly to execution of removal orders.

ICE agents in Lakewood, Washington detained 23-year-old Venezuelan citizen Moises Velasquez while searching for a Mexican national with a final deportation order who drove the same make and model car. Velasquez, who entered the U.S. legally through a CBP appointment in 2023, was paroled, obtained employment authorization, and was awaiting a December 2026 asylum hearing when agents broke his car window and pulled him from his vehicle outside the barber shop where he works; his fiancée, then eight months pregnant, was on the phone and heard him screaming for help. His attorney, Bart Klein, said ICE agents realized they had detained the wrong person but sent him to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma anyway. A federal magistrate judge called the arrest 'egregious' and granted a habeas corpus petition, and Velasquez was released after about a month in detention and has returned to work.

Celestin Dima, a gay asylum seeker from Burkina Faso, fled kidnapping, military persecution and police torture after being outed before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2024. An Arizona immigration judge granted him withholding of removal, finding he would likely face persecution if deported home, but ICE held him at the Eloy Detention Center for nearly two years while searching for a third country willing to accept him, considering Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda—all countries where homosexuality is criminalized. While detained, he grew depressed, stopped eating, and was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks. A federal judge ordered his release in June 2026 after granting a joint habeas petition, but ICE redetained him on July 17 during a mandatory check-in at a field office in Lower Manhattan. He was then transferred through detention facilities in New Jersey and near Dallas, fitted with a GPS ankle monitor, and scheduled for deportation without being told in advance where he would be sent.

Rosendo Lira, a 59-year-old Wise County business owner and father of five, was detained by ICE after Wise County sheriff's deputies pulled him over for a traffic violation on July 17, 2026, just three minutes from his home. Despite holding a valid work permit and driver's license, Lira was transferred to ICE custody based on a 2020 immigration court order of removal that his family says is under appeal. Lira was preparing for his daughter Bella's quinceañera celebration; Bella was born with Down Syndrome, and Lira has been her primary advocate and caregiver throughout her life. His daughter Synthia stated that Lira had no reason to be detained as he had not violated the terms of his work permit, committed no crime, and cannot legally be deported while an appeal is pending. The detention occurred following the sheriff's office's April 2026 adoption of a 287(g) agreement with ICE.

Giovanni Henriquez-Osorio, a native of El Salvador, was arrested in Provo, Utah and held at Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump. Federal authorities asserted he was a member of MS-13 gang, but U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware found no evidence supporting the claim. Boulware noted Henriquez-Osorio feared torture and persecution if deported and that his detention caused financial harm to his family — a partner and infant son facing eviction. After initially denying him a bond hearing, the judge in March ordered he be released or receive a constitutionally adequate hearing. When an immigration judge again ruled him dangerous based on prior DUI and domestic violence convictions, Boulware found the decision misstated the record and misconstrued facts. The judge ordered his release on July 17, 2026, threatening contempt sanctions against ICE and DHS if they did not comply.

A man is detained by United States immigration enforcement officials at the Port Isabel Service Processing Center in Cameron County, Texas. He filed a habeas corpus petition seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent respondents from transferring him outside the court's jurisdiction while his case is pending. The court denied his motion, finding he failed to demonstrate substantial irreparable harm, since his counsel is located in New York City and cannot communicate with him in person regardless of his detention location.

Floridalma Chinchilla, an immigration detainee held at Washoe County Detention Center in Nevada, filed a federal habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging her ongoing detention. She filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent her transfer outside the district and secure her release pending resolution of her habeas petition, alleging she is subject to a final removal order and at risk of imminent removal. The court found the petition stated a prima facie case for relief and issued an order prohibiting her transfer out of the district or removal unless the court grants a motion to modify the order.

A non-citizen from El Salvador who entered the United States in 2021 was arrested and detained by ICE agents outside his apartment building in San Francisco on July 17, 2026. ICE agents arrested him without presenting a warrant at the time, claiming it was at their office. He has no criminal record, filed an asylum application, received work authorization, and is the sole provider for his pregnant wife and two young children. The court granted his temporary restraining order requiring immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that detention is necessary to prevent flight or protect the public.

U.S. Border Patrol agents pulled over suspects at a Circle K gas station near Bemidji Regional Airport. The suspects fled on foot to the airport and ended up on the runway, where they were apprehended with assistance from a Bemidji Police Officer, Minnesota State Trooper, and two Border Patrol Agents. Separately, ICE officers detained at least one person, and possibly more, at the SouthShore Hotel the same morning, an action Mayor Jorge Prince said local police were not involved in or asked to assist with, though officers did respond to reports of people fleeing into the lake. Prince said both actions were targeted efforts to find specific individuals rather than broader sweeps, while acknowledging community anxiety following the earlier Metro Surge operation.

