Human Impact Project

Felipe Agustin Zamacona was arrested last Thursday in Wheeling and detained at the Broadview ICE facility in overcrowded conditions. He testified in federal court that he had to wake someone up who was sleeping beside the toilet in order to use it. He is still in federal custody. His testimony is part of a class-action lawsuit seeking to improve conditions at the facility.

Hugo Elias Sanchez Trillos, a Colombian construction worker, was arrested in late June after ICE raided his home looking for someone else. He was held at 26 Federal Plaza for nearly three weeks (with a three-day break at Nassau County jail between June 26 and July 14), wearing the same clothes and never bathing. He lost nearly 20 pounds due to limited food access, receiving only two meals daily served cold in plastic bags. His sworn affidavit is part of a lawsuit seeking to improve conditions at the facility.

Geovani Maradiaga Ochoa, a Honduran immigrant who lived in the Bronx for 20 years with a U.S. citizen wife and daughter, was arrested at an ICE check-in and detained at 26 Federal Plaza for six days without access to shower or toothbrush. He stated he felt mistreated during detention. His sworn affidavit is part of a lawsuit by Make the Road New York, the NYCLU, and ACLU seeking to improve conditions at the facility.

Florida officials are refusing to confirm whether COVID-19 or other infectious diseases are spreading at Alligator Alcatraz, a new immigration detention center. A Venezuelan detainee recently collapsed with respiratory symptoms and was hospitalized, while relatives of other detainees report widespread illness at the facility. A former corrections officer also reported contracting COVID-19 shortly after starting work at the center.

A man named Orlin was taken into ICE custody for the second time after his family's dog discovered human remains at a home in Center Point, Alabama. His wife, Paulina Mejia, is now caring for their young daughter alone while managing their remodeling business. The couple had been cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation when ICE detained Orlin and transferred him to a detention facility in Louisiana.

Alejandra Juarez, a Colombian national who lived undocumented in Florida for 20 years, was deported to Mexico, leaving behind her 16-year-old U.S. citizen daughter Pamela and her husband Temo, a naturalized U.S. citizen and former Marine. Her deportation was initiated following a 2013 traffic stop that exposed her undocumented status. A 2001 citizenship petition was rejected after she was accused of making a false statement during an asylum claim in 1998. Juarez chose to self-deport rather than face forcible removal, settling in Merida in the Yucatan with plans for her younger daughter Estela to join her. Temo remained in Florida to care for Pamela and maintain their roofing business.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand national working for Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and her 6-year-old son Isaac were detained by ICE at the U.S.-Canada border after attempting to re-enter the United States. Shaw had crossed into Canada to drop off her two older children but lacked proper advance parole documentation for re-entry, though her son had valid travel documents. Both are being held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.

A 15-year-old Manhattan high school student, Roger Iza, was arrested by ICE at a check-in appointment on August 9, 2025, along with his father. The pair were transported to private hotels in Louisiana and Texas where they were held incommunicado without access to phones or the internet, prevented from contacting lawyers or the outside world. They were deported to Ecuador on August 14, 2025, after just five days of detention in hotels rather than standard ICE detention facilities.

Amanda Trebach, a registered nurse and U.S. citizen working in intensive care units serving low-income communities in Watts, Compton, and South Central Los Angeles, was arrested by federal agents on August 8, 2025, while documenting immigration enforcement operations at Terminal Island in San Pedro as a volunteer with Harbor Area Peace Patrol and Unión del Barrio. Video evidence shows masked federal agents pinning her face-down to the pavement, kneeling on her head, handcuffing her, and placing her into an unmarked van. CBP accused her of jumping in front of vehicles and obstructing federal agents; witnesses and video disputed these allegations. Trebach, whose cell phone was confiscated without a search warrant, says agents did not identify themselves and told her to stop photographing. She spent approximately one day in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles before being released without criminal charges. Her release followed demonstrations at the detention center and calls from local elected leaders, including Councilmember Tim McOsker, who characterized the arrest as "apparently illegal and unconstitutional." National Nurses United, representing 225,000 registered nurses, celebrated her release. Trebach has continued documenting immigration enforcement operations and has been working to protect migrant patients from immigration raids; she reports that migrants in her community are now avoiding hospitals out of fear of encountering immigration enforcement.

