Human Impact Project

A 50-year-old Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. for over three decades without criminal history was arrested by immigration officers on March 10, 2026 while going to work. Officers claimed he had a court order regarding a domestic violence case but never showed him the order. He was placed in the Adelanto Detention Center and the court ordered his immediate release, finding he was denied due process protections.

Leonardo Espartaco Martinez, a U.S. citizen and community watcher with VC Defensa in Ventura County, was violently detained by ICE agents on March 10 after responding to aid a fellow community member who had been pepper-sprayed. Video footage shows ICE agents in three vehicles ramming Martinez's minivan as he attempted to reverse away from the scene. When agents broke his window and dragged him out, he sustained injuries to his knees, shoulders, and wrists. At Los Robles Regional Medical Center, hospital staff and federal contractors kept Martinez handcuffed to his bed for 45 minutes while his lawyers attempted to determine if he was in custody or what charges he faced. No warrant or identification was provided. This is the third time ICE agents have rammed Martinez's vehicle; a previous incident on October 16, 2025, in Oxnard also resulted in his detention and transfer to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

ICE officers abducted a mother dropping her child off at Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Jaime Eliceo Castro Guaman was arrested by ICE agents during a carpool to work on March 10, though agents stated they were looking for someone else. He held a pending asylum application, valid work permit, and no criminal history. Federal Judge William K. Sessions III ordered his immediate release on March 20, finding the detention may have violated his constitutional rights and stating the stop appeared pretextual. An immigration court bond hearing was scheduled to set conditions for his continued residence in the community.

A 23-year-old Colombian man was detained on March 10, 2026, at an ICE check-in appointment in Eugene based on a pending felony domestic violence assault charge in Linn County. He is an asylum seeker who fled politically motivated violence in Colombia. The alleged victim filed a statement saying she does not fear him and that the arrest does not represent his character as a person or father. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael McShane granted his habeas petition on May 14, 2026, finding the detention unjustified and rejecting the government's broad interpretation of mandatory detention law.

Wulfrano Portillo, a pastor at La Hermosa Church in Tulsa for 24 years, was detained on March 10, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in appointment in Oklahoma City and deported to Mexico the following day. His family, including his wife and four adult children, was not informed of the reason for his deportation. Both Portillo and his wife have been living in the country without authorization since a 2007 deportation removal order was issued after a highway traffic stop.

ICE agents detained Reginald Toussaint, a Haitian with Temporary Protected Status, while he was picking up his wife from work in Birmingham, Alabama. Agents approached multiple unmarked vehicles and removed Toussaint from the family's minivan in front of his children. Toussaint stated he had valid TPS status. He was charged with impersonating a U.S. citizen based on an alleged pistol permit application from August 2025 where he marked the citizenship box. His wife disputes this characterization.

Federal immigration agents arrested a person outside the Culver City Police Department on Monday after the individual was cited and released following arrest for driving under the influence and weapon possession. The Culver City Police Department stated it was not notified in advance of the federal action and did not participate in the detention, emphasizing its commitment to not assisting with immigration enforcement under California law.

A Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States in 2001 was detained by ICE officers on March 9, 2026, while on his way to work and is currently held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California. A federal court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process, and ordered the government to provide a bond hearing within 14 days or release him.

Karla Sáenz, a 26-year-old transgender woman from Venezuela and organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, was detained by ICE on March 9 during a routine immigration check-in at a USCIS office in Phoenix. She was held for a month at Eloy Detention Center in a men's unit, where she was denied hormone therapy, unable to shower for a week, and subjected to verbal abuse and medical neglect by staff. A federal judge ordered her release in April, finding her detention arbitrary and violating her due process rights.

Rogelio, a 39-year-old Guatemalan immigrant married to a U.S. citizen with five U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE for seven months after being stopped by local police in La Belle, Florida. He spent over six months at the Broward Transitional Center in deportation proceedings. A judge approved his cancellation of removal application, allowing him to pursue citizenship and a green card. Approximately 4,000 cancellations of removal are granted nationally each year.

