Human Impact Project

Dario Quevedo Marquez, a Venezuelan immigrant, was arrested by federal immigration agents on April 15 as he left a South Side Chicago courthouse after a hearing on a misdemeanor battery charge. His wife said agents told her to stay quiet or face arrest herself. The arrest occurred at a courthouse, violating state law and a Cook County judge's order banning civil immigration arrests without warrants at local courthouses.

Department of Homeland Security agents attempted to speak with students at two Los Angeles elementary schools (Russell Elementary and Lillian Street Elementary) stating they were conducting welfare checks on unaccompanied minors. School principals denied the agents access. House Democrats have requested a briefing regarding the agents' claim of having parental permission and regarding four of the targeted students who were not unaccompanied minors.

Juan Francisco Mendez, a 29-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, was released from the Strafford County Jail on May 15, 2025, after being detained for 30 days following his April 14 arrest in New Bedford. An immigration judge set his bail at $1,500, the lowest amount possible, and Mendez was released wearing an ankle monitor. ICE agents had smashed his car window with an ax during the initial traffic stop while Mendez and his wife waited for their lawyer. Mendez is now working toward reunification with his wife and 9-year-old son.

Eight undocumented immigrants were arrested by ICE agents at a Las Vegas worksite, according to Laura Martin, executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. Plainclothes federal agents targeted the business, prompting immigrant advocates to warn of increased federal immigration enforcement activity in the Las Vegas area. The Nevada Immigrant Coalition, which includes PLAN, the Culinary Union, and ACLU of Nevada, organized a news conference and press briefing to alert residents and advise them on their rights during ICE encounters. Advocates noted that enforcement operations have been targeting workplaces, particularly construction sites. Undocumented immigrants make up 9% of Nevada's workforce, the largest share of any state.

Jessica Flores Marin, 44, a mother of three who has lived in the United States for 22 years, was detained by ICE on April 13 near her family's home in Georgia. She was taken into custody while an ongoing T visa application was being processed. Her detention came after an immigration judge denied her motion to reopen a decades-old deportation order from 2004.

Hugo, a father of five and husband of a U.S. citizen veteran who had lived in the U.S. since age 16, was detained by ICE at a courthouse during what should have been a final hearing for permanent residency. Despite being in an active legal process and authorized to be in the U.S., officials ordered him to continue his case from Mexico and deported him. ICE later admitted the detention was a mistake, but Hugo has been separated from his family.

A Florida woman, Latrance Battle, impersonated an ICE agent and kidnapped her ex-boyfriend's wife from her workplace on April 10. The victim, who was in the process of becoming a legal U.S. resident, believed Battle was an ICE agent when approached. Battle took the victim to an apartment complex instead of the sheriff's office, where the victim escaped and contacted law enforcement. Battle was arrested and charged with kidnapping, robbery, impersonating a law enforcement officer, and felony probation violation.

A disgraced former Milwaukee police officer with serious credibility issues, Charles Cross Jr., signed a report claiming a gay Venezuelan makeup artist was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang based on tattoos. The report played a key role in the man's deportation to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center. Cross had been flagged by prosecutors as having credibility issues due to accusations of lying and breaking the law.

María Alejandra Rivas Martínez, a 19-year-old Venezuelan, was detained by ICE on April 10 after a state police officer notified the agency following a traffic accident in Miami, where she was struck from behind by a truck while driving her girlfriend to a medical appointment. She had entered the U.S. legally in 2019 with a tourist visa at age 13 and currently holds a valid work permit, Florida driver's license, and a pending asylum case. She was held for two days before being transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, where she awaits an immigration hearing. Her mother, Eliza Martínez, said the family is distressed and considers the situation unjust, as her family, including her parents and partner, has launched a fundraising campaign to cover legal costs.

Priya Saxena, an Indian graduate student at South Dakota Mines, received notification on April 7, 2025 that her visa was revoked as part of a Trump administration criminal records check of international students. The revocation was triggered by a misdemeanor traffic conviction from 2021 for failing to pull over for an emergency vehicle in Meade County; a related DUI charge from the same traffic stop was dismissed after her blood alcohol tested within the legal limit. Saxena had previously disclosed these legal matters when obtaining her most recent visa in 2022. She filed a temporary restraining order against the government seeking a court order to remain in the country after completing her master's and doctoral degrees at the institution.

A 52-year-old Chinese woman died by suicide while detained at the Yuma Border Patrol station in Arizona after overstaying her B-1/B-2 visitor visa. She was initially detained in California and transferred to Yuma. Surveillance footage documented the incident, showing she created a noose. CBP records indicate required welfare checks were not properly conducted or were falsely documented, and medical intervention did not occur for nearly two hours after she was found unresponsive. Representative Pramila Jayapal called for accountability regarding CBP's failure to follow detainee safety procedures.

