Human Impact Project

Alfredo, a U.S. citizen in Victorville, California, was confronted by ICE agents while preparing to take his son, who has autism, to school. According to his wife, April Vélez, at least three agents grabbed and struck him and tried to remove him from his property after telling him he resembled someone they were looking for. The agents released him and left without explanation after neighbors and witnesses began filming the encounter. The family said the incident left their son deeply frightened and that Alfredo required medical attention.

Pedro Eduardo Hernández Gudino, an 18-year-old Venezuelan who arrived in the U.S. with his family at age 9, was detained by ICE in New Mexico and remains in a migrant detention center awaiting resolution of his case. He had recently earned an Associate Degree and was studying engineering at the University of Texas Permian Basin, with aspirations to develop prosthetics for veterans and people with disabilities. He had received a scholarship from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Presidential Scholarship offer from the University of New Haven but could not accept them due to financial hardship. During the summer he worked at a shoe store and a fast-food restaurant to pay for his studies and help support his mother, who raised him alone.

Uriel Pérez López, 24, was detained by ICE agents after dropping his daughter off at school. According to a witness, agents used a Taser on him during the arrest, and he was later seen receiving medical attention while restrained in a transport device.

Federal immigration agents conducted a week-long surge of warrantless detentions across California's Central Valley, targeting gas stations, Mexican bakeries, and residential areas as farmworkers started their day, according to local advocates and officials. Fresno city councilmember Miguel Arias said one constituent with no criminal record and legal status was detained while cutting his own lawn, and Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer condemned a video showing agents arresting a man in front of his screaming children. A nonprofit manager said the operation, which she called the largest in years, is targeting anyone who 'looks Hispanic,' leaving families afraid to send their children to school. The raids came amid a contested congressional race in California's 22nd District, with local Democrats alleging the enforcement surge is intended to suppress Latino voter turnout.

Maria Gonzalez Itzep was detained by ICE agents while on her way to work on Palm Beach Boulevard, along with her 4-month-old and 3-year-old children, according to protesters who gathered outside the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Center in Lee County demanding their release. Protesters said Gonzalez Itzep was nursing her infant at the time and noted her two children were born in the U.S. Friends described the family as hard-working and close-knit, with one acquaintance saying, "These are good people. These are not criminals." ICE did not respond to a request for comment on the family's status.

Jonathan Paredes Rodriguez, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a valid work permit, was detained by ICE after he approached an Ogden police officer for help because he believed an unmarked vehicle was following him while he worked as a DoorDash driver. Video of the encounter showed the Ogden officer conversing with an ICE agent before the agent approached Paredes Rodriguez's stopped vehicle and detained him, even though he believed his pending immigration proceedings allowed him to remain in the country. He spent about six weeks in ICE custody, during which he lost roughly 18 to 19 pounds and developed a lingering cough, and was released last week. Since returning home to his family, he has struggled with sleep and said he hopes sharing his story will help others understand the fear immigrants face in the system.

Oscar Quintero Frias, co-owner of Colombian specialty coffee shop Cof& in downtown Bellingham, was detained by ICE on September 15 at Sea-Tac Airport while returning from a work trip to Chicago. He was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Facility in Tacoma; DHS claimed he had overstayed a tourist visa that expired in 2021, while his family said 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 immigrating in 2021 and opened Cof& with his wife that same year, later winning a Bellingham Mayor City Center Award in 2024 for helping revitalize downtown. A friend 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 raised nearly $60,000, and he was released from detention on October 13, thanking the community for its support.

