Human Impact Project

Darwing Inocente Xitumul Morales, a Guatemalan worker, was returned to ICE custody after an immigration judge ruled he was a danger to the community and denied him bond on March 2. Morales had been arrested in New Bedford on February 11 and briefly released after a federal judge ordered his release and a bond hearing. He is now being held at Plymouth County Correctional Facility pending a hearing scheduled for April 23.

Luis Muñoz Pinto, a 27-year-old Venezuelan man, was deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador's Cecot prison in March 2025. He was accused of gang membership based on rose tattoos he obtained to honor his twin sisters. U.S. immigration officials identified the tattoos as Tren de Aragua gang symbols. A federal court later ruled that Muñoz Pinto and over 100 other deported Venezuelans must be allowed to return to the U.S. for due process.

A Peruvian citizen entered the U.S. without inspection in May 2022 and was released on humanitarian parole three days later. After complying with supervision requirements for nearly four years, he was re-detained by ICE at a scheduled reporting appointment on March 2, 2026, without written notice terminating his parole. The court ordered his release, finding his detention without a hearing violated due process.

Tatyana Reisini and Kristen Roos, two Charlotte mothers, were chased by federal Border Patrol agents on November 17, 2025, while driving to the Southern Christmas Show. Agents surrounded their vehicle in a parking lot, pursued them into a residential neighborhood, and cornered them in a driveway where an agent pointed an assault rifle at Reisini's face and smashed the car windows with the gun, scattering glass onto her. Roos was 10 days post-surgery at the time. Both women were zip-tied and falsely imprisoned at an FBI office for approximately four hours. They were initially charged with assaulting federal officers, but the U.S. Attorney's Office voluntarily dismissed the charges on March 2, 2026. Video of the incident recorded by a neighbor received nearly 9 million views on social media. Through the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the women filed a Federal Tort Claims Act notice against U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security, seeking $3 million in damages and attorneys' fees.

Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker who arrived at the southern border in 2022, died from hypothermia on March 2, 2026, after being released by ICE on February 27 or 28, 2026, under the Alternatives to Detention Program with an electronic ankle monitor. Michel had spent six months in Washington County Correctional Facility awaiting a preliminary hearing on misdemeanor charges stemming from an arrest for yelling due to untreated severe mental health issues. After her release, she was taken approximately 25 miles away to Pittsburgh and left at a bus shelter in sub-freezing temperatures (20–30°F) while wearing summer clothes, where she spent 24 to 30 hours alone before being found unresponsive. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide. Her family plans to sue the U.S. government and other entities, alleging ICE failed to account for her severe vulnerability, including untreated mental health conditions and significant language barriers.

A man who entered the United States without inspection on October 3, 2022, was subsequently encountered by immigration authorities. DHS exercised its discretionary parole authority to formally parole him into the United States. On March 2, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE at Golden State Annex. He filed a federal habeas corpus petition on June 3, 2026, challenging his detention and seeking immediate release under the same conditions prior to re-detention, as well as procedures to prevent future re-detention without due process. On June 5, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted his petition, ordering his immediate release and enjoining ICE from re-detaining him absent exigent circumstances without providing notice and a pre-detention hearing before an immigration judge where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger or flight risk.

Kamal Morales, a 40-year-old counselor at Community Healthcare Network's South Bronx HIV clinic, was detained during a routine immigration check-in and deported to Venezuela after 12 years in the U.S., despite having no criminal record and consistently attending required appointments. Morales had fled Venezuela in 2019, was detained for 11 months, denied asylum, and later released on parole, remaining at risk after Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans ended. He married his husband, U.S. citizen Miguel Garcia, and the couple fought his case together. Federal Judge Michael J. McShane ruled that Morales' re-detention lacked legal basis and ordered the government to show cause by April 7, but immigration authorities deported him before responding, according to Garcia and court documents. His South Bronx community rallied behind him following the deportation.

San Juanita Guerra, a lawful permanent resident, was detained by ICE on March 2 at the Progreso International Bridge over a 1994 conviction involving an unloaded firearm. She was held at El Valle Detention Center for over three weeks before being released on a $15,000 bond and now wears an ankle monitor while her legal case continues. Guerra reported difficult detention conditions including inadequate access to water, medications, and medical care despite her heart and kidney conditions. She says she had completed probation and community service for the 1994 incident decades ago.

A U.S. District Judge in West Virginia issued a final notice to the federal government regarding continued unlawful detention of immigrants without individualized custody determinations. Judge Joseph R. Goodwin ruled that the government has repeatedly violated the Fifth Amendment by detaining immigrants without proper legal procedures. The judge warned of legal consequences for state and federal officials if the unlawful detention practices continue.

Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian who arrived in the U.S. under the Biden Administration's Humanitarian Parole program with a pending Temporary Protected Status application, died on March 2, 2026, from sepsis caused by an untreated dental infection. Damas was detained at Florence Correctional Center in Arizona and repeatedly reported tooth pain to facility staff starting in mid-February, requesting dental care multiple times but receiving only ibuprofen. After two weeks of complaints and developing difficulty breathing, he was taken to a Scottsdale hospital on February 19, but the infection had already progressed to septic shock and pneumonia. Damas died at the hospital. Representatives Ansari, Grijalva, and Stanton demanded a full investigation, noting he was the tenth person to die in ICE custody in the first two months of 2026.

