Human Impact Project

Luis Manuel Chavarría-Galeano, a 48-year-old exiled Nicaraguan journalist who hosts the interview program Café con Voz, was detained by ICE agents on September 14, 2026 while working as an Uber/Lyft driver near Orlando to supplement his journalism income. He fled Nicaragua in 2018 after police raided his newsroom and imprisoned colleagues over his reporting critical of Daniel Ortega's government, filing for asylum in the U.S. in June 2019 with a pending case, a valid work permit, and no U.S. criminal record. In 2023, the Ortega-Murillo government stripped him and 93 other journalists, writers, and activists of their citizenship. His wife, Daykel Santamaría, said she received only a brief call before his phone was taken, during which he asked her to contact a lawyer and notify journalists. He was held at Baker Correctional Facility and then Krome North Service Processing Center, where press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, Nicaraguan opposition members, and U.S. lawmakers such as Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar called for his release. An immigration judge granted him bond on September 23, and he was released on September 26, with a future immigration court hearing scheduled.

Jessica Trevino (also spelled Treviño), a DACA recipient in her mid-30s who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico as a young child and lived in Texas her entire life, was arrested by ICE agents on December 28, 2025, as she left church with her family in the Rio Grande Valley. Unmarked vehicles rammed the family's car in a Home Depot parking lot, agents struck her husband Juan with a baton, and shoved their 14-year-old daughter against the vehicle hard enough to bruise her. Trevino worked in an elementary school cafeteria and had no criminal record; her DACA status remained valid at the time. After nearly three months in ICE custody, she was deported to Matamoros, Mexico on March 25, 2026, despite disputing that she consented to a 'voluntary departure' order. Her three U.S. citizen children, ages 16, 14, and 13, remained in Texas with relatives. USCIS later moved to terminate her DACA status, citing unauthorized travel. Her family filed a federal lawsuit seeking her return and restoration of her status, though a federal judge has since recommended dismissal on jurisdictional grounds.

Adam Mohamed Abdullah, a 31-year-old Somali auto mechanic and asylum seeker living in St. Paul, was arrested by masked federal agents on December 12, 2025 during 'Operation Metro Surge,' despite holding a work permit, Social Security number, a pending asylum application, and no criminal record beyond two parking tickets, and despite regularly attending ICE check-ins. He was moved through detention facilities in Minnesota, Kentucky and Louisiana over roughly nine months before being transferred to Guantánamo Bay's Camp Six in late August alongside fellow Minnesotans Hassan Abdi Abtidoon and Abdullahi Jamal Abdi. His attorney, Marc Prokosch, said communication with him was limited and possibly not confidential, calling the use of the base a 'political scare tactic,' a characterization Sen. Tina Smith echoed after DHS described the group as having serious criminal histories without presenting evidence specific to Abdullah. Abdullah began a hunger strike over lack of information, after which he said guards beat him and placed him in a freezing solitary cell; while detained, his mother died after authorities denied his request for an international call and voluntary departure to see her. The ACLU sued the federal government over its use of Guantánamo for civil immigration detention, with a hearing set for October 14. Abdullah and the other two men were flown through Kenya and deported to Somalia around September 25, 2026.

Masked ICE agents conducted an enforcement sweep along Speedwell Avenue in Morristown, chasing a man from the Lincoln Apartments toward a firehouse while a school bus of elementary students watched agents transfer handcuffed detainees between vehicles. Father Duberney Villamizar, a local priest, cut short Mass to witness the operation and said four to six individuals, including a car wash employee, were detained, with one released after producing legal documents. During the operation, a passing vehicle struck the open door of an ICE SUV in front of the school bus, which the priest said caused children to scream; DHS blamed a distracted driver and said no ICE officers were injured. Residents and officials questioned whether a Morris County Sheriff's officer had cooperated with ICE, which would violate New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive. DHS later identified three men detained: Noe Izara Rivera and Marco Vinicio Remache-Damian, who will face due process in deportation proceedings, and Cesar Armando Chilotillo, a previously deported individual who will remain in ICE custody pending removal. The arrests were part of a series of Morristown ICE sweeps that have unsettled Hispanic neighborhoods and prompted protests since January.

Alejandro, 33, from Mexico, works in Minnesota to support his family back home and has a pending asylum appeal after his initial claim was denied. He had been held in custody since May — first by local law enforcement, then ICE — until a judge ruled on Sept. 22 that his arrest was unlawful and ordered his immediate release. On Sept. 25, after being given back his belongings at the Whipple Federal Building, Alejandro made it just outside the front doors before plainclothes immigration agents handcuffed him again, with one agent telling him through translation that "just like they could release me, they could arrest me again."