Fatou Traore, a custodian at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and member of AFSCME Council 61, Local 12, was detained by plainclothes ICE agents on September 24, 2026, while driving to pick up her sister for work in Iowa City. She held a 2011 'withholding of removal' order, but ICE said she had a final 2011 removal order and had used fraudulent travel documents to enter the country. She was moved through detention facilities in Cedar Rapids, Hardin County, and Omaha before being transferred to ICE's Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, where her son Esoumaila Diallo said she was denied access to an attorney, a judge, and phone calls before being told she could leave 'peacefully or by force.' She was deported on October 12 to Sierra Leone, a country she had never visited, before a federal judge ruled on her attorneys' pending motion to stay removal, and her request for a credible fear interview was ignored. She leaves behind her husband, Oumar Diallo, and four U.S.-citizen sons ages 3, 8, 14 and 19, and had worked at the hospital for over a decade. Coworkers, the worker center Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, the Iowa City Catholic Worker, the Immigrant Welcome Network, faith leaders, and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks organized petitions and rallies calling on DHS to facilitate her return, while the family raised money for legal fees and resettlement costs.

Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian man, died in December 2025 at the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, less than a day after being detained. ICE initially described his death as an unexplained "medical emergency" and attributed it to "natural causes," but a medical examiner later determined he died from a pulmonary embolism. An ambulance transporting him to University Hospital was delayed by five minutes as officials prioritized allowing a van of new detainees into the facility. His death came amid widespread complaints from detainees at Delaney Hall about contaminated water, spoiled food, and inadequate medical care, and was one of at least two deaths at the facility and one of 23 deaths in ICE custody during the year. ACLU of New Jersey Executive Director Amol Sinha later cited his death during congressional testimony about medical neglect and denial of medication at the facility.

Molis Augustave, 33, a pastor at Iglesia de Dios Voz de Alerta in York, Pennsylvania, and a DoorDash driver and former community organizer with We Are CASA, was pulled over by West Manchester Township police for a burned-out headlight and expired registration after losing his work permit when Haiti's TPS protections ended. He was turned over to ICE under a local 287(g) agreement and says he was handled roughly, leaving him with lasting neck and back pain. Despite an approved I-130 petition, a pending green card application, and a federal habeas petition, he was held at Louisiana facilities and moved toward deportation; his wife, U.S. citizen Omara Augustave Nunez, church members, and immigrant advocacy groups succeeded in getting him pulled from an initial flight, while 89 others aboard were deported. While detained he led Bible study and counseled fellow detainees, including one considering suicide. Days later, USCIS denied his green card application, and after 19 days in custody he was deported to Haiti, the country he had fled a decade earlier due to gang violence, leaving behind his wife and three children, with his motion to reopen still pending.

Daniela Leiva and her husband, José Gregorio Chacón Pérez, were detained by ICE, according to a GoFundMe campaign started by Daniela's sister. The family describes the emotional toll of the detention, including a young niece who misses her aunt, and mothers in Venezuela and Chile who are unable to be with their children. The campaign aims to raise $10,000 to cover legal expenses and other costs related to the couple's detention.

A man was detained by ICE while working, according to his son, who launched a fundraiser to pay for legal assistance. The detention cut the family's income in half, and the son is seeking a lawyer quickly to try to secure a court date before his father can be deported. The family says the detention has upended their lives within days.

A man was detained by ICE agents at 5:45 a.m. outside an Albertsons grocery store in Carpinteria, California, according to video filmed by volunteers with Carpinteria Sin Fronteras, a group that documents ICE activity in the area. Employees at a nearby Mexican bakery, Case Don Roge, said they recognized the man as a past customer. The incident frightened nearby residents, with some customers hiding inside local businesses and many regulars staying home from the bakery in the days that followed.

ICE agents chased and tackled a man inside an H-E-B grocery store in Alamo, Texas, in Hidalgo County's Rio Grande Valley, with video of the arrest circulating widely on social media. Agents and an Alamo police officer apprehended the man in a store aisle, handcuffing him while he lay face down on the floor. H-E-B said the pursuit began off its property before the man was taken into custody inside the store, and that the company had no prior knowledge of or involvement in the incident. No details on the man's identity or the reason for his arrest have been released.