ICE served search warrants at agricultural firms including Christensen Farms in Minnesota and Nebraska, and in Las Vegas. The 15-month investigation targeted companies allegedly knowingly hiring undocumented workers. Criminal warrants were issued for 17 individuals in a conspiracy involving fraud and money laundering. 133 workers were administratively arrested.

Roxanne, a 32-year-old transgender woman from Mexico, crossed the Texas border in January 2024 seeking protection from discrimination and violence. She was detained by ICE in Eugene and spent a month in detention. She testified in federal court on August 8, 2025, describing her experiences of physical, sexual, and psychological violence in her home country. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken found her testimony credible and ruled for her release through a habeas corpus petition, criticizing ICE's written statements as containing "serious inaccuracies."

Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz, a Reseda Charter High School student preparing for his senior year, was detained by federal agents on August 8, 2025, while walking his dog in Van Nuys. He was held at a Los Angeles detention center before being transferred to Arizona on August 26. An immigration judge granted him bond on November 17, and he was released and reunited with his family just before Thanksgiving after months in ICE custody.

Immigration agents arrested Kyungjin Yu, a South Korean immigrant, outside Camarena Elementary School in Chula Vista on Wednesday morning for overstaying her visa, which expired in 2017. Yu's children were in the car at the time of the arrest, though her ex-husband was called to take custody of them. She is being held at Otay Mesa Detention Center.

ICE officers tackled and detained two protesters outside San Francisco's ICE field office on August 8, 2025. After a standoff lasting nearly a day, ICE agents allegedly fired pepperballs under a garage door and then emerged to forcibly detain the two protesters, bringing them into federal custody. Both protesters were released by 7 p.m. that evening.

Monsy Hernández, a DACA recipient who arrived in South Carolina as a child, self-deported at age 19 in 2017 after her mother was detained by ICE. Now living in Germany, she founded Onward, an organization supporting undocumented immigrants considering voluntary departure. The organization's membership increased during Trump administration deportation efforts.

Sabrina Medina, a 28-year-old pregnant U.S. citizen and mother of four, has been detained and arrested multiple times by ICE agents searching for her undocumented husband Jorge. On June 12, 2025, ICE agents conducted a heavily armed raid on her Huntington Park home in the presence of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, arriving in about a half-dozen tactical vehicles. The agents showed Medina a warrant naming her husband but with an incorrect first name; her husband was not at home. On August 7, 2025, Medina was arrested by ICE agents while leaving a pregnancy clinic. She claims agents have tracked her down four times since the June raid and that she was arrested based on an outstanding warrant from 12 years ago for shoplifting. During the August arrest, Medina experienced abdominal pain. She expressed fear about her family's financial future and stated she and her children would likely follow her husband to Mexico if he is deported.

ICE agents conducted a search warrant operation on February 2, 2026, at a residential property in the 600 block of North Rural Drive in Monterey Park, California, approximately 0.1 miles from Mark Keppel High School. Multiple migrants were taken into custody, with the operation occurring early in the morning. The Monterey Park city government confirmed the federal enforcement action but noted that local police did not participate, consistent with California state law and local policy prohibiting municipal involvement in immigration enforcement.

Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old Chinese man from Queens, was found dead hanging in a shower stall on August 5 at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania. Ge had crossed the U.S. border illegally in November 2023 and worked as a New York City delivery driver. He was convicted of gift card fraud, completed a sentence in Dauphin County Prison in January 2025, and was transferred to ICE detention less than a week before his death. Medical records from his prior incarceration documented a suicide attempt by hanging in January 2025 and diagnoses of depression and bipolar disorder. ICE reported he arrived at the facility without medical records and was placed in general population. According to his brother's lawsuit, Ge was found with a cloth around his neck and his hands and legs bound behind his back. The lawsuit alleges Ge was isolated in custody because no staff members spoke Mandarin and the facility refused to communicate with him or provide mental healthcare. His brother, Yanfeng Ge, filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and request against ICE demanding answers and transparency about the circumstances of his death and conditions at the facility. The coroner ruled his death a suicide, but the lawsuit challenges this finding.