Mahady Sacko, a 50-year-old undocumented Mauritanian national, was arrested by ICE in Philadelphia for illegally voting in seven federal elections between 2008 and 2024. Despite being ordered removed from the country in 2000 and placed under immigration supervision, Sacko remained in the U.S. and registered and voted in multiple elections. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting, with violations carrying fines and up to five years in prison.

Adriana Laya, Miguel Alberto Caicedo, and their two children were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for two months following a routine ICE check-in in January 2026. The family, who entered the U.S. in 2024 under asylum parole, reported poor detention conditions including undrinkable water, constant lighting, and inadequate medical care for their son with kidney issues. Upon their release in mid-February, they discovered they had been evicted from their apartment in Las Cruces, New Mexico and lost their possessions, life savings, pet dog, and jobs. The family is now living in their car, their only remaining possession.

A federal judge in Oregon has restricted federal officers from using tear gas at protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland. The ruling limits law enforcement's use of force against demonstrators at the ICE facility.

Joseph Andrey Londono Rodriguez, a 6-year-old deaf student at the California School for the Deaf, was detained by ICE agents on March 3, 2026, during what his mother believed was a routine photo renewal appointment at an ICE office in the San Francisco Bay Area. His mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, an asylum seeker from Colombia who had been in the country for four years and was under a supervision order, was detained along with Joseph's 5-year-old brother. The family was deported to Colombia within days without access to hearing aids, cochlear implants, legal representation, or accurate information about their location. State officials alleged ICE misrepresented the family's location to obstruct legal intervention. California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and congressional members requested an investigation and humanitarian parole to return the family, citing violations of due process protections.

Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old Venezuelan transgender organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, was detained by ICE on March 9, 2026, during what she believed was a routine immigration check-in in Phoenix. According to an eyewitness account, ICE agents took her to a back room, claimed she had an arrest warrant without providing documentation, and handcuffed her. Saenz was transferred to Eloy Detention Center, located approximately 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, where she was initially placed in the men's unit despite being a trans woman. She contracted COVID-19 during her first two days in custody. Saenz had been a vocal advocate for Arbella "Yari" Marquez, a lesbian detainee at the same facility who was suffering from serious health complications including returning leukemia. Advocates believe Saenz's detention was retaliatory for her visible organizing work against immigration enforcement in Arizona, noting that she had consistently complied with all supervision requirements prior to her detention.

An man who was in ICE custody escaped from an ICE agent's vehicle near Chambers Drive and Sigman Road in Rockdale County, Georgia on Monday afternoon. The man had been arrested by Conyers Police on Saturday for a traffic violation and was being transferred by ICE when he jumped from the vehicle and fled. Law enforcement from multiple agencies established a perimeter and captured the man shortly after 3 p.m.

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, 28, a Colombian asylum-seeker who had lived in the U.S. for approximately four years with no criminal record, attended a routine check-in appointment at ICE's San Francisco office on March 3, 2026, with her two sons, including a deaf child who attended the California School for the Deaf. All three were detained by federal agents. The deaf child was separated from his hearing aids and assistive equipment during detention, despite a family member being present outside willing to provide them. The family was deported to Colombia by March 6. A federal immigration court had placed an order of supervision on Rodriguez Gutierrez that should have prevented deportation. Her attorney stated ICE misled his team about the family's whereabouts throughout the week and obstructed access to counsel, preventing the family from invoking humanitarian protections. California officials and immigration attorneys subsequently called for the family's return.

Ruben, 28, a Nicaraguan immigrant who had been living in San Francisco's Mission District with his brother Francisco since October 2022, was arrested on February 17 while arriving for his asylum appointment at the Sansome Street immigration court. Francisco and Ruben had worked together and lived as a unit for three years in the Mission, sharing meals and supporting each other as they built their lives in the United States. Ruben's prior immigration appointment had been changed without his notification, and he failed to file the necessary motion to explain his missed hearing, which proved fatal to his case. He was detained and transferred through multiple detention facilities—Mesa Verde in Bakersfield, a facility in Arizona, and Puerto Isabel in Texas—before being deported to Nicaragua on March 8.

