Human Impact Project

An unaccompanied minor came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor in August 2018 and was initially detained by immigration officers who commenced removal proceedings. He subsequently filed an asylum application that remains pending. He was transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement and released to his sponsor, an uncle. In May 2026, immigration officers arrested him in front of his home without pre-deprivation process or notice. He challenged his detention in federal court, arguing it violated his constitutional due process rights. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted his petition for writ of habeas corpus, finding his case indistinguishable from prior cases where courts determined similar detentions violated due process. The court ordered his immediate release and permanently enjoined respondents from re-arresting or re-detaining him without constitutional protections including pre-deprivation notice, a timely hearing, and a government burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger or flight risk.

Josue Alvarado, who fled gang extortion in Ecuador with his family in 2024, was detained by ICE in 2025 after the Trump administration canceled CBP One paroles. On May 1, 2026, his scheduled asylum hearing was canceled just before trial when a judge granted the government's motion to pretermit his case within hours, denying his attorney the standard 10 days to respond. He was ordered deported to Ecuador despite his family's fear that return would result in kidnapping or death from the gang members pursuing them.

Luis Fernando Cabrera Chavarria, an Austin ISD high school senior, was detained by ICE after a state trooper stopped him for an expired registration sticker on May 1 while he was returning home from his job at Popeyes. U.S. District Judge Jason Pulliam ordered his release before Friday, allowing him to attend his high school graduation on June 2. His family had applied for asylum in 2019, though his application was not filed correctly.

Sebastian Pasco, a bartender at Cork City Pub in Hoboken who holds a valid green card, was detained by ICE on May 1, 2026, while re-entering the country in Florida. The bar launched a fundraiser to cover his legal expenses while awaiting a hearing for his release.

Karina Lozano Chiriboga, Angel Granda, and their daughter Ariana Granda Lozano were deported to Ecuador on Wednesday morning despite their asylum case being denied without a hearing. The family had fled Ecuador two years prior due to violent organized crime and were going through legal channels to seek asylum. Their initial attorney missed filing deadlines, leading a judge to vacate their case, and although they obtained a temporary stay from U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin on April 24, that order was vacated four days later. ICE ordered them to the airport for a 5:30 a.m. departure, and while they were in flight, the Bureau of Immigration Appeals accepted their appeal into the record.

A Venezuelan father and U.S. asylum seeker since 2016 was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop while driving from Orlando to Atlanta, where his son, a midfielder for Atlanta United FC, resides. He holds a valid work permit and driver's license and has no criminal record. His son launched a fundraiser to cover legal fees, bail, and business expenses as the family fights his case.

Rodney Taylor, a 47-year-old double amputee barber from Liberia who arrived in the U.S. as a child on a medical visa, was arrested by ICE on January 15, 2025, and held at Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia for 15 months based on a decades-old burglary conviction from his teenage years. Despite receiving a state pardon in 2010, holding a valid work permit, and having a pending green card application through his adult son, Taylor remained in ICE custody. During detention, he experienced severe medical neglect including denial of adequate food, proper prosthetics, exposure to contaminated water, and inadequate medical care for his disabilities, resulting in new health conditions such as bone spurs and neuropathy. Taylor was released in early May 2026 following sustained advocacy by U.S. Representative Lucy McBath, Senator Raphael Warnock, Representative Pramila Jayapal, additional members of Congress, his wife Mildred, community organizations, and legal representatives. His deportation case remains pending appeal.

ICE agents attempted to arrest Oscar Ocampo, a 41-year-old from Ecuador, on Exchange Street in New Haven while he was holding his seven-month-old son during a daycare drop-off. Neighbors and activists from the New Haven Immigrants Coalition emerged and recorded the encounter, urging the agents to leave. After approximately 20 minutes, the ICE agents departed without detaining Ocampo.

ICE agents conducted an operation on Brevard Street in Asheville targeting a specific individual, but detained three men total. According to a witness, agents arrested two additional men solely for being present with the targeted individual at the time. The organization CIMA activated an alert regarding the incident.

A woman was detained by ICE agents while walking her dog in public. The incident occurred within seconds, leaving her dog behind confused and distressed. The post emphasizes the emotional impact on both the woman and her pet.