Leyla Navarrete, a Nicaraguan asylum seeker with a work permit and pending asylum case, was arrested by ICE on August 7, 2025, when she arrived for a routine in-person check-in at the Indianapolis ICE office. She was transferred to the Grayson County Detention Center in Kentucky, where she was held for nearly four months while pregnant. She was eventually released after winning a habeas corpus petition in federal court.

Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, a detention facility built in the Everglades by Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration and opened July 2, 2025, houses detainees in chain-link cages within tents on an abandoned airstrip. Detainees reported severe conditions including non-functioning toilets, fecal flooding, contaminated food with worms or maggots, extreme temperatures, lack of showers and hygiene supplies, denied medical care, and limited access to lawyers and phone contact. On July 7, one detainee was transported by ambulance to a hospital. The facility has been touted by the Trump administration as a model for mass deportation, while government officials disputed detainee accounts and denied media access. Legal challenges questioning the facility's jurisdiction and conditions have been filed, with over 250 detainees reported to have no criminal convictions or charges.

George and Esmeralda Doilez, U.S. citizens from Brawley, were stopped by Border Patrol agents in an unmarked vehicle while exploring the Jacumba area on their way to a dental appointment. The stop was conducted based on U-turns and a reported smuggling event. Agents found legally purchased cannabis. After approximately 30 minutes, they were released with a warning.

Jaime Alanís Garcia, a 56-year-old farmworker at Glass House Farms, died from blunt-force head and neck injuries sustained during a July 10 ICE immigration raid. His wife and daughter filed wrongful death claims against ICE alleging agents used excessive force including rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun guns, causing Alanís to fall 30 feet from a cannabis greenhouse roof. The family is seeking $47 million in damages per claim and answers about what transpired during the operation that resulted in 361 arrests.

ICE agents detained a woman in a white Tesla near Camarena Elementary School in Chula Vista during morning drop-off on August 6, 2025. The woman's two children, who were students at the school, were in the vehicle. According to ICE, an immigration judge had ordered the woman deported in absentia in July 2022, and the arrest was made off school property.

US Border Patrol agents conducted a raid outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles's Westlake neighborhood using an unmarked Penske rental truck, with masked officers jumping out and arresting 16 people. The operation, called 'Operation Trojan Horse,' occurred despite a federal court order prohibiting indiscriminate raids in the region due to evidence of racial profiling and targeting based on appearance, language, and location.

A former corrections officer at a detention facility in Florida described conditions including hundreds of detainees held in cages with no sunlight, backed-up toilets, and minimal shower access. The officer, who worked at the facility for about a week in July 2025, stated that detainees had no clocks, limited access to showers, and endured water leaks and mosquito infestations. She was subsequently fired after catching COVID and claims she was never paid for her work.

A Trump-appointed federal judge ordered Florida officials to produce legal agreements justifying their authority to detain approximately 1,000 migrants at the detention camp in the Everglades by Thursday. Civil rights groups allege detainees are being held without formal charges, denied access to legal counsel, and stripped of bond hearings, with some held beyond the legal 14-day limit. The state and federal governments lack clarity on jurisdiction and legal custody over the facility.

Luis Manuel Rivas Velásquez collapsed at Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center and was hospitalized. Detainees reported inadequate medical response and chaos at the facility. He is now being held in El Paso Enhanced Hardened Facility with reportedly deteriorating health conditions.

Sheikh Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir, a 46-year-old green card holder and Imam from Eritrea, died at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on December 14, 2025, after spending 215 days in ICE custody. The Council on American Islamic Relations stated his death was related to detention system issues regarding medical care, transparency, and conditions.

Basilia López, Christina Flores Prado, and Cristina López Flores were detained by ICE agents in Arizona on the morning of August 5 while traveling to their jobs. According to their families, all three women are employed and have no criminal records. One of the detainees is pregnant and required medical attention after experiencing severe pain while in custody. The women's families stated they have not received an explanation for the detentions. Their attorney, Rey Ibarra, is reviewing the case.

Allison Garcia, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen honors student, was left to manage her family's mortgage and finances alone after her mother Patricia Balbuena Soto was arrested by local police on a domestic dispute warrant in July 2025 and subsequently deported to Mexico by ICE in August. Garcia missed 21 school days, dropped two AP classes, and saw her 4.8 GPA decline to 3.5 while working extra shifts to cover household expenses. Her $10,000 college fund was depleted by her mother's legal defense costs.

