Human Impact Project

Brian José Morales García, a 25-year-old HVAC worker from Austin born in Denver, Colorado, was riding in his employer's truck near Fredericksburg, Texas, on April 3, 2026, when a state trooper stopped the vehicle over an alleged window-tint violation. He repeatedly told officers he was a citizen and offered his birth certificate, Social Security card, and baptismal record, but said they refused to accept the documents; the Gillespie County Sheriff's Office held him before Border Patrol took custody. He said agents mocked his citizenship claim and pressured him into signing paperwork admitting illegal entry, which he did to avoid prolonged detention and reunite with his pregnant wife in Mexico. He was deported four to five days after the stop, missing the birth of his daughter and spending nearly five months with relatives in Mexico. His attorneys, including Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, filed a federal lawsuit alleging coercion and racial profiling, submitting his birth certificate, hospital records, baptismal certificate, and witness affidavits, while DHS disputed his citizenship claim. A federal judge called the case 'highly unusual' and ordered discovery; the Department of Justice agreed to let him return to Austin on August 30, 2026. His civil rights lawsuit continues, and his case is cited among more than 500 reported instances of U.S. citizens detained by ICE nationally.

Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old line cook from Irimbo, Michoacán, who had lived in the Chicago area for nearly 20 years, was fatally shot by an ICE agent on September 12, 2025, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois, shortly after dropping his two young sons off at daycare and school. ICE agents, operating five days into Operation Midway Blitz, targeted him over alleged old traffic violations and positioned their vehicle to block his car; DHS claimed he dragged an agent with his vehicle, but witnesses and video reviewed by reporters showed him driving away before crashing into a tractor-trailer, and body-camera footage later showed the agent describing his injuries as 'nothing major,' contradicting DHS's claim of 'serious injuries.' Policing experts said the agents' tactics violated standard traffic-stop safety protocols. His body was repatriated to Michoacán for a funeral attended by hundreds; his mother and brother have said the family wants justice. His two sons were placed in foster care in Idaho, and relatives, aided by the Mexican Consulate, are seeking reunification. A year later, the FBI has refused to release details of its investigation, including the agent's name, prompting the family, working with the MacArthur Justice Center and National Immigrant Justice Center, to file a federal wrongful death claim on October 8, 2026, alleging ICE agents created an avoidable dangerous confrontation and that DHS and the agency failed to properly train and supervise officers. Federal prosecutors have declined to charge the agent, though the Illinois State Police opened a separate investigation in May 2026 at local police's request.

Fidel was detained by ICE, leaving his fiancée Ciara facing the prospect of raising their child alone. Ciara is raising funds to cover legal costs, bond, rent, and household bills as she fights to bring him home and keep their family together.

Héctor López was detained by law enforcement and taken into ICE custody on October 7 while on his way to work, according to his partner Andrea. He is described as a loving, responsible, and hardworking man who is the primary caregiver for his two children. His family is seeking legal representation for his immigration case and has lost a key source of household income since his detention.

Osmar, a fiancé described by his family as a loving son and loyal friend, presented himself to immigration authorities as part of his immigration process and was unexpectedly detained. He was placed in ICE custody following an attempted deportation to Argentina that could not be completed, and he remains in custody while his family seeks funds for attorneys and legal costs. His fiancée started a fundraiser to help cover legal fees, transportation, and other expenses related to his case.

Jennifer Guernsey, a 75-year-old San Luis Obispo County resident who volunteers as a rapid responder with 805 UndocuFund, was filming ICE agents waiting in the San Luis Obispo County Jail lobby for an inmate's release when an agent placed his hands on her shoulders and shoved her backward, telling her to get out of his way. Guernsey, who said she did not touch any agents, described the agents as being in 'a really antagonistic mood' and said the agent was 'using his physicality to intimidate' her.

Federal immigration agents broke a driver's window during a traffic stop outside Century High School in Hillsboro, Oregon, on Oct. 7, shortly after 10 a.m. It remains unclear whether the driver was detained. The stop was part of a broader enforcement surge that advocates say detained at least 21 people across Oregon between Oct. 6 and Oct. 8, including activity in Hillsboro, Cornelius, Forest Grove, Gresham, Troutdale and eastern Portland. Washington County follows Oregon's sanctuary law, and local officials said deputies do not collaborate with ICE or honor administrative warrants, though no county statement addressed the October surge as of publication.

Babucarr Touray, a Gambian immigrant, was taken into ICE custody on October 7 after reporting for a scheduled immigration check-in at the USCIS field office in Tukwila, Washington, according to his attorney and family members. Touray had attended similar appointments many times before without incident. His family and the Pacific Northwest Seattle Gambian Association are raising funds to cover an immigration bond and ongoing living expenses, including rent, while he remains in custody. As of Thursday, the family had not confirmed the bond amount, his location, or next steps in his case.

