Human Impact Project

ICE officers entered Hennepin County Medical Center without a warrant on December 31, 2025, and guarded a patient seeking medical care for approximately 28 hours. The patient was reportedly shackled to their hospital bed at times and denied family visits while officers maintained watch. Immigration advocates and healthcare workers held a press conference demanding policy changes to protect patients from immigration enforcement in hospitals.

Brayan Stiven Martinez Cardona was re-detained by immigration authorities on December 29, 2026, after having been previously released on bond or conditional parole. The petitioner challenged his ongoing immigration detention through a habeas corpus petition, arguing that his re-detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing violated due process. The court granted his petition and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to his December 29 detention.

ICE agents stopped a U.S. citizen named Said Mohamed during a traffic stop and demanded he prove his citizenship. Mohamed repeatedly asked why he was being stopped. Agents cited the vehicle's possible connection to individuals without legal status. After showing his ID, Mohamed was allowed to leave. ICE agents confronted a woman outside her home and demanded she provide ID to prove U.S. citizenship. When questioned, agents claimed to have a warrant for an unspecified target at the address but refused to present it.

Fatima Issela Velazquez-Antonio, 23, was detained by Customs and Border Patrol agents at her job site in Raleigh in November and transferred to a Georgia federal detention facility. She was released from ICE custody and returned to North Carolina on December 23, 2025. Velazquez-Antonio, who has lived legally in the U.S. since age 14 fleeing gang violence in Honduras, has valid work authorization and no criminal record, and her case remains pending.

A federal judge in Charlotte ruled that ICE violated a man's due process rights by unlawfully detaining Mostafa Said, an Egyptian asylum seeker, during a routine check-in. The judge ordered immigration officials to hold a bond hearing for Said within 48 hours. Said had been released on humanitarian parole after entering through the U.S.-Mexico border and was arrested in Charlotte and transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have collaborated on a data-sharing program since March 2025 to identify and detain individuals with deportation orders at airport security checkpoints. The program has resulted in several high-profile cases, including the detention of college student Any Lucía López Belloza and DACA recipient Catalina Santiago, raising concerns about due process violations and civil liberties.

Spencer Gair Harrington, a Canadian citizen residing in the U.S. since 2019, was arrested on December 18, 2025 during a USCIS interview for his green card application based on marriage to a U.S. citizen. He remained detained until February 3, 2026 when an immigration judge released him on bond, finding he posed no flight risk or danger. Despite the judge's determination, ICE placed Harrington on an ankle monitor and in intensive supervision, prompting his habeas petition challenging the conditions as violating his due process rights.

Habel Russbel Hinostroza Alarcon was re-detained on December 18, 2025, after being previously released on bond or conditional parole under immigration law. The federal court found that his re-detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing violated due process rights. 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 bond hearing before any future re-detention.

Families of immigrants arrested in a federal ICE surge in Maine are struggling to find basic information about their detained relatives as the government rapidly transfers them to detention facilities across multiple states. Erik Orellana-Mejia was arrested at his worksite on January 20 and has since been transferred to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Missouri. ICE has been building out detention and deportation infrastructure in New England and across the country to support intensified enforcement operations.

Six foreign nationals were arrested between November 2025 and January 2026 and charged with being inadmissible as persons present without admission in the United States. They were detained at the Adelanto Detention Center and Desert View Annex without individualized bond hearings. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring bond hearings within 7 days or immediate release.

Martina Martin Garcia, a Guatemalan asylum seeker who fled to the U.S. in April 2024, was arrested on December 11, 2025, while attending a scheduled ICE check-in at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. Garcia had been released on her own recognizance, complied with all supervision conditions, and had no criminal history. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring her immediate release, finding her detention likely violated her constitutional due process rights.

ICE agents arrested Mubashir, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen of Somali descent, in Minneapolis's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood during Operation Metro Surge. Video footage showed agents slamming him against a door, placing him in a chokehold, and detaining him despite him repeatedly stating he was a U.S. citizen with identification. He was released after approximately two hours when agents confirmed his citizenship status.

Three U.S. citizens of Somali and Latino descent filed a class action lawsuit challenging DHS's "Operation Metro Surge" in Minneapolis, which began after President Trump called Somalis "garbage" in December 2025. The plaintiffs allege federal agents are conducting warrantless stops and arrests based solely on race and ethnicity, violating the Fourth Amendment and federal immigration law. The operation involves 3,000 federal agents targeting predominantly Somali and Latino neighborhoods despite 95% of Somali Minnesotans being U.S. citizens.

Vilma Cruz, a 38-year-old Honduran national, was arrested by ICE agents in Kenner, Louisiana during an operation called "Catahoula Crunch." Her 18-year-old son, Jonathan Escalante, a U.S. citizen, is now the sole caregiver for his 9-year-old sister and worries about being detained himself despite being a citizen.

ICE detained a critically ill man who was traveling to receive medical treatment. Williams Javier Toro Enamorado, a 27-year-old Honduran man with end-stage kidney disease, was detained by ICE agents on November 19 while traveling to a dialysis appointment during an operation called "Charlotte's Web." He claims he was denied dialysis treatment and pressured to sign a voluntary deportation order, with officers allegedly telling him "If you want to leave, sign. If not, you're going to die here." He is being held at an ICE detention center in Folkston, Georgia, over 360 miles from his family in North Carolina.

During court testimony in an immigration detention case, ICE officers revealed they were assigned an unwritten quota to arrest at least eight people daily as part of a temporary task force in Portland. A woman identified as MJMA was arrested without a warrant in Woodburn, detained, and released the next day without conditions. Immigration lawyers are challenging what they call an unlawful dragnet operation, arguing officers arrested the woman without probable cause.

Narcisa Andundia-Carillo, an asylum seeker from Ecuador who fled extortion and death threats, was detained by ICE on December 3, 2025 during a routine check-in at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. Despite having no criminal record and consistently appearing for immigration hearings, ICE alleged she missed a July 23, 2025 check-in that was not visible on her application. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring her immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing.

Angelica Martinez Chavelas, a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. in 2015 and was released on parole under the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), was re-detained by immigration officials on December 2, 2025, after missing mandatory check-ins. She had voluntarily presented herself at an ISAP appointment when she was taken back into custody. The court ordered her immediate release, finding the re-detention violated due process because she was not provided notice or a hearing before being detained.