Two individuals were detained by ICE officers in front of Southwest Elementary School in the Roosevelt School District on August 5, 2025, the second day of the school year. One agent was observed escorting a student to the school's entry gate. Some parents subsequently kept children home or considered doing so.

Paola Clouatre, a Mexican-born woman and wife of a Marine Corps veteran, was detained by ICE on May 27, 2025, while breastfeeding her three-month-old baby during an adjustment of status interview. She spent two months in ICE's detention center in Monroe, Louisiana before being released after her husband and Senator John Kennedy's office advocated for her case. An immigration judge granted her motion to reopen her case and she was released while her legal process continues.

Recently obtained 911 calls from Alligator Alcatraz, an undocumented migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, include approximately 70 calls. These calls included requests for emergency medical services for medical incidents with injuries and health concerns, with approximately 30 being accidental calls from staff. The facility has faced lawsuits over conditions. Reports indicate detainees staged a hunger strike to protest conditions, which DHS denied.

Hamed Alsaidi, 31, an immigrant from Jordan living in Oak Forest, Illinois, was arrested by Mokena police on Aug. 1 after officers found eight glass bottles filled with an ignitable liquid in his backpack along with a map of Orland Park labeled with the word "mosque." A Will County judge granted him pretrial release with electronic monitoring on Aug. 2, and county officials released him without notifying ICE despite a detainer having been lodged the day of his arrest. Two days later, ICE took Alsaidi into custody, and he was later charged in federal court with felony unlawful possession of a weapon and obstructing identification.

Pedro Mariano Salgado, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan national, was arrested by ICE on August 4, 2025, at approximately 7:30 a.m. in Austin, Texas, as he left his home for work. According to his wife, two ICE vehicles followed him from his residence. Salgado has lived in the United States for over three years and works remodeling apartments. His wife states that the family has an open asylum case and an immigration court hearing scheduled for 2027. The couple has four children, including a newborn who is two months old. Salgado is currently detained at a detention facility in Pearsall. His wife, who says he is the family's primary breadwinner, is requesting assistance to pay for legal representation and cover her children's basic needs while seeking his release.

Dale Heath, a British-born permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. since age 8, was detained by CBP at Denver International Airport on August 4 while renewing his temporary green card. He was arrested due to marijuana possession convictions from 2001 when he was a teenager in Texas. Heath has been held in ICE detention for weeks, separated from his wife and two children, while awaiting his immigration hearing.

Jose Angel Rodriguez Loa was detained by ICE on August 4, 2025, after a traffic stop on I-10 and Culebra in San Antonio. He was placed in an unmarked black SUV and transferred to an immigration detention facility. His family hired an immigration attorney and is fundraising to cover legal fees, with hopes he may be allowed to stay.

Gonzalo Salas, a painter with 25+ years in the U.S., three American children, a home, and a business, was detained by ICE on August 4, 2025, after taking his seven-year-old son to a dentist appointment. He remains in custody at an ICE facility in Virginia pending a bond hearing on August 28, 2025. His family is raising funds for legal representation to fight his deportation to Mexico.

Federal immigration authorities attempted to quickly deport Mirta Amarilis Co Tupul, a 38-year-old Guatemalan woman who has lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years, through expedited removal proceedings that bypass immigration court hearings. A federal court granted an emergency request to temporarily pause her deportation while the case proceeds. Her lawyers argue the Trump administration is stretching immigration law to fast-track deportations.

Blerim Skoro, a 55-year-old Kosovo-born cab driver from Staten Island, New York, was detained by ICE agents on August 3 while attending a scheduled immigration appointment in Newark, New Jersey. Skoro, who has an American wife and three children, says he spent years working as a confidential informant for U.S. intelligence agencies including the CIA, FBI and DEA, infiltrating al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and helping secure convictions of members of al Qaeda, al Shabaab and Hezbollah after cooperating with authorities following a 2000 drug conviction. In 2022 he was granted a deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture due to the risk he would face if returned to Kosovo. His attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition on August 4 challenging his detention and seeking to halt deportation, arguing a prior ruling requires a judge's permission before removal. Skoro says he fears being killed if returned to Kosovo and remains held at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey.

