Human Impact Project

Leidy Tatiana Mafla-Martinez, a 24-year-old Colombian immigrant and TikTok influencer in Los Angeles with more than 47,000 followers, was arrested by federal agents while parked in her car outside her apartment building in downtown LA. Bystanders recorded the arrest, and her attorney says she was targeted for using her platform to film and report on ICE operations. The Department of Homeland Security said Martinez entered the country in 2022 and had a prior DUI conviction in Los Angeles. She was taken to a detention center in Calexico and reportedly suffered bruising during the arrest, and a government vehicle was reportedly towed during the incident.

Lorena Pineda, a 27-year-old Salvadoran mother of two, was arrested by ICE agents on June 19, 2025, while five months pregnant at a food stand in California. Despite ICE policy prohibiting detention of pregnant women for administrative violations, an agent told her he would not release her. She was transferred through multiple detention facilities—Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Atlanta, Alexandria, and finally South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana—where she was held for over 3.5 months separated from her young children by 1,500 miles. At the facility, she was housed with at least 20 other pregnant women and witnessed multiple miscarriages, including a woman carrying twins. She received inadequate prenatal care, poor nutrition, and was unable to contact her family for the first month. After three months, she signed papers for voluntary self-deportation to El Salvador with a departure date extended to March due to her full-term pregnancy.

Maribel Lopez, a Guatemalan mother of three who fled years of abuse in her home country, was detained in early September 2025 when federal agents raided the nutrition-bar factory where she worked in Central New York. Although her pending asylum appeal should have protected her from removal, she was deported to Guatemala within four days of the raid. Her 2-year-old son, Jorge, remained in the U.S. in the care of his two older siblings, who are barely adults themselves. Her case was profiled by The New York Times as part of a growing pattern of rapid deportations that bypass pending legal claims.

A 19-year-old man identified only as ELA was deported to El Salvador this week while detained at a Louisiana immigration facility awaiting a psychological evaluation for his asylum case, according to his attorneys. It was the second time this year he was removed from the U.S. in violation of court orders protecting a class of young asylum seekers who sued in 2019 for the right to have their claims heard while remaining in the country. He had previously been deported earlier this year but was returned to the Louisiana detention center after attorneys confirmed his class membership. A federal judge ordered the government to explain the removal and how it plans to rectify the error, and the Justice Department said it only learned of his removal after being alerted by class attorneys.

ICE agents detained two men during a traffic stop near Hudson Avenue and South Street in Peekskill on September 1, then moved the men and their vehicles into the parking lots of two nearby restaurants, NY Firehouse Grille and Taormina Trattoria. One man was handcuffed and the other was placed in shackles before being taken away in unmarked vehicles. Restaurant owners said they were not informed in advance and only learned the vehicles belonged to ICE after nearly having them towed. ICE did not respond to requests for comment on why the men were detained, and Peekskill police said federal agents did not share the men's names, charges, or other details with the department.

D.A., a political activist who was violently attacked in Nigeria and is married to a U.S. citizen, was granted protection from removal to Nigeria in June after a judge found he faced persecution there. He says ICE agents beat him when he refused to board a military cargo plane bound for Ghana, where he was flown with a dozen other West African men and women. After more than two weeks in Ghana's Dema Camp, where deportees faced heat, mosquitoes and unsanitary conditions, he was sent to Togo without travel documents and is now staying in a hotel room with other deportees, relying on money sent by his family in the United States.

Laura Murillo, a 55-year-old immigrant from Mexico and mother of two, was arrested by ICE in September 2025 while operating her tamale vending stand near Home Depot on 47th Street and Western Avenue during Operation Midway Blitz. She spent six months in federal immigration detention before being released in March 2026 following a court order rather than deportation. Murillo's tamale business, which she had operated for years, allowed her to support her daughters Génesis and Daniela and provide flexible work to other women in her community. Since her release, she says she is in the process of obtaining legal status and is rebuilding her life with a focus on her family, faith, and a slower pace rather than the constant work that previously defined her.

Jessica Chodor was tackled and assaulted by a Memphis Safe Task Force officer while attempting to film a traffic stop. She was held down on the ground, threatened with a taser, and arrested on a charge of "resisting official detention," which was later dropped. She now avoids filming task force operations unless other observers are present. On May 13, Chodor and three other Memphis residents filed a federal lawsuit against the task force, alleging a pattern of retaliation and intimidation against people who record its operations, including improper use of Tennessee's 25-foot "Halo Law" to push back or arrest observers.

