Human Impact Project

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is conducting nationwide operations targeting unaccompanied immigrant children. According to internal documents, the operations include deportations and pursuit of criminal cases against them and their sponsors. The Trump administration has directed ICE to track down and deport this group and to share sensitive data from the federal agency monitoring these children. Legal advocates state this constitutes family separation and is causing trauma and fear among immigrant families.

Seven migrants died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody during the first three months of Donald Trump's presidency, including Marie Blaise, a 44-year-old Haitian woman who died at a Florida detention center after complaining of chest pains. An ACLU investigation found that 95% of deaths at ICE-operated facilities between 2017-2021 could have been prevented with appropriate medical care. The deaths occurred across multiple states as detention centers became overwhelmed, operating 17% over capacity.

The Dominican Republic conducted a major enforcement operation deporting over 130 Haitian women and children, including approximately 48 pregnant women and 39 new mothers, from hospitals across the country. The deportations were carried out under a new immigration policy implemented by President Luis Abinader requiring hospital patients to provide identification and proof of residence at 33 public hospitals. Medical professionals, human rights groups, and the UN issued statements regarding the action. The crackdown is part of the government's broader effort to reduce undocumented migration.

Florida launched Operation Tidal Wave, a major immigration enforcement initiative utilizing 287(g) agreements that allow local police to exercise federal immigration authority. The operation, which began in April 2025 and continued through January 2026, resulted in over 10,400 arrests across the state targeting individuals with final deportation orders and serious criminal records. The effort involved coordination between Florida state and local law enforcement with federal agencies including ICE, CBP, FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Marshals Service.

Brandon Gonzalez has lived in Arizona since infancy. His family came to the United States from Mexico in 1999. On July 14, Gonzalez was detained by immigration enforcement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and law enforcement partners arrested 206 people during an enhanced targeted enforcement operation in and around New York City from April 6-12, 2025. The operation focused on people described as criminal aliens, including those allegedly affiliated with transnational criminal organizations such as MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Sureños, and 18th Street gangs. According to ICE, the majority of those arrested had criminal histories including manslaughter, rape, assault, drug trafficking, and sex assault against minors.

Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt, a 27-year-old Cuban man, died in ICE custody in Florida on April 12, 2025, in what appeared to be a suicide attempt. He is the second person to die by suspected suicide in ICE custody in Florida in less than a month. At least 49 people have died under ICE custody since Trump took office in January 2025.

Current and former flight attendants for GlobalX, the charter airline operating deportation flights for ICE, reported concerns about safety and humanitarian conditions aboard these flights. Flight attendants reported being instructed not to interact with shackled detainees, receiving inadequate emergency evacuation training for restrained passengers, and equipment failures including broken air conditioning and lavatories. Multiple attendants stated concerns about safety risks and their inability to properly care for passengers.

The Supreme Court appeared likely to strike down President Trump's January 2025 executive order ending birthright citizenship, which sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented or temporarily present immigrants. The 14th Amendment's citizenship clause, ratified in 1868, has been understood for over a century to confer citizenship on nearly everyone born in the United States. Multiple federal courts have already blocked the executive order as unconstitutional.