Jefferson Fernando Cando Llano, 29, a father of a 6-year-old boy seeking asylum from Ecuador, was detained by masked Border Patrol agents in unmarked vehicles at a laundromat parking lot in Browne's Addition, Spokane on March 8. Cando Llano came to Spokane three years ago with his wife to escape trauma and violence in Ecuador and has an open asylum case with no criminal record. Friends who witnessed the encounter could not identify the agents and filed a missing persons report with Spokane police, fearing a kidnapping. Cando Llano was held for 10 days at Kootenai County Jail before being released after his attorney filed an appeal against a removal order issued by an immigration judge. The incident raised concerns among local police about the use of unmarked vehicles and masks by federal agents in immigration enforcement operations.

An asylum seeker from Ghana working as a health aide in Central Ohio is facing deportation to Uganda following a recent immigration hearing. The individual is seeking assistance after the government determined she should be removed to a country unfamiliar to her.

A Yemeni national with Temporary Protected Status and father of four U.S. citizen children was detained by ICE on March 6, 2026, three days after his TPS status expired on March 3, 2026. He owns a car dealership in Birmingham, Alabama and his wife is a U.S. citizen pregnant with their fifth child. The court denied his motion for temporary restraining order seeking immediate release from detention.

Jose Ernesto Aparicio Almendarez, a 20-year-old Honduran citizen who entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum, was detained by ICE after being stopped for driving without a license in Orlando, Florida. He had previously been released by ORR to a sponsor and has a pending asylum application. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process. Jose Alberto Cuellar, a 51-year-old landscaper from El Salvador who has lived in South Florida for 30 years, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop near Davie and Griffin roads early Tuesday morning. According to his son Justin, who was driving the landscaping truck, ICE agents approached the vehicle after it was pulled over for an allegedly obstructed license plate, and agents asked his father in Spanish whether he had papers or was "legal," using a racial slur. Cuellar has no criminal record and has worked as a landscaper six days a week for decades while attempting to legalize his immigration status since the early 2000s; his family has been unable to locate him in any detainee system and are raising funds for legal representation.

Juan, a Honduran national who came to the U.S. seven years ago seeking asylum, was arrested by ICE during a traffic stop on a Virginia highway while driving to work. He had an active asylum case, work permit, and marriage petition to a U.S. citizen at the time of his arrest. After spending one month detained at Farmville Detention Center, Juan was released on bond following a habeas petition but now faces an uncertain asylum process with declining approval rates under the current administration.

A Vietnamese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1991 as a lawful permanent resident was arrested by immigration authorities outside his home on March 5, 2026. He had been living in the community on supervised release since 2006 after his removal to Vietnam proved impracticable following a 2004 conviction. The court ordered his immediate release, finding the government failed to demonstrate his removal was reasonably foreseeable and violated procedures for revoking his supervised release.

An Iranian citizen born in Germany in 1990 who has lived in the United States for over 20 years since entering at age 15. He is employed full-time as a Project Manager for J.T. Construction Group and works as an In-Home Supportive Service provider caring for his parents, who are now U.S. citizens. In 2012, he was ordered removed to Iran but granted withholding of removal, and was placed on an order of supervision (OSUP). On March 5, 2026, ICE officers arrested him at Burbank Airport without providing meaningful notice or opportunity to be heard, claiming his case was under review for removal to an unnamed third country. ICE detained him at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. A federal magistrate judge granted his habeas petition, finding no showing of changed circumstances for revocation, violation of due process procedures, and inadequate third-country removal safeguards. The court ordered his immediate release subject to his prior OSUP conditions and prohibited removal to a third country without written notice and a minimum 10-day opportunity to raise fear-based claims.