Rubén González, a Venezuelan national who entered the U.S. in 2022 with a pending asylum case, was detained by ICE on March 22 following a traffic accident in Clermont, Florida. González held valid temporary documentation, work authorization, and a temporary driver's license at the time, and his sister confirmed he had been complying with legal procedures. After police reviewed his documents at the accident scene, he was transferred to ICE custody and taken to an immigration detention facility in Jacksonville. Immigration rights organizations and attorneys have questioned the legality of detaining someone with active protected status following a routine traffic accident.

Adolfo Gutiérrez, an undocumented volunteer pastor who led the Spanish-speaking Casa Firme church in south Texas and ran a home remodeling business, was detained by ICE agents on March 18, 2025 while driving his daughters to school. His daughter Alondra said agents slammed him against his car door and took him away in a van without explanation. Gutiérrez, who had lived in Texas more than 15 years and was a father of three, was held at the El Valle Detention Facility near the border. His wife Eva Jasso started a GoFundMe to cover attorney fees, and his church held a fundraiser for his legal expenses as family, church members, and business clients rallied support. His family said he 'pays taxes and works hard.' He was later deported, and his case was identified in a Newsweek analysis of at least 65 faith leaders detained by U.S. immigration authorities since January 2025.

On April 4th, ICE agents detained a community member on Cranston Street in Providence's West End after chasing him down and crashing into his car. Providence Police responded to the crash and worked to disperse community members who witnessed the incident. Advocates argue this demonstrates police cooperation with ICE despite city claims of limits on such cooperation.

Solangel Manzanilla, a 68-year-old Venezuelan woman, was detained by Border Patrol on April 2 after leaving work at an LA Fitness gym in Fort Lauderdale where she worked in childcare. She had been in the U.S. for 12 years with a pending asylum claim, valid work authorization, and a current driver's license. An officer noted she had a good profile but stated she had to be detained due to her immigration status. Her family reports she has medical conditions requiring attention and has launched a fundraising campaign to cover legal expenses.

Adrian Gil Rojas, a Venezuelan national, holds Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and has been detained at El Valle Detention Center for more than two months. He has a two-year-old son in the United States whose mother witnessed ICE officers illegally arrest Mr. Gil Rojas approximately two months ago, leaving their young son alone and traumatized. Mr. Gil Rojas also served as a trial witness in a murder case in Clinton County, New York, where he testified despite fears of retaliation and helped secure a conviction. He is challenging his detention through a habeas corpus petition, arguing that 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(d)(4) explicitly prohibits detention of individuals with TPS status on the basis of immigration status. The government claims it can detain him based on speculative predictions that his TPS may expire on April 2, 2025, and that a pending motion to reopen his removal case may be denied, but the petition argues this violates the TPS statute's unambiguous prohibition and that his removal is automatically stayed while the motion remains pending.

Attorneys representing detainees at an Everglades facility alleged that guards beat and pepper-sprayed detainees following a protest over lost phone access on April 2. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on March 27 requiring improved legal access and expressed frustration with slow compliance efforts during an April 13 status conference. The state and federal governments are appealing the injunction while claiming efforts to comply.

In Louisiana, ICE detained two mothers during routine check-ins and deported them within days to Honduras with their children. Three of the children — ages 2, 4, and 7 — were U.S. citizens, including a 4-year-old with Stage 4 kidney cancer who was deported without his medication or a chance for doctors to advise on his care. The mothers, identified by pseudonyms Rosario and Julia, have since filed a federal lawsuit in Louisiana alleging they were given no choice in whether their children would be deported with them and were blocked from contacting attorneys or family to arrange care. The suit seeks a jury trial, damages, and a ruling that the arrests and removals were unlawful, along with the families' return to the United States.

During a transfer in mid-April, dozens of men were gathered into a cell early in the morning with feet shackled and hands tied behind their backs. They waited hours while food sat visible through bars. When lunch was provided at 7 p.m. — only after another guard protested — the men could not reach plates with their hands. 'We had to bend over and eat off the chairs with our mouths, like dogs,' one man said. At FDC, upon arrival and after visits including from legal counsel, officers forced detainees to undergo invasive visual cavity searches. A 21-year-old Guatemalan man described being ordered to 'get completely naked, turn around, bend down, and get on all fours and cough.' An officer later admitted ICE detainees did not need such procedures.

On April 1, state and federal police raided a party at an Airbnb in an Austin suburb, arresting nearly 50 people including nine children. The FBI, ICE, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Hays County Sheriff's Office claimed they targeted individuals connected to a Venezuelan gang, but offered no substantiating evidence; ICE arrested 35 individuals on unauthorized entry charges, with many subsequently deported through civil immigration proceedings rather than criminal prosecution. Among those detained were three siblings, including a 16-year-old boy, whose mother holds Temporary Protected Status and says her children have no gang ties or tattoos, noting they attended the party because her daughter's boyfriend, a DJ, had been hired to perform. The mother and her attorney said the siblings were separated into different detention facilities, and that Austin police and the Hays County Sheriff's Office initially denied involvement when contacted about the children's whereabouts. Protesters later gathered outside a federal building in Austin in an attempt to block vans transporting detainees, including the 16-year-old, from leaving the facility.