Marta Guinand, a Venezuelan national living in the U.S. since 2014 with a valid work permit through 2028, was detained by CBP agents at McAllen airport while attempting to travel to her son's graduation in Florida. She has an active political asylum case since 2015 and is being held at Ursula Detention Center without her case being presented to court; her asylum interview scheduled for April was cancelled by authorities.

Wilfredo Hoyos-Gomez, a 10-year-old Venezuelan boy, appeared alone in Houston immigration court without legal representation and faces deportation to Ecuador, a country he has never visited. His mother, Nexoli Anyis Gomez Bracho, was detained by ICE in late 2025 following a traffic stop and remains in custody at the Houston Contract Detention Facility. The mother holds a valid work permit and has a pending asylum case. With no other family in the United States, the boy's mother's former employer serves as his legal guardian. The Department of Homeland Security filed paperwork seeking the child's deportation, and Rep. Joaquin Castro called for ICE to release the mother and halt deportation proceedings against the child.

Dy, who was previously detained by ICE for over five months during Trump's first term and released after a habeas corpus petition, has been detained again at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. He is separated from his wife Tammy and their family, with another child expected soon, and notes that habeas cases at the facility go to a single lifetime-appointed judge. Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Cuban national, died on April 28, 2026, at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. He was found unresponsive in his cell at approximately 10:26 PM and pronounced dead within an hour despite lifesaving measures. Authorities suspected suicide, though the official cause remained under investigation. Gonzalez had been arrested by local police in Charlotte, North Carolina in January 2026 on assault and domestic violence charges before being transferred to ICE custody. His death marked the 18th detainee fatality in ICE custody in 2026 and the fourth Cuban national to die during the current Trump administration.

An eight-year-old autistic boy named Emiliano is detained at the Dilley ICE detention facility in Texas, operated by CoreCivic. Since his detention, he has experienced a fever, severe anxiety, limited appetite, and developed a skin rash and eye irritation. His mother reported these conditions to advocacy organizations. Each Step Home and other advocates filled his mother's commissary account to provide support and encouraged complaints to the facility regarding his care.

Three Mexican nationals and a fourth man from Absecon were detained during an ICE enforcement operation in Pleasantville on April 30, 2026, despite not being the intended targets of the action. An immigrant advocacy group stated the detainees were working fathers and husbands without criminal records. All are being held pending removal proceedings.

A noncitizen is currently detained at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Denver Contract Detention Facility in Colorado. He filed a habeas corpus petition seeking immediate release from custody or a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court ordered that respondents cannot remove him from Colorado or the United States until the court or appeals court vacates the order, and gave respondents seven days to respond to the petition.

An asylum seeker from El Salvador living in Oakland since 2021 faced potential re-detention by ICE despite having deferred action status through a U visa application. ICE issued a reinstatement notice in October 2025 but had repeatedly acknowledged they did not have his removal file and had previously released him multiple times as neither a flight risk nor danger. The court granted a preliminary injunction preventing his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing.

Ramon Rodriguez-Turcios, a Honduran national with a final removal order, was arrested by ICE agents during a targeted enforcement operation in Pleasantville on April 30, 2026. He was the intended target, but agents also detained three Mexican men described by ICE as being in the country illegally. All four are being held pending removal proceedings or are in the process of being removed. An immigrant advocacy group leader said a fourth man, from Absecon, was also taken into custody, describing those detained as fathers and husbands with no criminal records.

On April 21, 2026, ICE agents arrested brothers Israel Makoka (18) and Max Makoka (15) at a bus stop in Diamondhead, Mississippi, using 10 unmarked vehicles and zip-ties without prior notice to their host family or school. Israel was shackled during transport to Louisiana and pressured to sign self-deportation papers; Max was isolated in a Texas youth shelter. The detention stemmed from a paperwork issue caused by faulty legal advice. Both brothers were released on April 30, 2026, after nine days in custody and have returned home to their host family while pursuing legal options to remain in the country.

A noncitizen was re-detained on April 30, 2026, at Golden State Annex after having been previously released on bond or conditional parole. The court found that the government violated his due process rights by failing to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter before re-detaining him. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he was subject to prior to his April 30 detention, and required that any future re-detention must be preceded by at least seven days' notice and a constitutionally compliant pre-deprivation bond hearing.