The US Department of Homeland Security announced the deportation of five noncitizens with criminal convictions, including Indian national Jashandeep Singh, deported on August 3. DHS alleged Singh had a criminal history involving sexually motivated coercion, burglary, and theft, though it did not disclose his age, place of origin, immigration status, or the country he was deported to. The other four deportees were nationals of Guatemala, Mexico, and Chile, removed between August 4 and 6 following convictions for offenses including homicide, driving under the influence, and firearms violations.

Maycon Souto Dos Reis, 54, a Brazilian national, was arrested by ICE during a targeted operation at Westborough District Court in Westborough, Massachusetts. He had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2024 and was released into the country, later coming to ICE's attention after a May 2025 arrest for unlicensed driving in Southborough. ICE said he had been convicted in Brazil and sentenced to over 14 years in prison, with an arrest warrant issued after he fled to the United States. He remains in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings.

Cesar was arrested by ICE on August 3, 2025, after 9 years in the U.S. and transferred to Imperial Detention Center. He had previously been arrested by ICE around 2019 and released on parole under an order of supervision. ICE has now moved to enforce a previous removal order. His wife and two daughters (ages 16 and 6), one of whom has cerebral palsy requiring specialized medical care, are left without his income and struggling to afford rent, groceries, and medical expenses.

Three women known as "Las Tres Guerreras" or the "Baldwin Park Three" (Akalei Brown, Cynthia Saragoza, and Sandia) were charged by the Department of Homeland Security in September 2025 for documenting an ICE agent during a community watch patrol. They face charges including conspiracy and doxxing with potential sentences exceeding 10 years in federal prison, with trial scheduled for February 24, 2026. Sandia is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles awaiting trial.

Beata Siemionkowicz, a Polish-born green card holder who legally immigrated to the United States in 1995 and obtained her green card in 2003, was arrested by ICE agents on August 2, 2025, while gardening in her daughter's backyard in Des Plaines, Illinois. She was detained based on retail theft convictions from 2005 and 2011, and allegations of document fraud related to immigration benefits in 2001. Siemionkowicz worked as a commercial cleaner and hospice caregiver and was the sole provider for her household of two adult daughters, Claudia and Gabi. Since her arrest, she has remained in custody at Campbell County Detention Center in Kentucky, where detainees reported conditions including black mold and dead bedbugs. Her daughter Gabi temporarily dropped out of nursing school to cover her mother's mortgage, utilities, and legal fees. An immigration judge issued a removal order on December 9, 2025, but her family has filed an appeal and is working with Senator Dick Durbin to seek her release.

A federal judge dismissed charges against Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, a 36-year-old TikTok creator and U.S. citizen arrested at an August 2 protest against immigration enforcement, after finding the government acted in bad faith. Redondo-Rosales had spent six months in jail awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting a Federal Protective Service officer with a cloth hat. The judge noted discrepancies in the officer's statements, that video evidence contradicted the assault claim, and that prosecutors sought dismissal to avoid disclosing problematic officer records rather than address legitimate legal issues.

A visibly pregnant U.S. citizen and her undocumented mother were arrested by federal agents outside a health clinic in Los Angeles.

Customers at a gas station in Maryland witnessed armed, masked agents in vests marked only 'POLICE' emerge from an unmarked black Kia, chase a man named Samuel, and swiftly handcuff him. One agent repeatedly asked him in Spanish, 'Why were you running?' then demanded to know whether he was 'legal or illegal' and asked for his papers. One witness said, 'I felt like I was watching someone being kidnapped.'

In New Mexico, a father was en route to a school event when his vehicle was surrounded by agents in a supermarket parking lot. Agents smashed his window with a sledgehammer. His partner and two young girls slipped out the passenger side as an armed agent hovered beside the car. ICE, which was assisted by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, claimed that when officers first tried to stop Jorge Martín Ortiz-Rosalez's vehicle earlier that day, he fled at high speed.

In the San Diego area, a mother was arrested by federal agents outside an elementary school as students arrived. Her two children were in the car with her. The school district confirmed the children were students at the school.