Hunter Demster, who runs a soup kitchen in Memphis, was arrested by officers with the Memphis Safe Task Force on August 26, 2026, while attempting to film task force activity, according to newly released video and a declaration filed in his ongoing ACLU lawsuit. The footage shows federal Homeland Security Investigations officers repeatedly moving toward Demster and ordering him to retreat, despite his insistence that he remained more than 25 feet away as required under Tennessee's "Halo Law." The ACLU says the arrest is further evidence of a continuing campaign of intimidation against Demster and eight other Memphis residents who allege in the lawsuit, filed in mid-May, that they have been violently arrested, surveilled at their homes, and wrongly pulled over for trying to document the task force, which has operated in Memphis since September 2025 under orders from President Trump and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.

Sergio Ayala Mejia, a 36-year-old who arrived in the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor fleeing MS-13 gang pressure in Guatemala, was detained by ICE in September 2025 while dropping off his sister at work, separated from his newborn daughter Ailany and two other children. He was deported to Guatemala without a court hearing despite a pending appeal to reopen his case—the same day an immigration judge granted his motion to reopen and rescinded his 2007 deportation order. After four months in Guatemala, he was brought back to the U.S. on humanitarian parole in December 2025 but re-detained in New York for three additional months before being released on bond in March 2026. Ayala Mejia now fears driving and worries about the lasting impact on his children, including his 3-year-old son who developed anxiety during his absence.

CRB, a 16-year-old brought to the U.S. from Mexico at age seven and protected under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, was arrested by ICE at the San Antonio field office during an annual check-in appointment in September 2025. He was detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for 141 days with his mother. During detention, he experienced depression, panic attacks, and self-harm. He reported hearing racist comments from guards and observed poor conditions including spoiled food and lights left on all night. He and his mother were released two days after his self-harm incident.

Manuel Chairez-Montes was deported from Texas after his alleged attacker was indicted for aggravated assault. With the case in limbo, the defendant Adan Yanez Porras was released on bond.

Ismael Cerro, a 39-year-old Mexican national who immigrated to the U.S. over a decade ago, was detained by immigration authorities during a traffic stop on his way to work in September 2025. He spent two months in ICE custody at Alligator Alcatraz and Krome detention centers. Cerro filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's blanket policy that classified undocumented immigrants found in the U.S. as ineligible for bond hearings. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor in May 2026, determining the policy unlawful and restoring bond eligibility for detainees in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.

Amir, who legally immigrated to the United States in 1996 and lived under supervision for 30 years, was detained by ICE in September 2025 during a regularly scheduled check-in at an immigration office. His family was told he would be held indefinitely despite having committed no crimes and having paid taxes throughout his time in the country.

A Chelsea, Massachusetts mother who is a U.S. citizen was detained by ICE in September 2025. Her 18-year-old daughter, Ana Michelle Ramirez Sanan, testified before a Senate committee about the encounter, describing finding their car with shattered windows and her mother being thrown to the ground during the incident.

Jose Manuel Allende, a 58-year-old who came legally to the U.S. from Cuba through the Freedom Flights, was detained by ICE in his driveway in September 2025 due to a decades-old criminal history and lack of citizenship. His family secured a motion to stay and a motion to reopen his case, but he remains detained at the Federal Detention Center in Miami facing deportation on April 6 if not released, creating a legal standoff where he cannot complete his pending green card application while in custody.

Karen Newton, a 65-year-old British tourist, was detained by ICE for 42 days despite holding a valid B-2 tourist visa. She and her husband were held at the Northwest ICE Processing Centre in Tacoma, Washington after attempting to cross into Canada. DHS cited her previous visa overstay of nearly four years and her husband's expired work visa as reasons for the detention, though Newton maintained she had no criminal record and was lawfully present.

Two workers assisting with wildfire firefighting in Washington state's Olympic National Forest were detained by Border Patrol agents on charges of unauthorized entry and reentry. One of the detainees had a pending U-visa application and a previous removal order. The detentions occurred while the workers were engaged in firefighting efforts on the Bear Gulch fire, an approximately 9,000-acre wildfire. Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Patty Murray and Representative Emily Randall, made statements regarding the operation. Randall was subsequently denied entry to the ICE facility where the men were being held.

Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, a 32-year-old Mexican national, died on August 31, 2025, at Mountain Vista Medical Center near Phoenix while in ICE custody at Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex. He was arrested by Flagstaff police on August 2 on drug paraphernalia charges, then transferred to ICE custody in Phoenix before being moved to the Florence detention facility. During detention, Vargas, who had diabetes, contracted COVID-19 and developed respiratory problems. He was found unresponsive and resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. He was declared dead at 7:02 a.m. His family remembered him as a loving and tender person with a generous heart who brought joy to those around him. His death marked the 14th migrant death in ICE custody in 2025, the highest number in five years.

A U.S. judge blocked the government from deporting Guatemalan children who had crossed the border without their families. The children were already on the tarmac awaiting deportation when the court order was issued.