A Venezuelan citizen on humanitarian parole was detained by ICE in March 2026 when she accompanied her husband to his scheduled credible fear interview at the Nashville ICE Field Office. After her husband received a negative credible fear determination, both were taken into custody and she was transferred to Richwood Correctional Center. The court granted expedited consideration of her habeas petition but denied her temporary restraining order request.

A Kazakhstani man who had been released on recognizance and enrolled in the Alternative to Detention program since 2023 was detained by security personnel at Fort MacArthur/Los Angeles Air Force Base after allegedly attempting to enter without authorization. ERO officers took him into immigration custody and transported him to Desert View Annex. The court ordered his release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated procedural due process.

A Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in October 2022 was detained by ICE on March 1, 2026 after encountering local law enforcement and admitting he had entered the country without inspection. This was his first encounter with ICE officials. A federal court ordered his immediate release, finding he could only be detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) rather than the mandatory detention statute the government cited.

A Chinese citizen who fled persecution for his political views and applied for asylum in 2022 was abruptly re-detained by ICE in March 2026 after complying with immigration reporting requirements for over three years. He had been released on parole since arriving in September 2022 and has no criminal history. The court granted a preliminary injunction ordering his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process rights.

Taeha Hwang, a 39-year-old who has lived in the U.S. since he was 3 months old, was detained by ICE on October 29 during his green card interview in downtown Los Angeles. His wife, Xelena Diaz, says they were following all proper procedures and were not expecting the detention. Hwang has no criminal record and is being held at the Adelanto Detention Center with his next court hearing scheduled for March 2026.

Mubashir Khalif Hussen, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was stopped and arrested by multiple masked ICE agents while walking to lunch in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis on December 10, 2025. Hussen repeatedly told agents he was a citizen and tried to show his driver's license and passport card, and his employer also attempted to display identification through the vehicle's windshield, but agents refused to examine it. He was held for several hours and shackled at a detention center before being released after showing a photo of his passport. The ACLU of Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit against ICE and Border Patrol on behalf of Hussen and two other Minnesotans, challenging the agencies' practice of suspicionless stops, warrantless arrests, and racial profiling during Operation Metro Surge. Federal Judge Eric Tostrud later ruled that Hussen had been detained based solely on his race or ethnicity, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Jin Hao Zhang, 56, who ran the China Moon restaurant on Main Street in Camden for nearly 20 years, was detained by ICE agents in June 2025. Reports indicate Zhang entered the U.S. on a fraudulent visa in 1990, and an immigration court judge ordered him to leave the country in 2000, but he remained for 25 years. His detention forced the restaurant's closure. Zhang was held at an ICE facility in Batavia for eight months before winning an appeal and being released, returning home to his family in March 2026.

Asif Amin Cheema, a 63-year-old Pakistani immigrant who ran Best Sub #2 sandwich shop in Chicago's Humboldt Park for 30 years, was detained by federal immigration agents minutes from his Addison home during the early days of Operation Midway Blitz, despite having no criminal record and a pending green card interview. His family says their former immigration lawyer never informed them of a removal order tied to a missed court date decades earlier, which the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld. Cheema spent nearly three months detained at the Clay County Jail in Indiana, losing 30 pounds and suffering health complications, before being deported to Pakistan on New Year's Day. His 19-year-old son, Nooran Amin, left college responsibilities to run the family business, learning the trade from a longtime employee the family calls 'Uncle' in an effort to keep his father's legacy alive. In March 2026, a community fundraiser featuring Chicago chef Zubair Mohajir was held to support the family and advocacy efforts to bring Cheema home.

Seamus Culleton, an Irish national who has lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years and is married to U.S. citizen Tiffany Smith, was arrested by ICE agents at a Boston hardware store on September 9, 2025, during a random immigration sweep. Culleton entered the U.S. in 2009 on a visa waiver and overstayed, but held a valid work permit tied to a pending green card application as the spouse of a citizen and has no U.S. criminal record. He was held for roughly six months across facilities in Massachusetts, New York, and Texas, including El Paso Camp East Montana, where he and his attorney reported overcrowding, inadequate food, lack of outdoor time, unsanitary conditions, and significant weight loss. A judge approved his release on bond in November 2025, but ICE continued detaining him after claiming he had signed deportation documents, a claim Culleton and his lawyer dispute due to documentation irregularities. His detention caused him to miss a critical green card interview. A 2009 bench warrant from Ireland, related to alleged possession of 25 MDMA tablets and obstructing police, was also reported. In March 2026, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge paused his deportation pending resolution of his petition for review.

Hugo Leonel Ardon Osorio, a Guatemalan immigrant who worked as a truck driver and construction worker at Marcello Masonry on Shelter Island for over 20 years, was detained by ICE agents on February 4, 2026, at approximately 6:30 a.m. while commuting to work at the North Ferry terminal in Greenport. He had no criminal background and was the primary breadwinner for his wife and newborn daughter. During his 23-day detention, Ardon Osorio was held first at a facility in New Jersey for three days, then transferred to a holding facility at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan, where he was chained by wrists and ankles in an extremely overcrowded room and described the conditions as "really bad." His employer, Bobby Marcello, hired an attorney and described him as "a stand-up guy in every respect" who was deeply integrated in the community, even caring for his boss's children when needed. Community members and OLA of Eastern Long Island organized fundraising efforts to support his family during detention. Ardon Osorio was released in March and returned to work at Marcello Masonry.