Immigration attorneys and court observers say the closure of San Francisco's immigration court has overwhelmed the Concord court with new 'mega-master hearings' and scheduling changes that threaten due process. Devony Hodson, a migrant from Nicaragua, said her final hearing was abruptly moved from 2027 to this past July, giving her little time to prepare, though she has since received extensions to December 2028. The Executive Office for Immigration Review said scheduling changes are meant to prevent cases from languishing, while advocates and a local congressman question the rationale behind the court closure.

A Venezuelan man detained by an ICE agent on an Ogden street on Aug. 25 has been released after a federal judge in California ruled his detention unconstitutional, according to his attorney Sergio Garcia. The man, who came to the U.S. in 2022 and had applied for asylum and received a work permit, was held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California before the judge granted his habeas petition. His arrest drew scrutiny after an Ogden police officer, who was responding to an unrelated call, became caught between the ICE agent and the man, and after a city councilman filmed part of the encounter. Garcia said the man still faces deportation and will now have to pursue his asylum case in immigration court rather than through USCIS.

Daury Baez Seri, a DACA recipient who grew up in Boston after arriving from the Dominican Republic at age six, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for more than 24 hours at Logan International Airport. He was returning from a gaming convention in Puerto Rico when his flight was diverted to Bermuda due to a medical emergency onboard, inadvertently turning a domestic flight into an international one. His attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said Baez Seri was not allowed to call a lawyer while detained and has no criminal record. He was released from custody late Wednesday evening.

Oscar Bracamontes Trinidad, a Medford, Oregon father of five, was detained by ICE agents while at work and later deported to Mexico. His wife, Margarita Bracamontes Torres, said she wasn't notified of his arrest until hours later, by which point he was already being transported to Tacoma, Washington, and said ICE paperwork falsely stated he was picked up at an ICE facility rather than his workplace. Oscar was held in Tacoma for about 30 days before being transferred to a detention facility in Natchez, Mississippi, making visits impossible; the family ultimately decided not to fight his case in detention, which could have taken six months to a year, and he returned to Mexico. Margarita said their children struggled emotionally during his detention, and she is now raising money to relocate the family to Mexico while they pursue an I-130 petition to return to the U.S.

Luis Arreguin, a 54-year-old Fresno-area man who came to the U.S. from Mexico as a child and has lived there for 49 years, was detained by ICE agents around 5 a.m. on October 1, 2026 while driving to work on Manning Avenue. His family says agents, in an unmarked vehicle, acted without a warrant based on a tip and were overheard joking about how many people they had caught that day. Arreguin, described by relatives as loving, hardworking, and the sole provider for his U.S. citizen wife and children, was in the process of obtaining citizenship before his arrest. He was transferred multiple times within ICE custody with little information provided to his family, eventually landing at a facility in McFarland, where he has suffered elevated blood pressure. His daughter, Elaina Salazar, said the arrest felt like a death in the family, and relatives held a candlelit vigil in Fresno on October 7. Arreguin has chosen to fight his case in court rather than accept deportation, and his family is raising money for attorney fees and related costs. His detention came amid a surge of roughly two dozen ICE arrests across Fresno and Madera counties that advocates have called an 'election surge.'

Melanie Tinoco, a 29-year-old mother of two from Ecuador who fled in 2024 after mafia threats, was arrested by Boston police at a Target over an alleged shoplifting incident her family calls a misunderstanding involving Uber Eats shopping. She has a pending asylum application, a valid work permit, and no prior criminal record. After being released from the District 4 police station, plainclothes ICE agents detained her outside without showing identification or a warrant, according to her husband Martin Gurfinkiel, who witnessed the arrest. She has since been held at the Burlington ICE processing center, where her family says agents injured her wrists and she has struggled to access her prescribed anxiety medication, reporting sleepless nights and panic attacks. Her husband is now caring alone for their two children, including a 7-year-old son with autism who has struggled emotionally without her. Her attorneys have filed a federal habeas petition seeking her release, citing her scheduled 2027 immigration court hearing and alleging a possible violation of Boston's Trust Act limiting police cooperation with ICE.

