Human Impact Project

Brandon, a U.S. citizen, was detained for eight hours at the Whipple building during Operation Metro Surge and reported appalling detention conditions including unresponsive guards, unsanitary facilities, and interrogations. After his release, he was hit with pepper balls and exposed to tear gas and flash bangs as ICE agents confronted a protest outside the facility.

A man detained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently held at the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. Represented by counsel, he filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging his continued confinement and a motion for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction seeking his immediate release pending judgment on the merits of his petition. On April 3, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an Order to Answer requiring the respondent (the Warden) to file an answer or appropriate responsive pleading and response to the motion by April 17, 2026. The petitioner was given ten days to respond to any answer or dispositive motion and to the respondent's response to the motion for temporary restraining order.

A Chinese woman, a petitioner detained at Desert View Annex Detention Facility following a routine immigration check, filed for immediate release from custody through a habeas corpus petition. She argued her ongoing detention constitutes constitutional deprivation and feared potential transfer to another facility would impair her access to counsel. The court denied her emergency application for temporary restraining order but ordered the government to show cause why habeas relief should not be granted under an expedited briefing schedule.

A detainee is being held at the Dodge County Detention Facility in Juneau, Wisconsin by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention, arguing he is properly categorized under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) rather than § 1225(b)(2), and that his continued detention without an individualized assessment of flight risk or danger to the community violates the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, and the Fourth Amendment's Search and Seizure Clause. Along with his petition, he filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent his transfer to another detention facility during the litigation. On April 9, 2026, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin denied the motion for temporary restraining order, finding that he failed to make a specific showing of immediate and irreparable harm before the respondent could be heard in opposition, beyond the harm inherent in being detained unlawfully. The denial was issued without prejudice, allowing him to renew the request if warranted.

A Mexican national filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his immigration detention that has lasted nearly two years. The court found his petition unclear about whether he is detained under pre-removal or post-removal statutes. The court denied his motions for emergency relief and appointed counsel but ordered the government to respond and clarify the legal basis for his continued detention.

A Nicaraguan asylum seeker was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a prior hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. The court granted a temporary restraining order for his release and issued a preliminary injunction barring further detention without a pre-detention hearing. The court also prohibited transferring him out of the district without prior approval.

A Guatemalan national was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and held at Mesa Verde Detention Center. Government alleged he ran upon seeing officers and resisted arrest, and had no pending applications for relief with immigration authorities. The Eastern District of California granted his motion for preliminary injunction and ordered respondents to provide him with a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter within seven days.

A Chinese national, detained at Imperial Regional Detention Facility, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his prolonged immigration detention without a bond hearing as a due process violation. The government conceded and the court ordered a bond hearing within seven days where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger or flight risk. The court declined to order immediate release.

An immigration detainee held in ICE custody at the Adelanto Detention Facility in California filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 on April 1, 2026, challenging the lawfulness of his detention. He argued that his continued detention violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process. On April 3, 2026, the respondents (represented by Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche) filed a response expressly stating they did not oppose his motion for a temporary restraining order. United States Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar found the requested restraining order was warranted based on the motion and record. The court granted his motion and ordered his immediate release from immigration detention.

U.S. Rep. André Carson visited Miami Correctional Facility and spoke with detainees who reported systemic issues including a nonfunctioning intercom system, delayed medical care, inadequate healthcare, barriers to legal services, and lack of access to basic necessities. Two detainees, Lorth Sim and Tuan Van Bui, died in custody in February and April 2026. Carson is calling for a full investigation into both deaths and for the closure of the ICE detention center.

A tattoo artist organized a fundraiser flash day on April 10th at a tattoo shop in Fort Lauderdale to raise money for attorney fees and living expenses after her 65-year-old father was detained by ICE. The father is the primary provider for the family, including her mother who requires full-time care and two disabled sisters.

Nairoby Cabrera posted on Instagram requesting financial assistance for her son, Daniel Zamora, who is currently detained by ICE. The family is seeking funds to cover legal fees and immigration bond costs to provide him with adequate legal representation.

Ying-Hsi Chou, born in Myanmar and a Taiwanese citizen, moved to South Australia in 2012 to work as a fruit picker and faces deportation over a 2014 visa application error in which she failed to declare a previous visit to Australia. She is married to Ben, an Australian citizen who does not speak Mandarin, and they have three Australian-born children, including an eldest son worried about losing friends and changing schools. The family would struggle to resettle in Taiwan, and local community members have started a petition supporting Chou while her lawyer has appealed to the Immigration Minister for intervention. If deported, she must wait at least three years before reapplying for an Australian visa.

Miguel Rosas Ruiz, a Mexican-born business owner and father of four from Ypsilanti, was detained by ICE on March 10, 2026, while driving to work on Carpenter Road and held at the North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin. His daughter, Morelia Rosas Martinez, spoke publicly about the emotional impact of his detention, and the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor City Councils passed resolutions advocating for his release. On April 16, 2026, Rosas Ruiz was released and reunited with his family, with Rosas Martinez describing a sense of relief at his return home.

Jesús Eduardo Marín, a Venezuelan national who has lived in the United States for 12 years with his wife and three children, was detained by Border Patrol agents during a traffic stop in Miami, Florida. Agents stopped him after identifying his vehicle's license plates as belonging to a non-citizen, then detained him after determining he lacked citizenship or permanent residency status despite his pending asylum case. He was transferred to a detention facility following the stop. His family is raising funds for legal representation and bail.

Stephanie Kenny-Velasquez, a 25-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker married to a U.S. Army Reserve Black Hawk pilot, was detained by ICE in Houston on December 5, 2025, during a routine check-in despite having been released in 2021 pending her asylum claim and consistently complying with all required appointments and hearings. She was held at the Houston Contract Detention Facility for about four months, reporting overcrowding with roughly 60 women, lack of privacy, inadequate food, anxiety attacks, and limited medical care. A federal judge found due-process violations in her case and ordered her release within 48 hours, allowing her to continue pursuing her asylum claim outside detention.

A man with no criminal record and no standing deportation order was arrested by nine plainclothes, masked ICE agents at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building housing the Seattle Immigration Court on Tuesday while attending a hearing on his asylum petition. His attorney, Eilish Villa Malone, documented the arrest on video. The man, who fled to the U.S. seeking asylum after being kidnapped at age 16 and forced to work for criminal organizations in his home country, was in court for what was supposed to be the final step in his asylum case when he was apprehended and taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. His attorney plans to file a habeas petition challenging the arrest as unlawful, noting this marks the only known ICE courthouse arrest in Seattle since early summer 2025.

A 35-year-old mother of two was detained by ICE agents in an unmarked van outside a New Jersey courthouse after testifying as a witness in a sexual assault case. She was subsequently forced to self-deport from the United States.

Octavio Andrade-Aguilera, a Mexican national, remains in ICE custody at the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama, as of April 10, 2026, after being transferred there on April 5. Magistrate Judge Mike Dumitru had denied the federal government's request to detain him, finding he was not a flight risk, in order to avoid harming his wife and disabled American citizen daughter. Andrade-Aguilera has lived with his family in north Georgia for several years and is their sole financial provider, while his wife is their daughter's sole caregiver.

Bernadette Gamez, 36, of Modesto, and Wendy Villagran, 22, of Stockton, were arrested Tuesday evening after police said they painted 'ICE OUT' on a public roadway during a demonstration near Doctors Medical Center. Both were booked on suspicion of felony vandalism and conspiracy to commit a crime. The protest was organized in response to an ICE shooting incident in nearby Patterson. The city's Public Works Department is working to remove the graffiti.