Mirna Yesenia Alvarado Benitez, a citizen of El Salvador who entered the U.S. in July 2024, was initially detained and then released with conditions. On March 5, 2026, she appeared for a routine ICE check-in appointment, at which point the government placed her in expedited removal proceedings and detained her. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing her removal while her habeas corpus petition is pending. Mirna Benitez, a Salvadoran woman who had been living in the U.S. for nearly 13 years and working as a school custodian, was detained by ICE after attending a scheduled appointment at an ICE office in North Chesterfield on December 7, 2025. Despite having attended regular ICE check-ins for years, applied for asylum with legal representation, and obtained a temporary work permit, Benitez was taken into custody without warning. She was transferred through multiple detention facilities—Riverside Regional Jail in Richmond, an ICE facility in Texas, and another in Louisiana—over 10 days, during which she reported mistreatment by officers, inadequate medical care, unsanitary conditions, and denial of access to legal counsel. She ultimately chose to accept deportation to El Salvador rather than remain detained, departing before Christmas.

A native and citizen of El Salvador who has resided in the United States since 2005. In 2014, an Immigration Judge ordered him removed but granted his application for withholding of removal to El Salvador. Because his removal order was not effectuated, he was placed under an Order of Supervision (OSUP) on February 2, 2016, and remained released on supervision while attending regular check-ins with ICE for approximately 10 years. On March 5, 2026, at a scheduled check-in, ICE revoked his OSUP and arrested him, providing only vague boilerplate language about enforcing his removal order without specifying concrete reasons or the destination country. The informal interview required by regulations occurred the same day as his arrest, preventing him from meaningfully responding to the revocation notice. On April 8, 2026, a federal judge granted his motion for a temporary restraining order, finding that ICE likely violated its own regulations by: failing to provide adequate notice of the reasons for revocation, conducting the informal interview immediately upon arrest without allowing time to respond, and having the revocation decision made by a Supervisory Detention & Deportation Officer rather than the required Executive Associate Director or District Director. The court ordered ICE to immediately release him under the same supervision terms that applied before his detention and enjoined ICE from re-detaining him unless it complies with proper procedures.

Hai Nguyen, a Vietnamese national who has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and worked in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, was detained by ICE during a routine appointment. His detention stems from a decades-old marijuana charge from college that was expunged from his record. He now faces possible deportation despite previously being considered non-deportable because Vietnam would not accept deportees who arrived before 1995.

Two separate ICE detention cases involved individuals serving critical caregiving roles. Maher Tarabishi was detained while being the sole caregiver for his son with Pompe disease, who is completely immobile and dependent on his father for all daily care. Josué, a day laborer from El Salvador, was detained by ICE agents and reported that his heart condition went unaddressed during detention, with medication withheld and inadequate medical attention provided despite his history of heart attacks.

Axel Pecero, 25, a former Los Angeles County foster youth and advocate for youth in child welfare and juvenile justice systems, was detained by ICE in August 2025 after being stopped by Burbank police. After nearly eight months of detention at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, an immigration judge denied his bond request. Pecero agreed to voluntary departure to Mexico, leaving behind his 4-year-old son in the United States.

Over 1,100 Afghan refugees, many of whom served alongside U.S. forces, are at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. Since February 28, 2026, residents have experienced missile attacks and are housed in shipping containers. President Trump suspended their refugee resettlement program in 2025. The refugees remain in Qatar with unresolved immigration status.

An asylum seeker was detained on March 4, 2026 at Eden Detention Center while his asylum application remains pending. He filed an emergency motion seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent his removal and requesting immediate release or an individualized bond hearing. The federal court denied his motion, finding he failed to meet the requirements for emergency relief.

An immigration detainee who entered the U.S. without inspection in December 2021 was initially detained then released on his own recognizance with restrictive conditions. After more than four years of compliance with all conditions, he was arrested and detained by immigration authorities on March 4, 2026, without notice or process. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated constitutional due process rights. He was arrested and detained by immigration authorities on March 4, 2026, after previously being released under certain conditions. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his immigration detention as violations of due process and federal immigration law. The court granted his unopposed petition and ordered his immediate release under the same conditions as his prior release.