Oscar Quintero Frias, co-owner of the Colombian specialty coffee shop Cof& in downtown Bellingham, was arrested by ICE at Sea-Tac Airport on September 15 while returning from a work trip in Chicago. He is being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Facility in Tacoma; DHS says he entered the U.S. from Colombia in February 2021 with permission to stay only six months, which has since expired, while his family maintains he is a lawful permanent resident with no U.S. criminal history. Quintero Frias, an electrical engineer who fled potential kidnapping threats in Colombia, earned his engineering license after arriving and opened Cof& with his wife the same year, later winning a Bellingham Mayor City Center Award in 2024 for helping revitalize downtown. A friend who hosted community events at the shop said he and his family worked hard to build the business despite financial hurdles facing noncitizen entrepreneurs. A GoFundMe for his legal and bond costs has raised nearly $60,000 as his family works with immigration lawyers to secure his release.

A woman was detained by ICE immigration officers and is being held in Arizona. Her bond has been set at $15,000, and her son is raising funds to help pay her bond and bring her home. The family said her father died last Christmas, and the mother's detention has been especially painful since she is one of the few family members he has left; her grandchildren and siblings do not want to lose her.

A woman's husband has been held in ICE detention for six months while legal efforts to secure his release have been unsuccessful. She is now caring alone for their four daughters, ages 1, 2, 4, and 7, and has launched a fundraiser to cover household expenses, travel costs, and money for her husband to communicate and buy necessities while detained.

Catherine Rax, 25, was detained along with her partner and another coworker after a traffic stop escalated into an immigration enforcement operation at Chile & Chili's Taqueria in Tallahassee, where all three worked. Rax, who is originally from Guatemala, said her coworkers had become like family and that she sends money home to help her mother, who is battling cancer. Speaking from inside the Flagler County Jail, she described the experience as 'not living — it's surviving' and said she did not know when she would be released or see her family again. One of the three men detained with her is now being held at a state-run immigration detention facility in Baker County, and community members held a rally outside the now-closed restaurant in support of the detained workers. Owner Marco Tenorio, who was in Mexico and watched the raid unfold via security cameras, said it was the third immigration operation the business had faced in just over a month and described workers having panic attacks during the raid. He announced the taqueria's permanent closure, saying he did not want to keep exposing his employees, after several other workers quit in the aftermath.

Jorge Mata Campos, a 51-year-old Costa Rican national who holds valid U visa status as a crime victim, has built a life in the United States working in construction, buying a house, marrying, and raising a 16-year-old U.S. citizen son. He was arrested at his home in Nashville following confusion over a 911 call, after earlier voluntarily visiting ICE offices to try to resolve his immigration case. He entered detention while still recovering from a car accident that had left him incapacitated for months. For about three months he has been held at the Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, where he says poor food and inadequate medical care have caused him to lose nearly 15 kilograms. Speaking with La Nación by video call, Mata described punishments imposed on detainees and said some resort to self-harm, telling the outlet, 'No les importamos' ('They don't care about us'). He has requested voluntary departure but has not received a date, and his attorney continues trying to resolve his case.

Pedro Mendoza Chávez, 63, was violently taken down by ICE agents during a landscaping shift in the Fresno and I-10 area of San Antonio, Texas, suffering a cracked skull and a broken arm. His wife, Ruvelina Vega, said he had already surrendered and stopped running when an agent kicked him to the ground, causing his head to hit the concrete; agents have claimed he was resisting arrest. Vega was initially barred from seeing him or learning his location, and an officer falsely told her he had merely fallen. Mendoza Chávez, who has lived in the U.S. more than 22 years and has three minor children with Vega, received staples for his scalp wound before being discharged and is now held in ICE detention, still in severe pain and without having received a full medical exam.

ICE conducted targeted enforcement operations in Woodstock and Waukegan, Illinois, arresting eight men from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. In Waukegan, agents arrested Mario Guadarrama, 31, and Pedro Serrano-Hernandez, 39, both of Mexico; Guadarrama had a prior 2019 arrest by Illinois law enforcement, while Serrano-Hernandez was taken into custody on a 2025 Wisconsin warrant for contempt of court after prior arrests for driving without a license. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said agents 'abducted' one person near 8th Street and Prescott Avenue in Waukegan. In Woodstock, six men were arrested, including Alex Francisco Diaz-Quintanilla, 47, of El Salvador, who had a 2024 weapons conviction; Israel Espinal-Diaz, 48, and Lazaro Cruz-Morales, 43, and Gabriel Martinez-Quintanar, 26, all of Mexico; Daniel Nehemias Martinez-Esteban, 30, of Guatemala; and Jayson Josiel Ruiz-Figueroa, 23, of Honduras. At least one man was detained in the parking lot of Woodstock Automotive Service, and all six remain in custody pending removal proceedings at facilities in Indiana. A separate, unrelated federal drug trafficking warrant was served at the same Woodstock location hours later by DEA, Illinois State Police, FBI and local agencies.