Andrei Mikhailov, a Russian immigrant who fled with his wife Kseniia Volkova to escape danger after criticizing the Russian government and the war with Ukraine, has been held at Folkston ICE Processing Center in Georgia since being detained by Border Patrol while on vacation in Florida in February. His wife said he was on the seventh day of a hunger strike as of Monday and that his mental and physical health has deteriorated while he awaits a new asylum hearing date. Volkova, who was released with an ankle monitor after the same encounter, said she has spent $40,000 in legal fees and remains hopeful he will be freed. A spokesman for Rep. Bill Foster's office said they are seeking his release or a transfer to a facility closer to family.

Local activist Grace Graybill attempted to film a police traffic stop of a contractor's pickup truck while sitting in her own vehicle, far back along a public stretch of Route 15 in Carroll Township, Pennsylvania, where police have been making arrests under a 287(g) cooperation agreement with ICE. Police Sgt. Terry Williams rushed over and ordered her to stop recording, telling her "You're interfering with our traffic stop! Go! ... Stop following the police department around" and that she had "no business being here," before warning her to "move, or you're going to get yourself in trouble." Courts have repeatedly ruled that Pennsylvania citizens have a right to film public traffic stops. A township resident later cited the video of Williams as an example of how the ICE partnership was changing the character of the police department.

A Haitian man with Temporary Protected Status, married with an 18-month-old child, left home one Sunday evening in late summer to withdraw cash at an ATM in West York Borough, Pennsylvania, and never returned. His wife issued a public plea for help, prompting local community activists to track him down at the overcrowded Moshannon Valley Detention Center. He is among roughly 12,000 Haitians in York County who lost protected status after the Trump administration ended TPS in late July.

Miguel Parra-Hernandez, a 48-year-old Mexican man who has lived in the U.S. for 34 years since age 14 with no criminal record, was struck by an unmarked, tinted ICE SUV on Clay Road in west Houston while heading to work. ICE agents were pursuing Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who had a final removal order and prior DUI and firearm arrests, when both men fled on foot after the vehicle used no sirens. Parra-Hernandez suffered a shattered ankle, a leg broken in three places, and hip injuries requiring hospitalization and surgery, and remains in ICE custody at the hospital, where his attorney said officers limited her visit and recorded their conversation. ICE said he was not the operation's target but was in the country illegally and ran in front of the vehicle, while Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said video shows an intentional strike and is considering aggravated assault charges; ICE has refused to cooperate with the investigation or release the vehicle's data recorder. His family, FIEL Houston executive director Cesar Espinosa, and Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, who said she was 'horrified,' have demanded his release, video release, and an investigation.

Idris Makhmudov, a Russian citizen of Chechen origin born in Kazakhstan, was detained by immigration authorities at the Nogales, Arizona border crossing on July 13, 2024, after requesting entry, and spent nearly 27 months at the GEO Group-run Folkston D. Ray James ICE Processing Center in Georgia without being charged with a crime. He helped organize a mass hunger strike involving at least 73 detainees from countries including Russia, China, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Yemen, protesting prolonged detention and conditions such as inadequate medical care, moldy food and dirty water, and helped prepare a June collective appeal signed by 45 detainees. His attorney, Samantha Hamilton, said he and others who spoke out in a video about conditions were placed in segregation as retaliation. A federal judge denied his motion challenging the legality of his detention on September 28, overruling a magistrate's recommendation for a bail hearing, and he was deported on a commercial flight through Morocco after refusing food and water for four days, reportedly losing consciousness during the journey. His representative said ICE indicated his appeal would continue to be reviewed and he could be returned if it succeeded, though this has not been independently verified.

Alexander José Concho Medina was detained by ICE agents in Fayetteville, Arkansas on October 11, 2026. His girlfriend raised and paid an $800 bond in hopes of securing his release, but authorities did not release him and his situation has since become more complicated. The family is now trying to raise $3,000 to retain an attorney to fight for his release, describing him as hardworking and honest.