Arnoldo Jose Marquez-Pulido, 33, was arrested on March 4, 2026, outside a Sam's Club in Utica after resisting federal agents conducting surveillance based on reports of undocumented immigrants working as delivery drivers. During the altercation, Marquez-Pulido grabbed a Homeland Security agent's firearm and injured two investigators before being tackled. He faces federal charges of assaulting and resisting an officer and illegal firearm possession, with a potential sentence of up to 20 years if convicted.

A citizen of El Salvador who has lived in the United States for approximately 20 years, having entered on November 26, 2005, has a United States citizen child and has worked in the country with no prior removal order. On March 4, 2026, ICE officers apprehended him in Simi Valley, California during a field operation as he exited his vehicle. Officers did not provide him a warrant until after arrest and did not provide a pre-deprivation opportunity to contest his detention. He has been held at Desert View Annex in Adelanto, California since his detention and has never received a bond hearing before an immigration judge, with no neutral decisionmaker reviewing whether his continued detention was warranted. He sought immediate release under reasonable conditions of supervision through an emergency motion for temporary restraining order. On August 4, 2026, the federal court granted his motion and ordered his immediate release, finding he demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of his due process claim under the Mathews v. Eldridge test and that he would suffer irreparable harm from continued unlawful detention.

Syed Abbas, an Indian national from New York, was detained by Iowa State Patrol and ICE officers on March 4, 2026, while traveling through Iowa as a commercial truck driver. Abbas had been granted work authorization in 2024 and had a pending asylum application at the time of his arrest. State troopers pulled over his vehicle after the driver failed to stop at a weigh station, checked Abbas's immigration status despite him not being the driver, and concluded he was in the U.S. without authorization, then transferred him to Polk County Jail. Abbas's attorney has filed a federal lawsuit against ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and Polk County, arguing his due process rights were violated when he was deprived of liberty without notice, hearing, or individualized justification.

Orlin Carrasco, 29, was detained by ICE agents on March 4, 2026, inside Robertson County Courthouse after appearing before a judge on traffic charges. Carrasco had entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor at age 17 to flee gang recruitment in Honduras. At the time of his detention, he had an active asylum case, a valid work permit, a driver's license, and was married to a U.S. citizen. He has been held in a Louisiana detention facility for over three months without a clear explanation or active deportation order. His attorney argues ICE is illegally detaining him under a void document and that his 2013 administratively closed case does not support mandatory detention.

A Guatemalan national who entered the U.S. on a Visa Waiver Program is detained by ICE and challenging his mandatory civil detention through a federal habeas corpus petition. He has a child in the United States, lives with the mother of his child, has resided at the same address for several years, and has construction employment. He was arrested following what his counsel characterizes as a selective, racially targeted ICE field operation. His only cited criminal history involves two alcohol-related driving matters: a November 2023 plea to driving while ability impaired (classified as a traffic infraction under New York law) resulting in a conditional discharge, $300 fine, and 90-day license suspension, and an earlier dismissed and sealed matter. The Immigration Judge found him a danger and flight risk and set no bond. He seeks immediate release pending adjudication of his habeas petition and asylum claim, proposing strict conditions including a $10,000 cash posting, driver's license surrender, absolute driving prohibition, home detention or curfew, and alcohol treatment and testing.

A Cuban citizen who entered the U.S. in 2019 was re-arrested by ICE on March 4, 2026, during a routine maritime inspection on a fishing vessel in Florida. He had previously been released on bond by an immigration judge and had employment authorization through April 2030. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding that his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process.

Irvin Cruz Nape, a father of four, died on March 4, 2026, days after being released from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Cruz Nape reported heart attack-like symptoms while in custody but allegedly did not receive proper medical treatment. He had been detained by ICE agents in the fall after being mistaken for another target, and was granted bond and released in late February.