Christian Jimenez, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen and high school senior in McMinnville, Oregon, was detained by ICE officers on November 21, 2025, while driving off campus during his lunch break. Officers broke the driver's side window of his car after he told them he was a U.S. citizen; video reviewed by ProPublica captured the exchange, with an agent responding, "I don't care." Jimenez was held at ICE's facility in South Portland for nearly seven hours before being released around 7 p.m. DHS alleged Jimenez attacked officers with his vehicle, a claim disputed by his family and immigrant-justice groups, and authorities sought obstruction-related charges, with some reports differing on whether Jimenez or his brother was the intended target. The detention was one of four involving U.S. citizens in the Portland area that week, prompting a 300-student walkout and community protests over ICE tactics near schools.

Jose Mejia Hernandez, a 45-year-old Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 18 years and works two jobs in commercial cleaning and office maintenance, was approached by plainclothes, masked ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle while walking to a bus stop near Columbia Pike in Arlington, Virginia on August 11. He fled, was shocked with a stun gun, and was struck by a vehicle, suffering two black eyes, facial lacerations, brain swelling, and a subarachnoid brain bleed. He was hospitalized for several days at George Washington University Hospital with ICE officers stationed in his room, and his attorneys say a hospital employee had to demand he be given a bed and an interpreter. He later returned for an MRI due to worsening symptoms and says an ankle monitor fitted by ICE delayed further medical testing, leaving him struggling to eat, sleep, speak normally, or work. His attorneys have filed a police report seeking criminal charges, notified federal agencies under the Federal Tort Claims Act, filed a $35 million excessive force claim, and are pursuing a U visa on his behalf. DHS disputes his account, saying officers used necessary force after he fled and citing a prior voluntary return to Mexico and a 2020 public intoxication conviction, and he has since been placed in deportation proceedings. Arlington County Police have opened an investigation, and Virginia officials including Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Reps. Don Beyer, Suhas Subramanyam and James Walkinshaw have criticized the circumstances of his arrest, which occurred during a broader ICE enforcement surge that led to roughly 1,300 arrests across the D.C. area in August.

Yasmani Noel Moreno de Armas, a 31-year-old Cuban who arrived in Florida by raft in 2016 under the 'Wet Foot, Dry Foot' policy and ran a small trucking business between Miami and Tampa to help support his parents near Orlando, was detained by ICE in West Palm Beach on May 11, 2025, after his green card bid under the Cuban Adjustment Act was denied. He was held for about a year before being deported in late July/August 2026 not to Cuba but to the Central African Republic on a roughly 21-22 hour shackled flight, learning his destination only hours into the trip. Moreno, who manages diabetes and asthma, said the flight left him ill and triggered an anxiety attack. He is now confined at the Maison Confort lodging in Bangui alongside migrants from Afghanistan, Vietnam and Russia, without a passport, visa or legal status, suffering stomach problems and allergies, and says he was kidnapped twice by armed men he believed were security forces, with family and a fellow detainee paying about $100 for his release. A Cuban embassy representative told him Cuba would not take him back because he left as a 'rafter' migrant, and he fears returning there given a past imprisonment for trying to flee. 'They brought us here illegally,' he said, adding his parents 'went crazy, crying and yelling' when he told them where he was; his attorney is negotiating with federal officials for his return.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who lived in Maryland with his U.S. citizen wife and young son who has autism, was arrested in Baltimore in March 2025 and deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison despite a 2019 court order protecting him from removal. US District Judge Paula Xinis ruled the government had 'no legal authority' to arrest, detain, or deport him, calling it a 'grievous error' that 'shocks the conscience,' and ordered his return; his lawyer denied any gang ties and said he had never been charged with a crime. Following public pressure and a Supreme Court order, he was returned to the U.S. in June 2025, after which federal prosecutors indicted him on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. Costa Rica offered him refugee status in August 2025, but the administration instead pursued deporting him to Liberia. A judge ordered his release from ICE custody in December 2025 after finding government lawyers misled the court, later blocking his re-detention and deportation to Liberia, and a federal judge dismissed the smuggling charges in May 2026 as a vindictive response to his legal challenges, a ruling the government is appealing. A hearing meant to determine whether he would be deported to Liberia was abruptly canceled, as his legal team seeks a permanent injunction and argues he should instead be sent to Costa Rica.

A farmworker who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation told the Los Angeles Times that he was pulled over by ICE officers while driving to work on Oct. 6 with three other people. He said the officers did not know his name, and when he declined to answer their questions about where he was born and when he crossed the border, they let him go.

Griselda, a mother known for feeding unhoused neighbors and volunteering with the El Sereno Bicentennial Committee, was detained by ICE at a USCIS center on October 6 while attending a scheduled immigration appointment. Her sudden detention has separated her from her children, who are now facing loss of income and emotional stress. A GoFundMe campaign was organized to cover legal fees, living costs, and healthcare support for her family while she fights for release.