Nguyen Phuong Anh To, known as "Toph," was detained by ICE agents at Los Angeles International Airport around 9 a.m. on September 25 while getting coffee before boarding a flight to Miami for a conference. She is a UC Irvine student in the U.S. on a student visa and a beloved member of the Midwest, New York, and Los Angeles dance communities, including the Essence dance community. Friends describe her as "an utter light to anyone who crosses her path." She is being held at a detention center about two hours from Los Angeles, and friends, including Iman Brooks, have organized a GoFundMe to cover legal fees, filing fees, bond, and commissary funds, with support from legal services and consent from To's parents in Vietnam.

A Clay County sheriff's deputy attempted to stop a vehicle near Hargraves Corner, Arkansas around 6:10 a.m. on September 24. The driver provided a Guatemalan identification card, and after a records check with ICE, one passenger was detained while the driver and the other passenger fled on foot before being caught. All three, identified by Sheriff Ronnie Cole as Guatemalan nationals wanted by ICE, were taken to the Clay County Detention Center and turned over to ICE on September 25.

Olga Lebedeva, a Russian woman who has lived in Sarasota, Florida for nearly a decade, has been held at ICE's Eloy, Arizona detention facility since August 19, when she was separated from her husband and two sons at the Phoenix airport. She entered the U.S. legally in 2016, co-owns a women's clothing boutique with her husband, and holds a work permit valid until 2029, with her asylum application still pending and no criminal record. Her family, unable to afford the nearly $90,000 bond set by the court, has started a fundraiser, while her attorney has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of her continued detention.

Joselito Mateo Sam, 20, was taken into ICE custody while walking down a street in New Bedford, according to court filings reviewed by The Boston Globe. Probate court records show he entered the United States in 2024 at age 18, then moved in with two uncles in New Bedford and began working at a fish processing house. He was one of at least 34 people detained during a multi-day ICE sweep across the Massachusetts coast region, part of a broader operation that left families searching for information amid a tracking blackout. Local officials warned immigrants in the New Bedford area to stay home following the surge in arrests.

Luis Silas, a 58-year-old Mexican national, was detained by ICE agents in February 2026 while shopping for wood near 43rd Avenue and Camelback Road in Phoenix to build a bookcase for his wife. Agents appeared to identify him through his car's license plate, addressed him by name, and threw him to the ground during the arrest, injuring his arm. His son, Isaac Luis-Azamar, witnessed the arrest and intervened after believing an agent was about to strike his father; he was himself arrested and accused of assaulting an ICE officer. Silas was held for three days at ICE's Central Avenue processing facility in Phoenix, where he said he was given only a bean burrito every six hours, allowed to shower once, and had to wait to contact his family.

A federal judge in Maryland, Stephanie Gallagher, has now held the Trump administration in contempt twice in two months in the same case over the repeated deportation of a young asylum seeker identified in court documents as E.L.A. He was first deported in March 2026 after missing two biometrics appointments, even though U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services never formally closed his asylum case as is standard practice. After being returned to the U.S. in August 2026 to pursue his claim, he was deported again on September 1, just three weeks after DHS issued internal guidance meant to prevent such removals, violating a third court order. His attorneys said he was left in El Salvador without his belongings, money, or a phone, still wearing a detention jumpsuit; the case stems from a 2019 class-action lawsuit, J.O.P. v. DHS, protecting the asylum rights of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as unaccompanied minors.

Two employees of Charra's and Tequila, a Mexican restaurant in north Bismarck, North Dakota, were taken into ICE custody, including the owner's nephew. The restaurant's owner said the workers held permanent resident status and valid, unexpired work authorization, and described remaining staff as "scared" and the team as "in shock" following the arrests, prompting the business to temporarily close. An ICE spokesperson disputed this, stating the two workers had entered the U.S. without legal status and would remain in custody pending immigration proceedings. About 75 people gathered on September 25 to protest outside the William L. Guy Federal Building in Bismarck, opposing increased ICE enforcement activity that left at least 19 people in custody at the Burleigh-Morton Detention Center that week.

Bryan Omar Sánchez, a Honduran man who had lived in Colorado for about a decade working as a gardener, truck driver, and pressure-washing business owner, was detained by ICE at his home on May 13 and moved through detention centers in Texas and Arizona. Despite a 2020 Convention Against Torture protection barring his return to Honduras and a pending asylum claim, he was placed on a nearly 22-hour flight to the Central African Republic on July 29 without his consent; one officer reportedly mocked him, asking 'Hey, Honduras, why are you going to Africa?' while Sánchez protested, 'Africa? I can't go to Africa.' Once in Bangui, he described being held in a shelter with restricted movement, facing language barriers and limited access to services, prompting Honduras' National Human Rights Commissioner (Conadeh) to demand urgent consular assistance and verification of his well-being. While detained, Sánchez represented himself in filings with Colorado's federal court, arguing he should not have been removed to a country he had never visited. U.S. District Judge Regina M. Rodríguez ruled that ICE violated his due process rights by giving him no notice or opportunity to challenge the removal, and ordered the government to return him to Colorado and release him without conditions such as GPS monitoring.