ICE is deporting crime survivors who have long been protected by Congress through programs like the U-Visa, Violence Against Women Act, and T-Visa for trafficking survivors. A multi-state class-action lawsuit challenges the Trump administration's 2025 ICE guidance that rescinds policies protecting these groups from deportation. Plaintiff Yessenia Ruano, a former Milwaukee teacher's aide with a pending T-Visa application, self-deported to El Salvador with her U.S. citizen children after ICE threatened her during a check-in.

A Laotian refugee who entered the United States in 1988 as a child refugee and was adjusted to lawful permanent resident status was detained by ICE on March 3, 2026, when he reported to the ICE office in Portland, Oregon. He was taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. He has a U.S. citizen spouse, one child, and four step-children. A final removal order to Laos was entered on January 5, 2012, but he had been released on Orders of Supervision since May 2015 based on nonremovability. On January 8, 2026, his spouse filed an I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. He was served with a Notice of Revocation of Release citing changed circumstances making removal reasonably foreseeable. On April 10, 2026, ICE obtained a Laissez-Passer from Laos valid for 90 days. He filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his removal and transfer pending the court's consideration of his case. On May 1, 2026, the federal magistrate judge denied his motion, finding he had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits because ICE had obtained a valid travel document establishing an unchallenged basis for his detention.

A noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole was re-detained by immigration authorities on March 3, 2026. The court found that the Due Process Clause requires the government to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter when re-detaining someone who was previously released. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

An immigration detainee who had previously been released on bond or conditional parole was re-detained on March 3, 2026. The court found that the government violated due process by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention and required the government to provide seven days' notice and a proper hearing before any future re-detention.

Jorge Calderon Rivera, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who had lived in Omaha for approximately a decade with no criminal record, was detained by ICE agents on January 17, 2026, during a traffic stop while driving to work. He was held at McCook ICE facility for two months without receiving a bond hearing to which he was entitled. The ACLU of Nebraska and the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement filed a federal lawsuit on his behalf challenging the detention. U.S. District Judge Susan Bazis issued an order on March 3, 2026, finding the detention had an "unlawful aspect" and directing immigration officials to provide Calderon with a bond hearing within seven days. An immigration judge later granted his release on bond, and he was reunited with his wife and three children. He remains in deportation proceedings.

Irvi Cruz, an undocumented Mexican national married to Rachel, a U.S. citizen public school teacher, decided to self-deport to Mexico with their two U.S.-born daughters after the 2024 presidential election. Despite building a life in New York over nearly two decades, including home ownership and stable employment, the family chose to leave voluntarily due to the political climate and deportation threats. Irvi departed first in early 2025 before Trump took office, with Rachel and the girls planning to follow after the school year.

Daniel Pino Alfonso, a Cuban national who entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2022, was arrested March 3 in Spring Hill, Tennessee for stealing approximately $6,000 worth of shoes and possessing $3,400 in cash as part of an organized retail theft operation. ICE issued a detainer against Pino Alfonso, who remains in county jail pending deportation proceedings. His accomplice, Yadián Pérez López, was also arrested. Both men were charged under Tennessee's organized retail crime law, and authorities indicated the pair may have targeted multiple stores.

Two bounty hunters, Garrett C. Willis and James R. Willis, were charged with felony threats of violence after confrontations with anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis on March 3. During two incidents—one in the Phillips West neighborhood and another outside Hennepin County jail—the men pointed replica firearms at protesters and fired pepper ball munitions. Both men admitted to carrying weapons that resembled real firearms and using them against protesters.

ICE arrested a father near a Boise daycare approximately one month prior to the agency's public response. ICE stated the arrest was targeted and based on the man's 2024 conviction for theft by alteration. The agency clarified that officers were not at the preschool itself but detained the man about 200 yards away. The man's family requested anonymity.