Maikel Guerra Morales, a Cuban national convicted of aircraft piracy in 2003 after hijacking a commuter plane, was released from ICE custody by Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Steele on July 8, 2026, after more than six months in detention. Judge Steele ruled that ICE lacked a concrete plan to deport Morales and was violating the 2001 Supreme Court decision in Zadvydas v. Davis against indefinite detention. Morales had been released under supervision in March 2023 but was re-arrested in December 2025 despite complying with all supervision terms. Judge Steele ordered ICE to release Morales within 24 hours under the same conditions that had previously applied. In an exclusive statement, Morales expressed gratitude for Judge Steele, saying he would "always remember Judge Steele as a man who honored the oath he took" and calling him someone who applied "the law with independence, integrity, and justice." Judge Steele died at age 77 days after issuing the ruling. U.S. Rep. Greg Steube subsequently filed articles of impeachment against the deceased judge, making Judge Steele the first federal judge to die during impeachment proceedings.

Two construction workers from National City were arrested by federal immigration agents around 7 a.m. on July 17, 2026, outside a residential construction site in Cardiff. According to a co-worker, the brothers have worked at construction sites for nearly two decades. One is married with two children; his son is now an adult aspiring to become an architect. The arrest occurred quietly and quickly in unmarked vehicles, with some neighbors unaware of what happened despite being nearby. The workers' silver Nissan Frontier was left abandoned at the scene with their equipment and lunch still inside.

Twin sisters Angely and Alexka Jerez-Medina, 18-year-old students at Western International High School in Detroit, were detained by ICE in Buffalo, New York on June 24, 2026, while working a summer job cleaning an Amazon warehouse. According to court documents, the twins have never been arrested or convicted of a crime, have attended all immigration court appointments, and had previous removal proceedings dismissed by an immigration judge with no current removal proceedings pending. Their teacher described them as excellent, hardworking, shy students, with Angely participating in the school's JROTC program and Alexka interested in pursuing a career in the sciences. Both are active members of Pan de Vida Lutheran Church in Detroit. The twins were subsequently transferred to ICE detention facilities in El Paso, Texas and Louisiana. An attorney filed a habeas corpus petition on their behalf on June 25, and U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and multiple state and local officials have requested their release.

ICE agents in Passaic, New Jersey detained a U.S. citizen who repeatedly asked them to verify his identification. According to a neighbor who filmed the incident, the man told the federal agents who he was and pleaded with them to check his ID, but agents forced him to the ground, handcuffed him, and placed him in their vehicle without verifying his identity. A separate video circulating online shows the man continuing to ask agents to check his ID while being handcuffed, which they refused to do.

Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25- or 26-year-old Colombian national with legal work authorization, was fatally shot by ICE officer David Brouillette on July 13, 2026, during a mistaken traffic stop near a laundromat in Biddeford, Maine. He was working an early-morning DoorDash delivery shift when agents conducting surveillance on a different address approached his vehicle and fired five shots through the windshield, with his 3-year-old daughter witnessing the shooting. DHS said the vehicle attempted to flee and the officer fired fearing for public safety, a claim disputed by witnesses; Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed Guerrero was not the intended target. He lived with his partner Karolina Rojas and also worked as a veterinary clinic cleaner; she described him as 'a hard worker devoted to his family' who 'always dreamed big' for their daughter. His death prompted hundreds of protesters to gather and led to inquiries by the Maine Attorney General's Office, the FBI, and the DHS Office of Inspector General, with Democratic lawmakers, including Congressman Bennie Thompson, calling for an investigation into the officer's hiring history.

A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Nyamuoch Thomas Duoth, a lawful permanent resident born in a refugee camp in Ethiopia who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1994, from a Pottawattamie County, Iowa jail where she was held by ICE. Duoth, a citizen of South Sudan, was first ordered removed in 2020 and released from custody in 2022 after authorities found no significant likelihood of deportation, but ICE detained her again in March 2025, and she remained jailed for more than six months after her removal order became final without progress toward removal. After months in custody, Duoth filed a federal lawsuit against ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and Pottawattamie County seeking her release. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher said the government's argument for continued detention was 'hard to take seriously,' noting she had lived in the community without incident for years, and her attorneys are now seeking reimbursement of legal fees from the federal government.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested seven undocumented immigrants during a targeted operation in Bemidji on July 16, 2026. Benjamin Rodriguez Medina, from Mexico, was arrested while working on a construction site at the SouthShore Hotel on Lake Bemidji; he attempted to flee by swimming into the lake before being apprehended. The other six men arrested were Manuel Pomavilla Pichisaca (Ecuador), Luis Zaruma Delgado (Ecuador/Spain dual citizen), Diego Soto Velosco (Mexico), Xavier Llumiquinga Cajamarca (Ecuador), Wilson Pomavilla Guaman (Ecuador), and Luis Tipan-Calderon (Ecuador). All seven were in ICE custody pending further immigration proceedings.

ICE agents detained a Bronx asylum seeker at an immigration court in Manhattan while he attended a mandatory asylum hearing, despite a May 2026 federal court order prohibiting such arrests, and transferred him to Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey. The man, who had no criminal convictions and had complied with all immigration directives, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention. On August 22, 2026, the government filed a notice of non-opposition to his release, and U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods granted the petition, ordering his immediate release.